Monthly Statewide Criminal Justice Reform Call Notes October 14th, 2025

Monthly  Statewide Criminal Justice Reform Call Notes

October 14th, 2025

Thank you for joining the October Statewide Criminal Justice Reform Call. Please find detailed notes and an overview from the call below. Because we do not record these calls, we encourage you to join the next call for complete details. Our next statewide criminal justice reform call will be Tuesday, November 18th, at 11 am on Zoom. You can register for the monthly calls here. 

Speakers: 

• John Bailey II, TCORS Capitol Group, john@ctcapitolgroup.com

• Dawn Grant Lockley, presenting on Clean Slate, dawn.grant@snet.net

• Jaymiah Herring, Chicks Ahoy Farm, Inc., jaymiah@chicksahoyfarm.org

• Bryan "Love" Jordan, Guided By Purpose Initiative, Inc., guidedbypurposeinitiative@gmail.com

Presentations:

John Bailey, TCORS Capitol Group 

Legislative Update

• 203 bills passed, 3 of which were vetoed by Governor Lamont. (out 3200 filed bills)

•  He emphasized the importance of municipal elections and encouraged participation at the grassroots level to influence policy.

• Discussed several key issues that will be addressed in the upcoming special legislative session.

Key Issues to Watch

• Housing affordability and zoning equity: expanding options for families and young

• residents

• Federal funding changes: responding to changes affecting Medicaid, SNAP, and ACA  subsidies

• Immigrant protections: ensuring consistent application of the Trust Act statewide

• Education funding: maintaining support for special education and school equity

• initiatives

• Budget surplus use: balancing fiscal caution with investments in social programs and

public needs

HB 5002  

• The Housing Bill (massive bill – Omnibus / Aircraft Carrier)-Proposed bill aimed at addressing housing affordability and supply through public policy mechanisms:

• Zoning reform to expand affordable housing

•  Incentives for municipalities to meet housing benchmarks

• Streamlined conversions of underused commercial buildings into residential units

Trust Act Revisions

• 2025 updates strengthened enforcement and accountability, creating more precise guidance for local agencies and stronger protection for immigrant communities

• Individuals may sue municipalities for violations.

• Expanded scope to include prosecutors, juvenile officers, and parole board members

• Added 13 new offenses defining when cooperation with federal immigration authorities is permitted, including sexual assault, injury, or risk of injury to a child, and others

Process considerations

• Ongoing discussions between Governor Lamont and legislative leadership.

• Advocacy groups are urging: transparency in the legislative process, public release of bill drafts before votes, and opportunities for community input.

Dawn Grant-Lockley, Presenting on Clean Slate

• Dawn presented an update on Clean Slate, a 2021 law that automatically seals records for misdemeanors after 7 years and low-level felonies after 10 years, with approximately 76,000 records cleared by October 3rd

• Shared her personal experience with the process, which involved multiple denials before finally receiving a provisional pardon in June 2023

• She emphasized the emotional and logistical challenges of seeking record expungement.

• Emphasized the importance of prioritizing directly impacted individuals' voices in future discussions

• Dawn offered to support others going through or beginning the process. Reach out to her at: dawn.grant@snet.net 

Bryan "Love" Jordan, Guided By Purpose Initiative, Inc. 

• Discussed proposed legislation to remove the arbitrary October 1, 2005, cutoff date for juvenile parole eligibility, which disproportionately affects minority communities

• Guided By Purpose is pulling together community events in Waterbury, Bridgeport, Norwalk, and Hartford to discuss their juvenile parole work 

• Reach out to Bryan to learn more: guidedbypurposeinitiative@gmail.com

Jaymiah Herring, Chicks Ahoy Farm, Inc. 

• Provided an update on House Bill 6361, which aims to eliminate non-criminal technical violations of probation

• Over 32,000 people in CT are on probation, 80% of those are people of color. One violation, like missing curfew or failing a drug test, can put their freedom, housing, jobs, food security, and relationships at risk.

• The probation system is broken. Sign on to our probation reform letter

• Reach out to Jaymiah to learn more: jaymiah@chicksahoyfarm.org 

Thank you once again to all of our presenters for your outstanding work on the criminal justice system in Connecticut. Our next statewide criminal justice reform call will take place on Tuesday, November 18th, at 11:00 a.m. on Zoom. You can register for the monthly calls here. If you would like to present on future Statewide Calls, please email Jaymiah at CultivatingJustice@chicksahoyfarm.org