Blumenthal Statement On Bureau Of Prisons Decision To Temporarily Suspend Transfer Of Female Inmates From FCI Danbury

(Hartford, CT) – Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) released the following statement after the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) agreed to temporarily suspend the transfer of more than 1,100 female inmates from the Federal Correctional Institution at Danbury, CT (FCI Danbury). Blumenthal also participated in a live discussion about this issue on HuffPost Live with Piper Kerman, critically-acclaimed author of Orange is the new Black and former FCI Danbury inmate, as well as other prison reform advocates. A recording of the live discussion can be accessed here.

“The Bureau of Prisons should not simply suspend but stop these unfair, unwise transfers of women inmates far away from their families,” Blumenthal said. “My hope is that this decision will be part of a larger reappraisal of incarceration policies – focusing on how to keep families together for both men and women prisoners, so the harm and pain for young children are minimized and potential for rehabilitation is raised. Prison overcrowding – the stated reason for this misguided transfer – should be addressed through sentencing policy reforms such as the U.S. Attorney General proposed recently. Also, as promptly as possible, I hope that the Administration responds to the questions we raised in our letter asking for information related to the factual premises for the Danbury inmate transfer.”

On August 2, Blumenthal co-signed a letter led by Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), along with Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Bernard Sanders (D-Vt.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-Pa.), Angus S. King, Jr. (I-Maine), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Edward Markey (D-Mass.).