ACLU of Connecticut calls for video release in prisoner wrongful death lawsuit

The ACLU of CT urged the Appellate Court to release the video of J’Allen Jones’ death during a hearing on Thursday morning. Jones died in 2018 when he was forcefully restrained by correctional officers.

Maia Nehme

12:36 am, Oct 25, 2024

Staff Reporter

Maia Nehme, Contributing Photographer

On March 25, 2018, J’Allen Jones died after he was forcefully restrained by multiple correctional officers at Garner Correctional Institution. Six and a half years later, attorneys at the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut are fighting to get the video of Jones’ death released to the public.

Shortly after Jones’ death, his family filed a lawsuit against correctional officers and a nurse who were in Jones’ vicinity when he became unresponsive. The defendants submitted the video footage to the court in March of this year, as part of an attempt to prevent the case from going to trial. Jones’ family then requested the video’s release to the public this month — a condition the defendants did not explicitly prohibit. 

The ACLU of CT, which is not involved in the lawsuit, also requested the video’s release but was denied by the Superior Court, which said that the video was sealed. In response, the ACLU of CT filed a petition for the video’s release with the Appellate Court on Oct. 7.

“As the sole evidence of what happened to Mr. Jones at the hands of the Department of Correction, and as a court filing that has never been sealed, the public should have access to the video as guaranteed by state law and the First Amendment,” ACLU of Connecticut Legal Director Dan Barrett said in a press release. “It is imperative the people know what is being done in our names behind prison walls.”

During a hearing on Thursday, Barrett and Assistant Attorney General Terrence O’Neill — who represents the defendants in the lawsuit — each had ten minutes to state their case to the Appellate Court. Barrett and O’Neill also fielded frequent questions from Appellate Court Judges Nina Elgo, Robert Clark and Dawne Westbrook.

Barrett emphasized the distinction between a protective order, which was placed on the video, and a sealing order. Though protective orders are used to manage the dissemination of sensitive legal documents, they do not prohibit all public access to those documents. 

O’Neill argued that the question of whether to seal the video should be returned to the Superior Court. He also expressed confusion about how the Superior Court had secured a CD of the video, stating that he and his fellow attorneys had collected both CD copies they brought to court.

“With respect, we have no idea how it got there, Your Honor,” O’Neill said. “We don’t know where this third disc came from.”

The judges then adjourned the court, setting the next session for Tuesday, Oct. 29.

Requests for video release reignite community backlash to Jones’ death

The calls from the ACLU of CT and Jones’ family to release the video have sparked more community awareness of and outrage over Jones’ death.

On the day he died, Jones – who was diagnosed with schizophrenia – was slated for a transfer to the prison’s psychiatric ward for treatment. Garner Correctional Institution is the DOC’s designated mental health facility. 

After Jones refused to comply with a strip search, multiple correctional officers pepper-sprayed him in the face, punched him and forced him onto a bed over a nearly half-hour period. The correctional officers and a nearby nurse did not administer CPR or call 9-1-1 for seven minutes after Jones fell unconscious. 

The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner classified Jones’ death as a homicide.

Ashley McCarthy, the DOC’s director of external affairs, declined the News’ request for comment on Jones’ family’s lawsuit, noting that the DOC does not comment on matters of active litigation.

On Oct. 18, more than 20 people rallied outside the DOC’s headquarters in Wethersfield, Connecticut to call for the video’s release and a more transparent criminal justice system.

Stop Solitary CT, a group that advocates for improved conditions and the elimination of solitary confinement in prisons, organized the “Justice for J’Allen” protest. Other attendees included members of Black Lives Matter 860 and the New Britain Racial Justice Coalition, as well as state Rep. Anne Hughes.

Barbara Fair, a community organizer with Stop Solitary CT, later told the News that Jones’ death underscores the importance of halting prison strip searches. 

“They serve no purpose but to demean, degrade and dehumanize human beings just because [DOC staff] have the power to do it,” Fair said.

The DOC’s strip search policy states that these searches are always required in certain situations, such as when a person is first admitted to a prison. Staff can also conduct strip searches if they have “reasonable suspicion” that an incarcerated person is hiding contraband like drugs or weapons. 

“We are focused on the health and well-being of everyone in our facilities,” McCarthy wrote to the News when asked about the DOC’s use of strip searches.

McCarthy also noted the DOC submitted a proposal earlier this year to the state legislature for the use of body scanners in prisons, which would reduce the need for strip searches. If funding for body scanners was made available to the DOC, she said, the agency would install the scanners throughout its prisons.

The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial on Feb. 20, 2025.