In first interview, Michelle Troconis talks about the lack of healthcare for incarcerated women

Michelle Troconis appears in court during the first day of Troconis' habeas trial at Rockville Superior Court in Vernon, Conn. on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. Troconis is challenging her 14-year prison sentence in connection with the death of Jennifer Dulos. She also advocating for better health care for those incarcerated in the state of Connecticut. Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media Graphic: Bryan

Michelle Troconis can recite in detail the struggles of women incarcerated at York

Correctional Institution who aren’t receiving their medication for mental health concerns or treatment for a serious condition in time to prevent further pain and deterioration.

“I know several women that have been in constant pain for cracked tooth, bladder infections, diabetes, anxiety, depression, foot anomalies and waiting for surgeries for more than seven years and still waiting, and many other medical urgencies and nothing happens,” she wrote to CT Insider through the prison's messaging system.

For the past two years, the 51-year old Troconis has witnessed the lack of safe and accessible healthcare among female inmates and has vowed to do something about it.

That’s because she is one of them.

Troconis is serving a 14.-year sentence in the death of Jennifer Dulos, a New Canaan mother of five whose body has not been found.

Troconis entered the prison system on March 1, 2024, the day a jury found her guilty of several charges related to Dulos' death and disappearance, including conspiracy to commit murder. She maintains her innocence and has a pending appeal and habeas motion seeking to have her conviction overturned on the grounds her first attorney was ineffective.

In her first interview, done through the prison’s messaging system, Troconis said she and her family have continually advocated for better conditions, including healthcare, since she was first incarcerated. “I have been very active during my confinement at York and I have been the voice of many that are going through the same or similar situation,” she wrote in one of her messages in March. “Once I am able to be out of York, I will continue to advocate for all women at York and all the inhumane conditions” that people face while incarcerated in Connecticut, she added.

Her complaints are supported by data submitted in a report issued this month by the state’s correctional ombudsman DeVaughn Ward who said the agency’s own figures show that more than 1,500 inmates across Connecticut’s prisons have been waiting months — in some cases up to two years — for specialty care.

The state Department of Correction issued a response less than a week later, saying the agency would prioritize speciality visits for those most in need in two weeks and develop a plan to address how to manage the outpatient healthcare needs of inmates.

DOC officials said in a statement issued Monday that the women housed at York have daily access to fruit and vegetables, must walk outside to and from programs and dining areas and can participate in structured exercise classes such as pilates, Zumba, yoga and fitness training.

They also can receive help with their struggles with addiction, according to Andrius Banevicius, spokesperson for the DOC.

The menus meet or exceed the U.S. Department of Agriculture dietary reference intakes and recommended dietary allowances by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academies of Sciences Engineering, and Medicine, and the prison's opioid treatment program is in compliance with standards and is accredited by The National Commission on Correctional Health Care, Banevicius said.

"The Department of Correction was among the first — starting with a pilot program at the New Haven Correctional Center in 2013 — correctional agencies in the country to provide Medical Assisted Treatment to incarcerated individuals who otherwise would have had to go through acute withdrawal symptoms as a result of their substance abuse disorder," he said.

In addition to both inpatient and outpatient treatment programs for women affected with addiction, the facility also offers a variety of fellowship programs, including Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Al-Anon, Codependence Anonymous and Wellbriety, a program tailored for indigenous communities, according to Banevicius.

For the Troconis family, bringing awareness to the needs of incarcerated individuals in Connecticut has become a passion, she and other family members said.

A second report issued by Ward in the past few weeks concluded that Troconis was strip-searched in violation of DOC policies leading him to recommend better training for all staff.

Out of concern and desperation, other female inmates at York will seek medical advice from her father Carlos Troconis, a cardiovascular surgeon, who provides them with professional opinions that they can follow, she said.

Her sister testified before the state’s legislature on the excessive number of lockdowns that the family says has cost them $13,000 in airfares, hotels, car rentals and food, as they come in from Miami to visit Troconis only to be turned away from York, the state’s only prison for women in Niantic, because no one is allowed inside.

“On Jan 30th, my sister spoke on my behalf on a legislation hearing and exposed all the unreasonable and extended lockdowns and how it affected my family and the burden emotionally and economically on us all,” she said. “During the course of 2025, they have traveled to see me and 36% of those visits we have been unable to see each other.”

Troconis, perhaps the state’s highest-profile female inmate, herself had been waiting months for specialty care to address a medical issue that was leading to pain, bleeding and possibly could cause an infection.

Her intrauterine device should have been replaced two years ago, she and her father said through the prison’s messaging system and through his text messages.

She submitted requests several times to get state Department of Correction healthcare staff to schedule an appointment for a gynecologist but that didn’t happen, her father Carlos Troconis said, until reporters from CT Insider began reviewing her case of medical neglect and others.

She also needs eyewear that corrects her vision to eliminate headaches while she’s working to transcribe books into braille for children, her job at the prison.

Her IUD should have been replaced in June 2024, but she was incarcerated by that point and hadn’t been scheduled to see a gynecologist despite repeated requests, she and her father said.

The result has been cramping and bleeding and the risk of a potential infection caused by a device that was meant to be replaced after five years in use, they said.

It also took a year for Troconis to be seen by a dentist and she’s still waiting for an eye appointment, she said.

The avid water-skier and equestrian educator also spoke of the women at York who aren’t receiving their mental health medication, which impacts their behavior.

“The ratio of mental health providers per population of incarcerated women is strongly disproportionate,” she said. “The constant complain(t)s either from providers and women incarcerated is the lack of personnel the facility has to cover in each department. The undiagnosed mental health issues and the wrong treatments given to unrelated diagnosis is very tangible.”

The women of York need therapy and rehabilitation, and “this place does the opposite,” Troconis said.

There are numerous women struggling with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorders and addiction, but she said her cellmates have talked often of receiving the wrong dose or wrong medication for the problem — or receiving no medication at all.

“Medical at York has a lack of communication with women’s outside providers,” Troconis said. “Sometimes they go for weeks or months without their medication affecting their behavior and in one case, one had to go to medical because she couldn’t handle her anxiety that was related also with a pain on an ankle that she had surgery on years ago but was in pain and anxiety/depression medication.”

She also said women with substance abuse disorders aren’t given methadone, which treats opioid addiction, in regular amounts. “I just hear women complaining that they need to go down on doses and they struggle,” she said. “They keep them in high doses and it seems like it keeps them asleep all day long. I don’t do drugs so I don’t understand on each one on a case by case issue. I can see the shift in their behavior and the suffering it causes. Some need to constantly chew on candy, snacks, others just sleep all day. They are in emotional distress and physical pain every day.”

A 2020 report done by the state’s Sentencing Commission showed that 80% of female inmates in Connecticut said they suffered from a mental health issue.

Treatment for medical and mental health issues are often delayed or denied for months or even years, she said — a fact corroborated by Ward’s report.

York inmates are required to fill out a form to request healthcare services. The forms are then placed by the women in a medical box in each housing unit, Troconis said. According to DOC directives, the agency has 15 days to deal with the request.

But that’s rarely what happens, she added. Often, female inmates are sending several requests for the same health concern because there is no acknowledgement of the form and no action on being seen for specialty care, she said.

“This is a huge problem because we never know if they in fact are reading our forms and sometimes if there is an emergency, our life is in jeopardy,” Troconis said. “I am stuck in the DOC system with no solution to my problem.”

There is also a lack of the simplest preventative care measures that would help women remain healthy during incarceration, her father said.

Women are allowed three 30-minute periods a week outside, which serves as physical fitness time, if the facility isn’t on lockdown or there isn’t a lack of staff, she said.

They are fed few fresh fruits or vegetables, and have diets that are high in processed meat and other ultra-processed foods, with little access to multivitamins unless they are purchased at the commissary, Troconis added.

There is a lack of good dental and eye care, while regulating medication for addiction and other mental health concerns is also a problem — with some women going without treatment for months, which impacts their day-to-day behavior, the 51-year-old said.

Her story is not uncommon, she’s learned. Every day at York, women’s health needs go unaddressed, leaving a vulnerable population with few options to take care of their bodies and their minds, she said.

According to Ward’s report, there were more than 2,300 outstanding approvals for specialty medical care for inmates across all of Connecticut’s prisons that haven’t been scheduled. Some incarcerated individuals have been waiting two years to see a specialist, he said.

Ward is now calling on state officials to form a plan to engage every hospital in Connecticut to help reduce the backlog.

The elder Troconis said he has passed on ideas to Ward for a continuum of care for incarcerated women that would save money and lives. So far, his recommendations have not been implemented.

It’s fairly simple, Carlos Troconis said. Women have different health needs than men, which include preventative screenings for gynecological and breast cancers, healthy foods including more access to fresh fruit and vegetables, more sunlight to boost vitamin D levels and more physical activity that helps maintain a healthy weight.

“Beyond Michelle’s individual case, I want to express my broader concern about what appears to be a pattern of delayed access to preventive care for incarcerated women,” Carlos Troconis said in a text message. “Preventive medicine is a fundamental component of healthcare, and incarcerated individuals should not lose access to it. This is particularly important in women’s health, where delays in routine evaluations can lead to avoidable complications.” Screenings should include a mammogram to check for breast cancer every one to two years for women over age 40, a Pap smear every three years for women ages 21 to 65 to check for cervical cancer and a colonoscopy every five years — or every year if a polyp was found — for women aged 50 or older, he said.

“Female inmates should have access to a variety of programs, including vocational training, reentry programs, and healthcare services,” Carlos Troconis said.

“Sunlight exposure is a fundamental process for vitamin D production, which is critical for bone formation and regeneration, immune function, and other vital processes. It would also be worth assessing the supplementation of vitamin D for inmates.”

His advocacy is personal, Carlos Troconis said, but it is not limited to his daughter. He said he believes that medical ethics don’t end at the prison gates and that all incarcerated individuals should receive timely, appropriate and humane medical care.

“I firmly believe in her innocence and in her right to remain safe, treated with humanity and dignity during the time she is required to remain in custody,” he said. “However, my concern extends equally to all individuals under the care of the correctional system. Regardless of the nature of their convictions, incarcerated persons remain human beings. They retain their civil and human rights, including the right to adequate medical care. These rights are not privileges; they are fundamental obligations that the State must uphold. This is not simply a legal issue, it is a matter of medical ethics, public accountability, and basic human decency.”

April 29, 2026 | Updated April 29, 2026 11:40 a.m.

Lisa Backus

STAFF WRITER

Lisa Backus is a local, state and national award winning crime reporter who covers breaking news and criminal justice policy for Hearst Connecticut Media Group. When she's not working she can be found hanging out with her animal companions Spot and Morgan and her six grandchildren.