“Connecticut’s correctional system is operating in a state of sustained institutional failure.”

That’s what a new report by the Office of the Correction Ombuds concluded after looking into complaints and reports across the state’s correctional facilities for over a year.

The OCO was re-established in September 2024 and submitted its inaugural 2025 report. Despite the OCO lacking a full investigative staff, they investigated reported incidents, conditions, and complaints at the state’s correctional facilities.

According to the report, the conditions they found were consistent across many facilities and underscored the “seriousness and pervasiveness of the issues confronting Connecticut’s correctional system.

“These are not isolated lapses or temporary disruptions,” the report stated. “They are structural deficiencies, embedded in daily operations. In many respects, [the Department of Corrections (DOC)] appears to be failing to fulfill its statutory mandates.

You can read the entire report here.

The OCO found that the DOC relied heavily on modified and full facility lockdowns when faced with staffing shortages. Lockdowns are usually limited measures that are used in genuine emergencies in facilities.

According to DOC, there were 387 reported lockdowns in 2025. When facilities go into lockdown, visitation, recreation time, educational and therapy programs, religious services, hygiene, medical needs, and access to law libraries and communications are suspended.

The OCO said they received numerous complaints that people were confined to their cells for days at a time. This caused people to miss their medical appointments, go days without showers, and lose visits with family members.

The report stated that the lockdowns occurred “predictably” around weekends, holidays, and other staffing-stress points. According to OCO, while they acknowledge the staffing difficulties that the DOC has, the evidence shows there are no minimum staffing standards and no limits on the frequency or duration of lockdowns.

Mental health and medical needs were also the subject of many complaints to the OCO, according to the report. The OCO cited a December 2025 report from Disability Rights Connecticut that found sexual assault and systemic safety failures at York Correctional Institution, particularly affecting people with disabilities.

Also in late 2025, the Office of the Child Advocate issued a report that found repeated, unjustified use of force against youth at Manson Youth Institution.

According to the OCO, these were due to lack of staffing, inadequate training, and “weak internal controls.”

When it comes to the living conditions at the facilities, the OCO observed unsanitary and “degrading living conditions.” This included mold-contaminated ventilation, rodent infestations, sewage backups, and prolonged denial of hygiene supplies and shower access.

The OCO said that the conditions also affect correctional staff who work prolonged shifts.

An investigation into the Inmate Legal Assistance Program revealed deficiencies so significant that the office had to resort to “enforcement litigation” to obtain records from a state contractor that performed the services.

“That such litigation was required to secure basic oversight cooperation is itself a serious concern,” the OCO said in the report.

The OCO also cited multiple audits done on the DOC’s operations. The audits reported repeated findings, including improper extended paid administrative leave, weaknesses in overtime and payroll controls, failures in asset management, and repeated noncompliance with statutory reporting requirements.

“The recurrence of these findings over multiple audit cycles reflects a failure to implement corrective action–failures that directly affect staffing availability, infrastructure maintenance, transparency, and public trust,” the report said.

The OCO said there was cooperation with the DOC wardens, staff, and central offices, who responded to inquiries and engaged with oversight efforts.

“The [OCO] submits this report as both a record and a warning: Absent decisive intervention, Connecticut risks entrenching a correctional system defined by instability, isolation, and preventable harm,” the report concluded.

NBC Connecticut has reached out to the DOC for a comment on the report and has not heard back at this time.

Henry Wan, a school counselor at Harrington Elementary School in Lexington, was named the Massachusetts School Counselor of the Year at a packed school gymnasium on Tuesday in front of more than 400 students, teachers, school administrators, and government officials.

The surprise ceremony, hosted by the school in partnership with the Massachusetts School Counselors Association, which has been presenting the award for over 40 years, caught Wan completely off guard.

Wan thought he was there to broadcast a video from his “We All Belong Project,” an initiative he started four years ago that creates monthly videos featuring students and their families talking about their cultural backgrounds and what makes them unique.

Instead, school principal Jackie Daley turned the tables on Wan and told him they were also gathered there to celebrate him, a counselor known in the community as a champion for diversity and inclusion.

“As a person of color, I felt overlooked before in life,” Wan, a Chinese-American who grew up in Quincy, told the Globe. His parents moved to Massachusetts from Hong Kong and the counselor moved to Lexington eight years ago to work at Harrington.

“That’s why I’m so passionate about coming here and telling the stories of students,” he said. “They really are beautiful people with amazing things to contribute, and I don’t want any of these kids to be overlooked.”

Wan was chosen by an eight-person committee from a pool of 20 applicants state-wide. By winning the award, Wan secured $5,000 from Wellpoint, a health benefits company based in Woburn that sponsored the event. Wan and school officials will later decide what to do with the funds — the award is for enhancing school programming, equipment, or supplies.

The award also guarantees Wan a spot in the 2027 national competition for school counselors run by the American School Counselor Association. Winners will be announced at a gala in Washington in November next year.

Wan was nominated for the award by Daley, who said the counselor is “always extending himself” far beyond his duties, serving as a foster family liaison for the school district, helping kids in the foster care system.

Apart from the monthly video series that Wan edits and directs with students and their parents, his “We All Belong Project” also promotes gatherings with students from different backgrounds once or twice a semester to foster friendships and connections. The meetings often feature high school student guest speakers with learning differences who can serve as role models for kids in the groups with ADHD, dyslexia, Down syndrome, or other learning challenges.

“During her elementary years, my daughter struggled with anxiety, regulating her emotions, and she had a hard time opening up to adults,” said Meg Tabela, a Harrington parent and former PTA president who provided a letter of support for Wan’s application.

“I was shocked when I heard her talking openly with Mr. Wan over Zoom during COVID homeschooling,” she added. “I knew at that very moment how special he was and that he had gained her trust, something few adults had ever done.”

For Bob Bardwell, executive director of the Massachusetts School Counselors Association, counselors need to be celebrated and elevated in school communities because they play such a critical role in a child’s ability to learn.

“Especially now when mental health is so critical, if a kid can’t regulate their feelings and they can’t attend to school, then their teacher could be the best teacher on the planet, but that student won’t be ready to learn or can’t learn without the help of a counselor,” Bardwell said.

Patrick Tutwiler, Massachusetts secretary of education, who attended the ceremony, agreed.

“We need to remember that school counselors have a background that is clinical in nature, so they can not only help students navigate the ins and outs of the school day, but can also be the first stop, the first responder, if you will, for students who are having a mental health challenge,” he said.

Mariana Simões can be reached at mariana.simoes@globe.com. Follow her on X @MariRebuaSimoes.