A plan to move more than 1,000 women inmates from a federal prison in Danbury to another institution in Alabama has sparked a debate over what rights prisoners have to be close to their families and lawyers.
Officials with the Federal Bureau of Prisons have been planning to turn the state's only federal prison from a female-only facility to one that houses only men. But to do that, they have to move the 1,100 women now serving time at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury to other facilities. Facing concerns about inmate's rights that were raised by a group of senators from the northeast, prison officials last week agreed to suspend the move that was planned to begin this month until they can address legal questions.
