Gov. Dannel Malloy is heading to Waterbury this afternoon to talk about his plan to reform the justice system days after reaching a compromise on the legislation.
He will be speaking at a manufacturing training center that prepares offenders to reenter the workplace.
Malloy said he reached a compromise over the weekend with Democratic leadership on reforming bail for non-violent, misdemeanor offenses.
Malloy has aralegued that some suspects arrested on misdemeanor charges spend weeks in jail because they can’t post bail and the state would be able to close another prison for eliminating the need for bail for most minor crimes.
“On a typical day there are approximately 350 prisoners in our state’s jails who are charged only with a non-violent misdemeanor, but who are too poor to post even a small bond,” malloy said in a statement. “The vast majority of these defendants will spend a month or two waiting for their cases to be resolved in court and will then be released directly from court. It just doesn’t make sense.”
Malloy wanted to raise the age people are considered juvenile offenders to 20, but that was scraped in the compromise.
Republican leaders released a statement saying they’re happy with the progress made.
Local
“The ‘raise the age’ portion of his Second Chance 2.0 bill was unpalatable and would not have the needed support from Republicans and Democrats alike to get it passed. It was bad policy that raised serious questions about public safety and justice. As I suggested last week, the governor’s raise the age proposal needed to be removed from this bill entirely. I’m glad he listened to our concerns and advice,” Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano said in a statement.
The state House of Representatives is expected to vote on the bill later this week.
