International Collaboration

International Collaboration2023-09-18T19:12:45-05:00

Norway and Germany have two of the most effective and humane correctional systems in the world. Compared to the United States, not only are incarceration and recidivism rates of these two systems substantially lower, but the conditions for all stakeholders are healthier due to a primary focus on prisoner well-being (restorative justice) rather than their perceived debt to society (retributive justice). Over the past two decades, Connecticut has taken several steps to reform and improve its prison and overall justice systems – including a historic trip to German prisons by former Governor Dannel Malloy and Department of Correction Commissioner Scott Semple. However, compared to Norway and Germany, we continue to operate a system that is socially, psychologically, and economically in need of significant reform.

The International Justice Exchange program is designed to provide ground-level stakeholders with first-hand experiences with both Norwegian and German justice systems, document these experiences to share with non-participants, and develop model laws, policies, and regulations to be implemented within Connecticut.

Reconstituting Hope: Learning from Norway

Background Information on the Institutions2023-09-22T12:56:55-05:00

Norway and Germany have two of the most effective and humane correctional systems in the world. Compared to the US, not only are the incarceration and recidivism rates of these two systems substantially lower, but the conditions for all stakeholders (e.g. correction officers, counselors, persons incarcerated, community members, etc.) healthier due to a primary focus on prisoner well-being (restorative) rather than their perceived debt to society (retributive). Over the past two decades, Connecticut has taken several steps to reform and improve its prison and overall justice systems – including a historic trip to German prisons by former Governor Dannel Malloy and Department of Correction Commissioner Scott Semple. However, compared to Norway and Germany, we continue to operate a system that is socially, psychologically, and economically in need of significant reform. A program designed to provide ground level stakeholders first hand experiences with both Norwegian and German justice systems, document these experiences to share with non-participants, and develop model laws, policies and regulations to be implemented within Connecticut, will greatly assist our state’s reform efforts for years to come.

The Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy (IMRP) has been an active leader in criminal justice reform for over 15 years, especially on topics such as: prisoner reentry, sentencing, racial profiling, supporting children with incarcerated parents, and police transparency and accountability. In 2020, IMRP executive director Andrew Clark collaborated with the University Network for Human Rights to both recognize and provide recommendations for justice reform in Connecticut, particularly in light of the Covid epidemic. In Spring of 2022, IMRP expanded this work by establishing relationships with leaders in corrections across the Atlantic. This included the IMRP sponsorship of three webinars on Norway’s corrections systems as rehabilitation, as well as a July 2022 Connecticut/Baden-Württemberg Human Rights Research Consortium (HRRC) workshop in Tübingen, Germany, where Director Clark met with the former director of the Criminology Institute of the University of Tübingen, Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Wulf. This visit laid the groundwork for a proposed Spring 2023 visit by additional Connecticut justice system stakeholders to Tübingen and the state of Baden-Württemberg to learn more of their justice system and continue reform efforts back in Connecticut.

Travel Team & Host Bios2023-11-27T23:23:20-05:00

Norway Partners

Per Sigurd Väge

International Advisor & Director | Kriminalomsorgsdirektoratet, Norway

Per Sigurd Våge is a director in the Correctional Service of Norway. Since graduating from law studies in 1984, he has been a professional practitioner in the governmental field of justice, in various roles as a prosecutor, judge, lawyer in the police, prison governor, and since 2001 the regional director in the Correctional Service. From 2019-21 he was stationed in the bilateral mission in Kyiv, Ukraine as an international expert in the Rule of Law, enhancing the Ukrainian probation service. In all leading roles of management, development, rule of law, and security he has been innovative and motivated to enhance the organization towards evidence-based methods and best practices. His priority and perspective have been strong on each individual person serving their sentences, in a measure of stability to the social contract of each government in office. Per Sigurd is a person with an optimistic and curious mindset in his professional and private life.

Elin Schie – Med hilsen

Fengselsleder | Indre Østfold fengsel

Elin started working in the correctional service in January 2007. She worked 10 years in
Oslo prison and moved to Eidsberg prison in February 2017, where they opened a brand
new facility in June 2017. Elin is in charge of the activities and all the departments in the
prison, both high and low security.

Norway Travel Team

Danielle Cooper

Associate Professor of Criminal Justice | Director of Research of Tow Youth Justice Institute |
University of New Haven

Dr. Cooper researches youths and young adults, juvenile justice
and delinquency prevention, criminological theory, and sex offending. In addition to
her work as a Professor and Researcher, she is also a Certified Prevention Professional
who works with nonprofits and community organizations as a prevention trainer and
evaluation consultant. Through her work in the community, she has collaborated with
key stakeholders, such as youth and their parents, law enforcement, mental health
professionals, and youth serving organizations.

Barbara Fair

Licensed Clinical Social Worker | Social Justice Activist

Ms. Fair work includes raising awareness of the destabilizing impact of incarceration
on children, families, and whole communities. Included in that work is demanding
accountability for state sanctioned violence occurring unchecked within police
departments and correctional facilities across Connecticut. Seeking the end of the ugly
history of America’s treatment of marginalized people by eliminating the use of
unnecessary chaining and shackling along with the dehumanizing and humiliating
practice of strip searching people without probable cause for doing so. After several
decades of doing this work she no longer believes these systems can be reformed
without acknowledging the foundation under which it was built.

Eulalia Garcia

District Administrator & Director | CT Department of Correction Programs and Treatment Division

District Administrator Garcia started her career with the Connecticut Department of Correction in 2005 as a Correctional Counselor. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Hartford in Criminal Justice and her Masters degree from Albertus Magnus College in Management and Organizational Leadership.
She was promoted to the rank of Counselor Supervisor at the Cheshire Correctional Institution in December of 2012. On the strength of her work performance in 2017 she was promoted to the rank of Deputy Warden assigned to the Manson Youth Institute. During her time at MYI, she was heavily involved with the JJPOC, Incarceration workgroup subcommittee, Taskforce to End Homelessness, and the Racial and Ethnic Diversion subcommittee. In April of 2020, she was promoted to the rank of Warden at the Willard-Cybulski Correctional Institution. The facility’s mission focuses – through a wide range of programming opportunities – on preparing inmates for successful reintegration into the community.

Robert Gillis

Former Director of Parole and Community Services

Mr. Gillis retired after 36 years of service to the Department of Correction. During the final 18 years of his career, he served as Warden at 3 different facilities and, finally, as Director of Parole and Community Services. He was until recently a member of the Steering Committee of Stop Solitary CT(SSCT). During the past two legislative sessions, the organization vigorously advocated the abolition of solitary punishment, establishment of an ombudsman, and the creation of an oversight body to review the operations of the DOC . Successful efforts were achieved by the passage of what has been termed the PROTECT ACT during the 2022 session of the General Assembly. Mr. Gillis also served as one of the editors and writers of a monograph sponsored by the Malta Justice Initiative titled The Justice Imperative: How Hyperincarceration Has Hijacked the American Dream.

Aileen Keays

Senior Project Director | Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy

Ms. Keays works closely with leaders of Connecticut’s criminal justice agencies,
community members, not-for-profits, advocates, and legislators to promote effective
public policy and practice through program development, research, consultation,
project management, program evaluation, consultation, technical assistance, and
training. Ms. Keays has managed the Institute’s Children with Incarcerated Parents
Initiative since 2008, overseeing several projects related to parental incarceration.
Under Ms. Keays’ leadership, the Initiative has provided supportive funding to serve
hundreds of Connecticut children with incarcerated parents, and to evaluate the effect
those interventions had on children. In addition to directing the CIP Initiative, Ms.
Keays has served on the Judicial Branch’s Access to Justice Commission and staffed the
Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparity in the Criminal Justice System.

Brittany LaMarr

Project Manager | Tow Youth Justice Institute (Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee)

Brittany is a tireless advocate for human rights, youth justice, and legal policy reforms across state, national, and international levels. With a B.A. in Political Science from UConn, where she is also an MPP & J.D. Candidate. Brittany personifies the power of education as an alum of Yale Law School’s Access to Law Fellowship and a Frederic Bastiat Fellow of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She brings her unique blend of lived experience and scholarship to her many leadership roles, serving as: Assistant Director of the National Prison Debate League, Project Manager of the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee with the Tow Youth Justice Institute, Smart Justice Leader with the ACLU of Connecticut, Justice Advisor with Connecticut Justice Alliance, and as a member of the New England Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Prison.

David McGuire

David J. McGuire joined the ACLU of Connecticut as a staff attorney in 2007 and served as its legislative and policy director from 2015 through 2016. In 2016, McGuire was chosen to lead the organization as its executive director. In his decade-plus with the ACLU-CT, McGuire has litigated cases to protect incarcerated people’s rights, separation of church, and state, and free speech rights. He also played a leading role in advocating for police accountability and successfully pressed for the passage of dozens of laws to protect civil rights and liberties. A past recipient of Connecticut Magazine’s “40 Under 40” award, McGuire also is the chair of the Connecticut Special Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights serves on the state’s Racial Profiling Prohibition Project Advisory Board, and is a member of the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Criminal Justice System. McGuire received his B.A. in history from Purdue University and graduated cum laude from Western New England University School of Law.

Robyn A. Porter

State Representative, 94th District

State Representative Robyn A. Porter has championed legislation that has provided fair wages and supportive workspaces for Connecticut’s labor force reformed the state’s criminal and juvenile justice systems, increased protections for domestic violence victims, advanced pay equity laws for women, and so much more. Rep. Porter is the House Chair of the Labor and Public Employees committee, is a member of both the Appropriations and Judiciary committees, and is co-chair of the Education Subcommittee on the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee. She has authored and sponsored legislation that supports a more equitable judicial system in Connecticut. That legislation most recently, reforms occupational licensure for justice-impacted people, restores respect, dignity, and fairer treatment for incarcerated women creates a Hate Crimes Investigation Unit within the State Police, limits solitary confinement, establishes an office on gun violence prevention, continues to advance the body cameras program, police accountability, and Connecticut’s new Clean Slate laws.

Iliana Pujols​

Policy Director | Connecticut Justice Alliance

Iliana began her work with the Alliance in late 2017 as one of the founding members of the Justice Advisors. She played a critical role in recruiting, training, and supporting the Justice Advisors as well as determining the policies and practices of the organization’s work. Iliana currently serves as a member of the 2021 World Congress on Justice with Children Child and Youth Advisory Group. She is a frequent panelist for national organizations, speaking to her expertise around youth and young adult partnership and advocacy based on her personal experiences and professional success.

Trina Sexton

Warden, York Correctional Institution | Connecticut Department of Correction

Warden Sexton has worked for the CT Department of Correction for nearly 15 years and currently is the Warden at York CI, a correctional facility that serves incarcerated adult women, transgender males, transgender females, and female youth being adjudicated in the adult system. In alignment with the Agency’s mission to be leaders in progressive correctional practice, Sexton has implemented numerous specialized programs throughout her career to support reintegration, employment, women, veterans, emerging adults, and families impacted by incarceration. Her strategic plan for York CI includes a focus on staff wellness, development, and training as well as expansion of model practices focusing on rehabilitation, restorative justice, and human dignity.

Jacob Werblow

Professor, Curriculum & Instruction | Central Connecticut State University

Dr. Werblow has served as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar (Kyoto, Japan), Harber Fellow in Education at Wesleyan University. He is a certified school administrator, and was a public-school teacher in Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA. His research interests include: school equity, parent engagement, and prison reform. Jacob co-authored several research projects with the IMRP, including Life on Parole (LOP) Case Study: Measuring the Impact of The New York Times and Frontline’s Collaboration in Connecticut and Beyond (2019) and a Program Evaluability Study of Culinary Arts Programs in the Connecticut Department of Correction (2015).

Hope Metcalf

Executive Director, Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights | Faculty at Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic | Yale University

From 2010 to 2014, Metcalf directed the Liman Program and co-taught the Liman Workshop and the Liman Project, an experiential course on criminal justice reform. Prior to that, Metcalf supervised the National Litigation Project of the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, which was founded in 2002 to respond to rights violations arising out of U.S. counterterrorism policy. Metcalf’s teaching and research focus on the rights of people in various forms of detention, and she regularly consults with national and international organizations on those subjects. With her clinic students, Metcalf has co-counseled lawsuits before U.S. courts and international for a against the Bush and Obama administrations relating to the torture and indefinite detention of terrorism suspects. Through the Lowenstein Clinic, Metcalf and her students have investigated human rights violations in Connecticut, including solitary confinement, conditions on death row, and the criminalization of homelessness, and have supported local campaigns on those issues.

John Lucas

Director of Visual Content | Institute of Municipal and Regional Policy

Mr. Lucas has worked as a documentary photographer, visual artist and filmmaker for more than 25 years. His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries both nationally and internationally including the Brooklyn Art Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, Redcat (Los Angeles), OK Harris Works of Art (NYC), The Smithsonian Museum (DC), Pulitzer Arts Foundation (MO), La Panaderia (Mexico City), Aeroplastics Contemporary, (Brussels) and Fieldgate Gallery (London). His work has appeared in print including the Atlantic Monthly, Art in America, Artforum, The New York Times and Vogue magazine.

Magnus Stark

Magnus Stark is a visual artist and a professional photographer born in Linköping, Sweden who lives and works in Miami, Florida.

Human Dignity: Learning from Baden-Württemberg

Background Information on the Institutions2023-09-22T13:16:04-05:00

Institute of Criminology, University of Tübingen

The Institute of Criminology was founded in 1962 within the Faculty of Law of the University of Tubingen.

Research spans a variety of topics, including criminal sanctions, violent crimes, reentry from prison, sexual delinquency, and juvenile criminology.

2022 publications address issues including cybercrime victimization, democratic education in juvenile prisons, and rehabilitation of terrorists.

The Institute maintains a large criminology library as well as the Criminological Information Service, which contributes to the supply and distribution of criminology literature.

Institute of Criminology Brochure

Ministry for Justice and Migration Baden-Württemberg

The ministry for Justice and Migration is one of 12 ministries in Baden-Wurttemberg.

It contains the courts, prosecutors, correctional system, and probation office.

The other side of the ministry deals with immigration, migration, visitation, and asylum.

Ministry for Justice and Migration Website

State Office for Probation and Court Assistance

This office exists within the Ministry for Justice and Migration, and handles probation, court assistance, and victim-offender mediation.

The broad goals of the office are to reintegrate offenders into society and reduce recidivism.

In 2021 the office had about 17,300 offenders in the probation service and handled over 10,000 orders of court assistance and about 1,500 orders of victim-offender mediation.

State Office for Probation and Court Assistance Website

Stuttgart Prison

Stuttgart Prison (also known as Stammheim prison) opened as a supermax prison in 1964. It has been renovated and expanded many times since then. Capacity (as of 2018) was 739.

Stuttgart has both single and group detention rooms, with separate bathrooms and shared showers and kitchens. Prisoners can pay a fee for access to a television and can purchase other things like fans or game consoles.

Stuttgart has three full time and 2 volunteer teachers, and 250 jobs available to inmates

Stuttgart Prison Website

Seehaus Leonberg

Seehaus Leonberg is a home and school for delinquent youth 24 and younger, especially those who have committed violent crimes.

5-7 youth live in the house with “house parents” and their children, simulating a family environment rather than a prison environment for youth.

They offer a 1-year vocational program in which youth can begin an apprenticeship in construction, metalworking, carpentry, gardening, or landscaping.

Seehaus Leonberg Website

Präventsozial

Präventsozial is an NGO that works to prevent crime and recidivism in youth and adults.

Their projects include:

  • INSA+2, a work program for former inmates
  • Assisted living for those released from prison or struggling with addiction, trauma, or delinquency.
  • Outpatient care for violent offenders and sex offenders
  • Community service placement and assistance for those on probation
  • Parent-child relationship assistance for incarcerated parents and their children
  • Animal therapy for offenders, those at risk of offending, and victims.
  • Financial advice and support for offenders
  • Victim and witness support

Praevantsozial Website

Project Chance in Creglingen-Frauental

Project Chance is the sister project of Seehaus Leonberg.

Has capacity for up to 15 youth and works with youth ages 14-21

Also works with old prisoners being released and helps reintegrate or place them.

Project Chance Website

Travel Team & Host Bios2023-11-02T17:18:41-05:00

German Partners

Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Wolf

Honorary Professor of Criminal Sciences (University of Tübingen)

Rüdiger Wulf was born in 1951. He studied law and criminology at the University of Tübingen. In 1978, he completed his doctorate there with an empirical doctoral thesis on the criminal careers of 141 prisoners serving life sentences. In 1979, he entered the higher judicial service of the state of Baden-Württemberg. He was a criminal judge at the Stuttgart Regional Court and a (juvenile) public prosecutor in Stuttgart. In 1983, he became a clerk, and later counsellor at the Ministry of Justice of Baden-Württemberg. There he was responsible for the supervision of prisons in Baden-Württemberg, for legislative procedures in the penal system and for reform projects in the penal system. He retired in 2017. Since 1985, he has been a lecturer at the Faculty of Law in Tübingen, where he has been an honorary professor of criminal sciences since 2008. He is also a member of the Gambling Research Centre at the University of Hohenheim and 22 the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Tübingen.

Dr. Niels Weidtmann

Director, College of Fellows Center for Interdisciplinary and Intercultural Studies University of Tübingen

The College of Fellows (CoF) was officially inaugurated in April 2022 as a central institution of the University of Tübingen within the framework of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments. With the CoF, the University of Tübingen is establishing a university-based Institute for Advanced Studies, which is aimed at all international guest researchers. In doing so, the University is developing the Center for Interdisciplinary and Intercultural Studies further. In addition to the centrally nominated fellows, the CoF is open to all research fellows invited to the faculties and financed by third-party funds.

Dr. Weidtmann is also a member of the Connecticut/Baden-Württemberg Human Rights Research Consortium and Co-Chair of the Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights working group. His research areas include: Phenomenology and Hermeneutics, Intercultural Philosophy, African Philosophy, Structural Philosophy, Philosophical Anthropology, and Philosophy of Science. He studied at the University of Würzburg and Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

German Travel Team

Andrew Clark

Director | Institute of Municipal and Regional Policy, UCONN

Mr. Clark works to facilitate efficient and effective solutions to critical issues facing Connecticut policymakers. The IMRP brings together a dedicated team of UConn faculty, staff, and students with state and national experts to provide immediate and long-range policy solutions.

Brittany LaMarr

Project Manager | Tow Youth Justice Institute (Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee)

Brittany is a tireless advocate for human rights, youth justice, and legal policy reforms across state, national, and international levels. With a B.A. in Political Science from UConn, where she is also an MPP & J.D. Candidate. Brittany personifies the power of education as an alum of Yale Law School’s Access to Law Fellowship and a Frederic Bastiat Fellow of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She brings her unique blend of lived experience and scholarship to her many leadership roles, serving as: Assistant Director of the National Prison Debate League, Project Manager of the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee with the Tow Youth Justice Institute, Smart Justice Leader with the ACLU of Connecticut, Justice Advisor with Connecticut Justice Alliance, and a member of the New England Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Prison.

TaShun Bowden-Lewis

Chief Public Defender, Connecticut (Member of the CT Sentencing Commission)

TaShun Bowden-Lewis is a criminal defense attorney and was appointed as the State of Connecticut’s first Black Chief Public Defender in 2022. A graduate of the Quinnipiac University School of Law, she has worked for the Division of Public Defender Services for 26 years. She is a 2023 James W. Cooper Fellow. TaShun is also an Associate Professor at Post University in Waterbury, where she developed a Black History course. TaShun has chaired a local, grassroots organization focused on racial equality in her community. She has served on an advisory board for a local Connecticut high school and has also worked on several boards to ensure that troubled youth and their families receive services that address the mind, body, and spirit. TaShun facilitates workshops and seminars for at-risk youth and young women throughout Fairfield County. She is also a mentor and commits countless hours volunteering with youth and young adults.

Alex Tsarkov

Executive Director of the Connecticut State Sentencing Commission

Alex Tsarkov is Executive Director of the Connecticut Sentencing Commission. Mr. Tsarkov joined the Commission as its first full-time Executive Director in November 2015. 15 As Director, he assists the Commission in its mission to review pre-trial and sentencing policies and make policy recommendations to the General Assembly and the Governor. Prior to joining the Commission, Alex worked for the Judicial Branch Court Support Services Division (JB-CSSD). Prior to JB-CSSD, he worked at the Connecticut General Assembly from 2007 to 2013. Alex worked on numerous issues affecting the state’s criminal justice system including diversionary programs, eyewitness identification, juvenile sentencing and pretrial justice. Alex is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Connecticut School of Public Policy and the University of Connecticut School of Law. He holds a Master of Public Policy degree from Trinity College and is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Patrick J. Griffin

Chief State’s Attorney, Connecticut (Member of the CT Sentencing Commission)

Patrick J. Griffin was appointed Chief State’s Attorney by the Criminal Justice Commission on May 12, 2022. As Chief State’s Attorney, Attorney Griffin is the administrative head of the Division of Criminal Justice, the independent agency of the executive branch of state government that is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of all criminal matters in the State of Connecticut.

Attorney Griffin has been a prosecuting attorney with the Division of Criminal Justice for more than 25 years. Prior to his appointment to Chief State’s Attorney, Attorney Griffin was the State’s Attorney for the New Haven Judicial District. Before serving in New Haven, Attorney Griffin worked at the Waterbury State’s Attorney’s Office from 1996 through 2011, the last approximately eight years of which he spent in the Part A court where he successfully tried numerous felony cases to verdict.

In 2013, Attorney Griffin was promoted to Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney in charge of the Cold Case & Shooting Task Force Bureau at the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney. As the supervising prosecutor, he directed a combined staff of prosecutors, inspectors, federal agents, municipal police detectives and Connecticut Department of Correction personnel who were responsible for the investigation and prosecution of unsolved violent crimes throughout the State of Connecticut as well as staffing local shooting task forces in Hartford and New Haven.

In 2014, Attorney Griffin was designated as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut and tasked with the investigation and prosecution of cold case homicides in federal court.

In 2015, Attorney Griffin received the Oliver Ellsworth Connecticut Prosecutor of the Year award.

Attorney Griffin earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Bonaventure University in New York and his law degree from Creighton University School of Law in Nebraska.

James Jeter

Full Citizen’s Coalition | Civic Allyship @Dwight Hall, Yale University

James Jeter recently worked as the Tow Foundation Fellow with the Yale Prison Education Initiative. He is a New Haven native who spent 20 years incarcerated at Cheshire Correctional Institution, where he completed 20 credited college courses with Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education. James is currently enrolled at Trinity College and is the co-director of the Full Citizen’s Coalition to Unlock the Vote.

Gary Roberge

Executive Director, Court Support Services Division, CT Judicial Branch

Gary A. Roberge is the Executive Director of the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch, Court Support Services Division (JB-CSSD). He directs and manages over 1,200 employees involved with Adult and Juvenile Probation, Family Services (criminal and civil), Juvenile Detention, Alternative Sanctions and Pretrial Release (Bail). He guides the planning, coordination and implementation of the Division’s diverse programs and functions, including the supervision of over 30,000 adult probation cases, 15,466 pretrial and family relations cases, and over 1,500 juvenile probation and detention cases daily.

He is also responsible for the administration of the Division’s $120 million annual budget and oversight of the following business functions: Facilities and Materials Management, Human Resources, Information Technology, Programs and Services, Fiscal Administration, Research and Training.

JB-CSSD manages over 150 community-centered contracts that provide evidence-based client services in each Geographical Area/Judicial District Court. These services are designed to enhance judicial decision making, reduce prison/jail overcrowding, lower recidivism rates, and increase offender chances of successful reintegration. This network serves more than 7,400 adult and 250 juvenile clients daily through a continuum of interventions that 19 include residential, substance abuse treatment, behavioral health, individual and group interventions, community services, educational, clinical and vocational support.

In addition, Mr. Roberge represents the Branch and Division on the following Commission and Committees: Connecticut Sentencing Commission, Criminal Justice Policy and Advisory Commission, Juvenile Justice Policy & Oversight committee, Governor’s Non-profit Cabinet on Health and Human Services and the Alcohol and Drug Policy Council. Mr. Roberge also serves as the Interstate Compact Commissioner for the State of Connecticut, and he is Chair of the Finance Committee.

Mr. Roberge received his Bachelor of Science Degree from Eastern State University. He holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Hartford where he also received the Public Administration Management and Theory Award. Mr. Roberge is also an adjunct professor in the Central Connecticut State University Criminology Department.

Hannah Bauer

Research and Policy Specialist IMRP

Hannah is passionate about public interest law and human rights advocacy. She is a law student at the University of Freiburg, Germany majoring in German, European, and International Public Law. As part of a dual degree program, she studied at the University of Connecticut and graduated with an LL.M. in U.S. Legal Studies with specializations in Human Rights, Corporate and Regulatory Compliance and Environmental Law in May 2023. After graduating she will return to the University of Freiburg, Germany to finish her German law degree.

Hannah is dedicated to making a positive impact on the world and has worked on a diverse range of public interest and human rights law issues. As a Counsel for the Refugee Law Clinic in Freiburg, Hannah provides critical legal assistance to refugees and asylum-seekers. Her dedication to promoting social justice and advocating for marginalized communities is evident in her work. She has gained valuable research experience in international criminal law and constitutional law as a research assistant to Prof. Paulina Starski. As an Extern in the Environment Section at the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General, Hannah worked on environmental protection issues in Connecticut. At the IMRP Hannah has assisted the preparation for the trip to Germany.

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