July 15, 2024
Via Electronic Mail
Senator Karen Spilka
President of the Senate
Representative Ronald Mariano
Speaker of the House
Representative Aaron Michlewitz
Chairperson, House Committee on Ways and Means
Chairperson, Joint Committee on Ways and Means
Aaron.M.Michlewitz@mahouse.gov
Senator Michael Rodrigues
Chairperson, Senate Committee on Ways and Means
Chairperson, Joint Committee on Ways and Means
Michael.Rodrigues@masenate.gov
Representative John Lawn, Jr.
Chairperson, Joint Committee on Healthcare Financing
Senator Cindy Friedman
Chairperson, Joint Committee on Health Care Financing
Vice Chair, Senate Committee on Ways and Means
Vice Chair, Joint Committee on Ways and Means
RE: 36 Organizations Urge Support of Criminal Legal System Reform
Dear Senate President Spilka, Speaker Mariano, Chair Michlewitz, Chair Rodrigues, Chair Lawn, and Chair Friedman:
We are a coalition of 36 advocacy organizations focused on improving public health and safety through corrections system reform. We are heartened that several important and broadly supported criminal legal reform policies were advanced out of committee, reflecting the legislature’s commitment to the well-being of incarcerated people and our communities. We believe that now is the time to move these bills to the floor, all of which would affirm the human rights of incarcerated individuals, prepare them for successful re-entry, reduce racial inequity, and promote the health and safety of our communities. Passing these bills is especially important in this moment of transition at the Department of Correction — we have an opportunity to reshape correctional culture in a way that is more conducive to rehabilitation, prioritizes continuing to safely reduce the prison population, and improves transitions back to the community. We urge you to bring the following bills to floor votes with enough time before the end of the session to ensure that if there is a veto, there is time to override.
Currently in the Joint Committee for Health Care Finance
- An Act to ensure appropriate access to medical parole, H.2319 (reported favorably from the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security): This bill would carry forward the promise of medical parole, which was established by the 2018 Criminal Justice Reform Act (CJRA). It clarifies language to ensure that people with cognitive incapacitations have access to the process, reduces delays, and provides for appropriate parole supervision and judicial review.
Currently in the Senate Committee on Ways and Means
- An Act establishing a jail and prison construction moratorium, S.2821 (reported favorably from the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight): Amidst a record low and declining prison and jail population, this bill would establish a five year pause on prison and jail construction and expansion so we can focus on further reducing the number of people in prisons and jails, implementing alternatives to incarceration, and investing in communities. The bill will not prevent essential repairs. The legislature passed a previous version of this bill last session, but it was vetoed by the previous administration.
- An Act to promote rehabilitation including guaranteed health, treatment, and safety for incarcerated LGBTQI+ People, S.1499 (reported favorably from the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security): This bill promotes the health and safety of LGBTQI+ incarcerated people.
- An Act transferring Bridgewater State Hospital from the Department of Corrections to the Department of Mental Health, S.1239/ H.2985 (reported out favorably from the Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery) This bill will address enduring issues with mental health care by transferring operation and oversight of Bridgewater State Hospital to the Department of Mental Health (DMH) from the Department of Correction (DOC).
Currently in the House Committee on Ways and Means
- An Act related to rehabilitation, re-entry, and human rights for incarcerated persons, H.2325 (reported favorably from the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security): This bill would establish universal baseline standards for conditions of confinement for everyone incarcerated in Massachusetts state prisons, county jails, and houses of correction. The standards would actualize reforms to restrictive housing enshrined in the CJRA, reduce the harm incarcerated people experience and help support successful re-entry into the community.
- An Act to strengthen family and community connection with incarcerated people, H.2314 (reported favorably from the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security): This bill rolls back unnecessary restrictions on prison and jail visitation, which is a critical system for maintaining community connections and supporting successful re-entry.
- An Act establishing parole review for aging incarcerated people, H.2397 (reported favorably from the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security): While the prison population overall is decreasing, the percentage of the population who are elderly is increasing. This bill would provide an opportunity for parole for all incarcerated people over the age of 55 who have already served half of their sentence or at least 15 years.
- An Act ensuring access to addiction services, H.1966/S.1247 (reported favorably from the committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery): This bill would end the practice of incarcerating men who have not been convicted of any crime but who have been civilly committed for involuntary treatment for alcohol and substance use disorders under M.G.L. chapter 123, section 35 (also known as “Section 35”).
Currently in the Budget Conference Committee
- Ensuring full implementation of No Cost Calls: Last year, Massachusetts passed legislation to guarantee free communication between incarcerated individuals and their loved ones (“No Cost Calls”). This policy has already improved vital community connections for incarcerated people and their families. To continue this progress and ensure effective implementation, we need both dedicated funding and robust reporting by the Department of Correction and County Sheriffs. We ask the budget conference committee to dedicate $35M in the Communications Access Trust Fund for No Cost Calls in prisons and jails (item 1595-6153 in the House FY 2025 budget proposal) and to make technical fixes to the reporting requirements, so that policymakers have the information they need to effectively monitor the No Cost Calls law (Section 29 A&B of the Senate FY 2025 budget proposal).
Together, the above bills will create effective implementation of existing law, advance human rights, improve conditions of confinement, promote successful re-entry, provide meaningful pathways to safe release for elderly people and those who are very sick or incapacitated, and help to ensure that we invest commonwealth resources in our communities.
As the formal session enters its last weeks, we strongly believe that there is still time to meaningfully reform our corrections system to further public health and safety, reduce racial inequity, and support commonwealth communities. Indeed, we believe it is urgent to do so.
Thank you for your time and attention to these important issues.
Sincerely,
Abolitionist Mail Project
ACLU of Massachusetts
Actual Criminal Justice Roundtable of the Southern New England United Church of Christ
Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network (BIJAN)
Bristol County for Correctional Justice
Campaign to End Life Without Parole (CELWOP)
Coalition for Effective Public Safety (CEPS) Steering Committee
Coalition for Social Justice Action
Coalition for Social Justice Education Fund
Color Of Change
Committee for Public Counsel Services
CORI Initiative, Center for Law & Social Responsibility at New England Law | Boston
Decarcerate Western MA Bailout Project
DeeperThanWater Coalition
Disability Law Center
Drop LWOP New England
F8 Foundation
Families for Justice as Healing
First Parish Brookline, Unitarian Universalist
First Parish Concord, Unitarian Universalist
First Parish in Bedford, Unitarian Universalist
Greater Boston Legal Services CORI & Re-entry Project
Human Rights at Home Clinic, UMass Law School
Jane Doe Inc., The Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence
Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee
Massachusetts Against Solitary Confinement (MASC)
Massachusetts Association for Mental Health
Massachusetts Parole Preparation Partnership
Massachusetts Peace Action
Prison Policy Initiative
Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts
Progressive Massachusetts
Real Cost of Prisons Project
Showing Up for Racial Justice Boston
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
Unitarian Universalist Mass Action
Women and Incarceration Project
