January 23, 2024
Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security
Rep. Carlos González, House Chair
Sen. Walter Timilty, Senate Chair
Joint Testimony in Support of An Act to Strengthen Visitation Rights of incarcerated people (S.1541) and An Act to Strengthen Family and Community Connection with Incarcerated People (H.2314)
Dear Chair González, Chair Timilty, and Honorable Members of the Committee:
We, the undersigned organizations, were active in the advocacy for No Cost Calls, and we applaud the Legislature’s recent work in passing that legislation. There is more work to be done on the vital issue of keeping families connected. In that spirit, we write to you today to urge you to give a favorable report to S.1541 and H.2314.
This legislation is needed because too often, people hoping to visit a friend or relative encounter barriers, disrespectful treatment, or even being turned away because of arbitrary dress codes or routine operations such as drills. Under current rules, people fortunate to have a big circle of support must choose a small number of people who can be approved to visit. This legislation will lift that cap and guarantee certain minimum standards, such as adequate visiting hours and the ability to hold one’s child during a visit. It will also allow for visits when an incarcerated person is hospitalized in critical condition, a time when everyone needs the comfort of loving attention from people they know.
Decades of research document the many benefits when people who are incarcerated are able to maintain robust relationships with their friends and family, from better mental health to easier transitions home, ultimately improving public safety and community life across Massachusetts. [1] This legislation can help to ameliorate the disproportionate impact of restrictions on Black and Latinx families, whose children are more likely than White children to have a parent who is incarcerated because of the structural racism in the criminal legal system that the Commonwealth is working to address. [2]
On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we thank you for your attention to these important issues and ask that you give S.1541 and H.2314 a timely and favorable report.
Actual Justice Task Team of the Southern New England United Church of Christ
Ameelio
BIJAN (Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network)
Bristol County for Correctional Justice
Coalition for Effective Public Safety (CEPS) Steering Committee
Community Action Agency of Somerville, Inc.
Disability Policy Consortium
Drop LWOP New England
Justice 4 Housing
Massachusetts Action for Justice
Mystic Valley Action for Reproductive Justice
National Lawyers Guild-Massachusetts Chapter
New Vision Organization, Inc.
Parole Review For All
Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts
Progressive Massachusetts
Save Our Sons
SURJ Worcester
The Harriet Tubman Project
The Real Cost of Prisons Project
Unitarian Universalist Mass Action
Women & Incarceration Project, Center for Women’s Health & Human Rights, Suffolk University
[1] Leah Wang, “Research Roundup: The positive impacts of family contact for incarcerated people and their families,” Prison Policy Initiative, Dec. 2021, available online at the Prison Policy Initiative website.
[2] Final Report of the Special Legislative Commission on Structural Racism in Correctional Facilities of the Commonwealth, recommendations on visitation, Dec. 2022, available online.
