Michelle Troconis strip-search violated Connecticut prison policy, report says

A Connecticut correction officer who strip-searched Michelle Troconis, pictured in court while challenging her 14-year prison sentence in the death of Jennifer Dulos, violated agency policy, a report concluded. Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media

The ombudsman for Connecticut prisons is calling for a review of directives around invasive searches after he says a female correction officer violated policy when she strip-searched Michelle Troconis, convicted for conspiracy in the death of Jennifer Dulos, a report released Monday shows.

"Instruction alone is insufficient where a clear violation" of state Department of

Correction policy occurred and where "the record reflects a misunderstanding or

normalization of practices inconsistent" with agency policy, according to DeVaughn Ward, the state's Department of Correction ombudsman.

The incident, which occurred before a visit with a family member on May 5, 2025,

left Troconis shaken, the report said. When interviewed, Troconis told Ward she felt disrespected by the guard and that correction officers often make "demeaning" comments to female prisoners during the searches.

In the report, Ward also cited concerns about the DOC investigatory process after he found inaccuracies in how the incident was reviewed by agency staff.

The ombudsman recommended the agency examine how policies are implemented since inmates should only be strip-searched after visits if there is a suspicion of wrongdoing or a heightened risk of wrongdoing, according to the report.

"In a woman's correctional facility, the arbitrary or unnecessary use of invasive strip-searches carry heightened implications," Ward said in the report.

Troconis said through the prison's messaging system that Ward took her concerns seriously.

"Once I first contacted him in May 2025 regarding the unlawful strip-search he opened an investigation and he came to visit and get my testimony, he was on the case until the final report," Troconis said.

"He is a true advocate and our voice, he cares for all incarcerated individuals in Connecticut and he has shown the community what governmental entities don't want tax payers to see. The system is failing us all."

Ward agreed to investigate the strip-search after receiving a complaint from her family in early May. After waiting months for the DOC investigative report, Ward said he received the documents when he threatened to obtain a subpoena for the information, the report said.

Troconis was strip-searched before and after the visit with her sister, the family said last year. She came to the visit visibly upset and later told Ward that the female guard said that anyone who didn't strip-search inmates before and after a visit with family "didn't do their job."

The DOC policy calls for a "pat" search after contact visits, unless there is reason to believe there is a heightened threat, Ward said.

Troconis is serving a 14.-year sentence at York Correctional Institution in Niantic, the state's only prison for women, after being convicted of several counts, including conspiracy to commit murder in the 2019 death of Jennifer Dulos, a New Canaan mother of five whose body has never been found.

"They had never searched her before a visit," her father Carlos Troconis said last year. "I don't know if this is some type of psychological torture. Michelle told her sister she had been stripped without reason. I filled out a complaint form and complained to the ombudsman."

In an email Carlos Troconis sent to Ward on May 10, he expressed his concern that it appeared his daughter was the only inmate searched before a visit a few days before.

"Given the invasive and degrading nature of strip-searches, the absence of clear,

individualized suspicion — especially when Michelle was the sole inmate searched — constitutes what I believe to be a potential violation of her constitutional rights," Carlos Troconis said in the email. "It also suggests a possible misuse of correctional authority in a retaliatory manner, which would be wholly unacceptable."

In the email, Carlos Troconis asked Ward to investigate and determine whether the agency followed its own policies and to assess whether his daughter had been targeted for "prior actions or associations."

The DOC also investigated the incident, but Ward pointed out in his report that the agency's process may have been flawed since its findings indicated it appeared two women had been strip-searched that morning before visits when video showed only Troconis being strip-searched.

The guard who conducted the strip-search was "educated" on the policy, but not

disciplined or "counseled," according to Ward. Her justification for the pre-visit search was that Troconis was out of her cell before a head count of the facility was complete, the report said. However, Ward concluded that the count had been completed before Troconis showed up in the area for the visit and it wasn't her fault that an announcement resuming normal activities wasn't made at the appropriate time.

The DOC officials said last year when asked about the incident that they had recently been approved for body scanners, which they said would significantly reduce the need for strip-searches at prisons with particularly vulnerable populations.

"It is worth noting that the Department of Correction recently was approved funding for four body scanners, which will greatly reduce the need for strip searches," a spokesperson for the agency said at the time. "Two of the body scanners are slated for installation at the York Correctional Institution (the state's only prison for females)."

The state General Assembly passed legislation this year requiring the DOC to file a report to lawmakers on the use of strip-searches by 2027. A separate report issued by a firm contracted by the DOC in 2024 said the agency uses strip-searches too often.

Troconis was the girlfriend of Fotis Dulos, who was embroiled in an acrimonious divorce with his estranged wife in 2019 when the mother of his children disappeared.

Fotis Dulos died by suicide in January 2020, three weeks after he was charged with his estranged wife's murder. Troconis was charged with conspiracy to commit murder and other crimes related to the cover up of evidence in the missing persons case.

According to arrest warrants, police believe Fotis Dulos attacked his estranged wife in the garage of her New Canaan home when she returned from dropping off their children at a nearby school around 8 a.m. on May 24,

Troconis was convicted of the charges in 2024 and is serving her time at York CI. Carlos Troconis said his family visits Michelle as often as they can even though they live in Miami, and up until the May incident, she had never been strip-searched before.

April 6, 2026

Lisa Backus

STAFF WRITER

Lisa Backus is a local, state and national awardwinning 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.