Connecticut's Human Services Committee is Holding a Public Hearing on SNAP Applications in Connecticut
Senate Bill 497
AN ACT PROTECTING FOOD SECURITY FOR
VETERANS AND OTHERS AND MITIGATING FEDERAL CUTS TO
NUTRITIONAL ASSISTANCE.
Big news! We have a bill and a public hearing! The Human Services Committee is holding a public hearing on March 17th on SB 497 which will end the ban on food for people with violations of probation or parole!
We need YOU to submit testimony to the Committee urging them to VOTE YES and remove the supervision violation ban from the law and from SNAP applications. Everyone deserves access to food!
Take action today to protect food security for people and families in our communities! Click the link in bio for links to testify and draft language!
Need help walking through the process?
Contact us and we’ll show you how!
#SNAP #FoodSecurity #ProbationReform
We are fighting to reform the probation system by eliminating incarceration for noncriminal technical violations, introducing earned time credit and removing burdensome supervision fees in order to incentivize success, reduce caseloads and reduce the trauma of arrest.
Probation was designed to be an alternative to incarceration. Instead, it has become a direct pathway into the prison system, creating an endless cycle of supervision and incarceration, while also acting as a barrier to resources and support that would effectively target some of the root causes of crime, such as food insecurity.
Instead of following its vision to act as a leader in progressive reforms with reentry initiatives as a primary focus, Connecticut DOC chooses to uphold targeted, biased, and unjust systems. As of June 1st 2025, more than 32,000 people are on probation in Connecticut – three times the number of those incarcerated.
Food insecurity is rampant in the U.S.; 41.7 million people — nearly 1 in 8 Americans — receive SNAP benefits.
This chilling effect has a broad impact on the probation population because so many people who are on probation are also poor.
Cultivating Justice, is leading the F.R.E.E. CT campaign, which works at the intersection of food justice and criminal justice to dismantle barriers in Connecticut’s social safety net that impede successful community reentry for justice system-impacted individuals.
Food insecurity is rampant in the U.S.; 41.7 million people — nearly 1 in 8 Americans — receive SNAP benefits.
A patchwork of statutes and administrative choices limits access to the food assistance program SNAP for some people on probation. by Aleks Kajstura, February 24, 2026 Making sure people have food to eat is one of the most important ways to support them when they’re on probation. But there is a legislative patchwork across the U.S. that prevents and deters people
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