NEW YORK — The Vera Institute of Justice has partnered with the Connecticut Department of Correction to participate in Designed for Dignity, a new initiative aimed at transforming prison environments and promoting more humane conditions for both staff and incarcerated people.
According to an article written by the Vera Institute, its Restoring Promise initiative selected the Connecticut Department of Correction to participate in Designed for Dignity.
Designed for Dignity is a new technical assistance opportunity for corrections agencies that seek to transform their prison systems. The Vera Institute stated that it will work with the Connecticut Department of Correction to create and sustain safer and more humane environments for correctional professionals and people who are incarcerated.
The initiative works with corrections agencies to reimagine housing units for young adults, as well as realign corrections policies and practices with a commitment to human dignity. It was inspired by a trip to Germany in 2015.
At one point, according to the article, the Vera Institute previously partnered with the Connecticut DOC to transform the living and working conditions in their prisons for young adults and staff.
The initiative successfully designed and implemented a first-of-its-kind housing unit for young adults sentenced to state prison, which is now known as the T.R.U.E. (Truthfulness, Respectfulness, Understanding and Elevating) community.
Since 2016, Restoring Promise has opened eight distinct units for young adults and partnered with six corrections agencies: Colorado Department of Corrections; Connecticut Department of Correction; Idaho Department of Correction; Middlesex County Jail in Massachusetts; North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; and South Carolina Department of Corrections.
According to the article, over the course of three years the Vera Institute will deliver research-driven training and technical assistance to the Connecticut DOC. The program provides a needs assessment that supports intervention selection, which is a research-driven implementation plan.
It also provides training and technical assistance to support implementation activities, as well as a sustainability roadmap.
This systemwide change will be led by a work group composed of correctional leadership staff and people who are incarcerated. In addition to the new partnership with Connecticut, Vera also plans to partner with the Massachusetts Department of Correction on Designed for Dignity.
Kayla James, Vera’s Restoring Promise program manager, stated: “The Connecticut Department of Correction, a longtime partner of the Vera Institute of Justice on improving prison conditions, continues to demonstrate its commitment to culture change within the agency through strategic partnerships focused on improving conditions for staff and people incarcerated in its facilities.”
According to James, the new partnership will focus on transforming policy, practice and training at the state level. This includes opportunities to foster safety through dynamic security, rely on restorative practice, advance healthy and safe living and working conditions, and engage the families of staff and incarcerated people.
She concluded her statement with: “We look forward to deepening the impact in Connecticut to make prisons safer and more humane for everyone who enters them.”
According to Connecticut Department of Correction Commissioner Angel Quiros, “This new partnership with the Vera Institute of Justice’s Restoring Promise initiative builds on the lessons we’ve learned from changing culture at the young adult housing unit level and scales change statewide.”
The partnership now aims to expand reforms that promote dignity, safety and rehabilitation within Connecticut’s prison system. Many hope the Designed for Dignity initiative can and will build on past successes and help create more humane environments for both staff and incarcerated people.
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