We stay until the law changes.

SB 503 would let people who were 25 or younger at the time of their offense be considered for parole. Being considered is not the same as being released: the Board of Pardons and Paroles still decides each case.

With the Coalition for Community Healing Through Justice Reform, we ran a 120-day write-in campaign and testified at the Legislative Office Building. The bill cleared the Senate on April 28, 2026. On the last night of session the House debated it but never voted, so it did not become law.

What happens next: we are pushing to refile it when the 2027 session opens in January. Letters from Connecticut voters now decide whether it comes back stronger.

People held before trial, or serving a misdemeanor sentence, keep the right to vote. Most never get a ballot. The Department of Correction counted about 3,800 unsentenced people in its custody in 2025.

We joined Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas, Rep. Matt Blumenthal and the Yale Law School Civil Rights Advocacy Clinic to push for a law requiring the Department of Correction to give eligible voters absentee ballot applications. Since September 2024, our formerly incarcerated volunteers have also helped register voters inside eight facilities with the Secretary of the State.

Citizenship doesn't pause at the prison gate. We are building the coalition and the testimony to turn study bills into a law that lets every Connecticut citizen vote, including from prison.

For three and a half years, Unlock the Vote organized in Hartford, Waterbury, Bridgeport and New Haven. We testified year after year. In June 2021 the legislature passed, and Governor Lamont signed, Public Act 21-2, which ended felony disenfranchisement for people on parole. It restored the vote to roughly 4,000 people.

Now we make sure they know it.