Resource: Beatty v. Lamont

In a federal class-action lawsuit filed on March 14, 2022 on behalf of more than 30,000 people, two state residents are suing Governor Ned Lamont and Attorney General William Tong to eliminate Connecticut’s prison debt law, under which every person incarcerated by the State of Connecticut owes the state hundreds of dollars for each day they spent in prison. Teresa Beatty and Michael Llorens, represented by attorneys from the ACLU Foundation of Connecticut and Hurwitz, Sagarin, Slossberg, & Knuff LLC, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court on behalf of all people owing prison debt to Connecticut by virtue of having been incarcerated by the state on or after October 1, 1997, including all people who are currently incarcerated in Connecticut prisons and jails. The lawsuit challenges Connecticut’s prison debt law under the excessive fines clause of the U.S. Constitution.