Connecticut

The Connecticut Department of Correction runs a unified correctional system: since 1968, the same state agency has held both people awaiting trial and people serving sentences, and Connecticut has no county jails. It holds about 10,900 people as of early 2026, down sharply from a peak near 19,900 in 2008. The agency uses the word “inmate”; these guides use plain language like “incarcerated person.”

What “unified” means for families: a person who is arrested and cannot post bond is held in a DOC facility from the start — not a town or county jail — and if they are later sentenced, they stay in the DOC system, sometimes at the same facility. The DOC’s rules, locator, and visiting procedures cover everyone in custody, whether accused (the term for pretrial) or sentenced.

Connecticut runs 13 adult facilities. The largest is MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, which is also the men’s reception center; York Correctional Institution in Niantic is the only women’s facility and the women’s reception center. Several facilities — including Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport — function mainly as pretrial jails serving their court regions, while others (Osborn, Robinson, Cheshire) hold mostly sentenced men, and Garner focuses on mental health. The former supermax, Northern, closed in 2021.

To find someone, use the Inmate Information Search by name or inmate number — being listed is not proof of conviction, since the database includes people held before trial. Connecticut uses VINE for custody and release alerts. One thing sets Connecticut apart: phone calls, video, and messaging are free to families — Connecticut was the first state to make prison phone calls free.

Use the guides below for the statewide rules at Connecticut facilities, or go straight to a specific one.