From State Rep. Steve Stafstrom:
Representative Steven Stafstrom is a co-sponsor of a bill that requires the Department of Correction (DOC) to notify municipal officials before placing a community residence for released inmates in that community.
Under the bill, the Commissioner of the Department of Correction or his designee, must provide written notice to a municipality’s chief elected official about any plans to place a community residence such as a halfway house for released inmates to the municipality at least 30 days before the department enters into an agreement with the facility’s operator.
“I welcome the opportunity to support and co-sponsor this bill,” Rep. Stafstrom said. “It is critically important that our city and town officials are appropriately notified when an agency like the Department of Correction contemplates placing a facility in one of our municipalities. This is needed protection for our residents and neighborhoods.”
Steve,
Is this sufficient protection for Bridgeport? Perhaps the sense of the bill should be for the State DOC to provide such programs with concern for locations where residents come from.
In recent years we discovered Bridgeport was home to all but one such program in Fairfield County, yet Bridgeport residents were only about 40% of the population to be served. Share the populations so regionally we become more aware of the realities, rather than assume Bridgeport is the “go to” for housing known problem citizens, using up scarce areas of an already dense City.
30-day notice does not seem like much if Zoning issues or appeals have already been settled with no notice to the community as to what the property is prepared for. Under the alternative I suggest, we should have no added beds of this type for 10-15 years into the future, if ever. Time will tell.
Well if this passes in its current form, can’t an addendum tune it up in the future? Bills morph into more practical versions with more appropriate applications as the norm, I thought.
Bills may morph into other things but why not shoot for the best from the get go? Representative Stafstrom’s heart may be in the right spot but maybe his head isn’t. And what does all of this mean? Mayor we are giving you 30 days notice of another hallway house coming to your city. There is nothing you can do about it but you have 30 days. Gee thanks Steve.