Maia Nehme, Contributing Photographer

Civil rights attorney DeVaughn Ward is set to become Connecticut’s first independent prison watchdog in over a decade. 

Last month, Governor Ned Lamont appointed New London-based Ward as the interim correction ombudsman. The ombudsman’s role involves monitoring Connecticut’s 13 active correctional facilities, addressing incarcerated people’s concerns and proposing policy revisions to the state Department of Correction. Ward will assume the role on Sept. 23, providing the first independent oversight of Connecticut’s prisons since the ombudsman office was dissolved in 2010.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity to do some larger scale work to try to get better conditions for folks inside,” Ward said at an event hosted by an organization against solitary confinement on Friday. “I’m really looking forward… to really trying to shed some light on what exactly is going on at DOC.”

As managing attorney at Ward Law Office LLC, Ward has dedicated the past eight years to criminal and civil litigation, including multiple high-profile cases against the DOC. In 2021, Ward secured a seven-figure settlement for the family of Karon Nealy Jr., an incarcerated teenager who died after his lupus went undiagnosed for two years while he was in custody.

Ward’s main priority as ombudsman will be ensuring that incarcerated people receive adequate medical treatment, he said at Friday’s event. Ward pointed to Estelle v. Gamble, a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court case which guarantees incarcerated people’s right to healthcare.

Yet he said prisons often do not provide comprehensive care for incarcerated people. Ward noted that while Nealy was imprisoned at Manson Youth Institution in Cheshire, Conn., the facility had just one doctor who came into the prison once a week and treated about 50 patients during each of his visits. Ward connected the health of incarcerated people to that of the communities they will return home to. 

“[Any] type of medical condition, the state has a moral and legal obligation to treat it,” he said. “These folks are coming home, and if we want to have safer communities, we have to… really develop a rehabilitative mindset around incarceration.”

Ward’s nomination marks the end of six months of turmoil and frustration among advocates and lawmakers surrounding the ombudsman role. 

In February, Lamont ignored the recommendations of the Correction Advisory Committee, a group that interviewed and vetted applicants for the position, by nominating the committee’s third — and last — place pick as ombudsman, public defender Hilary Carpenter. Community organizations pushed back against his initial pick, unconvinced that a state employee could provide independent oversight of the DOC. 

Lawmakers expressed frustration over Lamont overlooking the committee’s first two recommendations: civil rights attorney Ken Krayeske, who worked with Ward on several cases against the DOC, and Barbara Fair, a criminal justice advocate and member of Stop Solitary CT, the organization that hosted Friday’s event.    

Amidst these concerns, Lamont agreed to select an interim ombudsman who would be approved by the legislature’s Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, leading to Ward’s nomination a few months later. Marisol Garcia, co-chair of the Correction Advisory Committee, told the News the group is already accepting applications for the permanent ombudsman role.

Applications for the role close at the end of the month. Garcia anticipates the committee will review applications, interview candidates and send Lamont its recommendations by the time the legislative session convenes next February. Ward will serve as interim ombudsman until the permanent ombudsman’s confirmation hearing.

Ward’s reception among advocates, lawmakers

Fair emphasized her support for Ward, highlighting his past litigation against the DOC and his willingness to meet with criminal justice advocacy groups. 

Fair recalled that when she tried to meet with Carpenter to discuss her plans as ombudsman, Carpenter canceled their planned meetings several times and suggested meeting over Zoom. But when Fair asked to meet with Ward, he drove an hour to New Haven to talk through his legal experience and plans for the position. 

Carpenter did not immediately respond to the News’ request for comment. 

Fair added that Ward’s brother is formerly incarcerated, which allows Ward to better connect with community members with ties to the carceral system, both those inside and outside of prisons. 

Garcia, who was formerly incarcerated, also underscored Ward’s legal background and knowledge of the carceral system, but she said she would prefer an ombudsman with lived experience with incarceration. 

State Sen. Gary Winfield, who spearheaded the legislation that reinstated the ombudsman office and who criticized Lamont’s selection of Carpenter, applauded Ward’s nomination.

“I have complete confidence in his abilities and know he will be an exceptional advocate for those in our correctional facilities that for too long lacked a voice in how the criminal justice system is run,” Winfield said in a press release.

Ward’s understanding of the DOC’s inner workings, particularly its handling of medical treatment for incarcerated people, will allow him to hit the ground running as interim ombudsman, Krayeske said.

But Krayeske worries that the DOC will constrain Ward’s attempts at oversight, such as by restricting his access to documents, correctional facilities and DOC staff.

“The measure of how he does is going to be how well he can anticipate and plan around the walls that they’re going to erect to prevent him from making progress on oversight,” Krayeske said. “It’s foreseeable that they’re going to play games with him. They have power. They do not want to be held accountable for their exercise of power.”

A spokesperson for the DOC said it would assist Ward in his efforts at prison oversight, noting its collaboration with the first iteration of the ombudsman’s office and with the current ombudsman for Manson Youth Institution’s incarcerated youth.

Fair described herself as being “cautiously optimistic” about Ward’s nomination. Despite her confidence in his qualifications for the role, she expressed similar concerns about the DOC and the governor’s office preventing Ward from making systemic changes.

“I’ve been in Hartford long enough to see how politics works,” she said at the Stop Solitary CT event. “I’m praying that he is going to lead with courage and integrity, and he’s going to fight this system, even if that system is paying his check.”

Connecticut’s correction ombudsman office was initially created in 1973.