NEWTOWN, Conn. — The alleged assault of an inmate that was caught on camera, brought advocates and lawmakers together to call for change. Both groups want stronger transparency and oversight of the state’s prison system.
On Wednesday, legislators and the group Stop Solitary CT demanded better training for Department of Corrections employees, along with the appointment of an ombudsman who can advocate from the inside.
The video of the alleged assault is from Sept. 25 inside Garner Correctional Institute in Newtown. Officials said inmate Elijah Hamlin, “Refused…direct orders to return back to his cell.” That’s when correctional officers Anthony Marlak, Joshua Johnson, and Patrick McGoldrick got physical.
According to their arrest warrants, a state trooper ultimately found the officers, “Used excessive force…before utilizing other means of body control reasonable to Hamlin's resistance.”
“You’ve got traumatized people policing and guarding other people who are traumatized,” remarked Pastor John Lewis of Stop Solitary CT.
Advocates from Stop Solitary CT stood shoulder-to-shoulder with state lawmakers Wednesday, including one whose own son was victimized in the system.
“He had gotten beaten pretty badly and I'm a legislator. I'm a lawmaker and this happened to my son. so when I saw the video it made me start trying to play back in my mind what it looked like when it happened to my son,” remarked State Rep. Robyn Porter of New Haven.
Advocate Barbara Fair's son has been locked up inside Northern Correctional since age 17. She said the bars broke him.
“20 years later he’s still broken,” said Fair. “For me, it’s slow genocide. You are killing my son. You are killing all of us who live with him. I can't be silent! I just can’t be silent anymore! we have got to stop doing what we are doing to people!”
Both advocates and lawmakers said they don’t want to minimize staff assaults, but they do want to tell the whole story. They are calling for reform including more mental health support, accountability, oversight, and transparency.
“We have a system that is opaque not only to the public but largely opaque to people like myself and if it’s opaque to me, we’ve got a problem because I am the oversight,” said State Sen. Gary Winfield of New Haven.
Perhaps no one knows the system better than someone who used to work inside of it. Kebra Smith-Bolden is a former Department of Correction nurse who recalled her onboard training.
“They were basically made to believe that the men and women who were incarcerated are animals and to treat them as such. Don’t fall for it. If they say something is hurting they are probably lying,” recalled Smith-Bolden.
As for those three D-O-C employees, they were put on administrative leave, formally charged with assault, and pleaded not guilty. FOX61 reached out to the Department of Corrections for a comment on the incident. As of news time, we have not heard back.
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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