Thursday, October 16, 2025
Chair Cronin, Chair Cahill, and Members of the Joint Committee on Public Safety:
I am submitting testimony on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts. PM is a statewide, multi-issue, grassroots membership organization focused on fighting for policy that would make our Commonwealth more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic.
We urge you to give a favorable report to the bills from the Dignity and Freedom Platform:
- An Act to build restorative family and community connection (Visitation Bill) (S.1720/H.2591)
- An Act Relative to Medical and Elder Parole (S.1722/H.2693)
- An Act relative to human rights and improved outcomes for incarcerated people (Human Rights Bill) (S.1651/ H.2608)
- An Act creating an independent correctional oversight office to facilitate the recommendations of the Special Legislative Commission on Structural Racism in Correctional Facilities of the Commonwealth (REICI race data and oversight bill) (S.1725/H.2636)
The Department of Correction’s website states as its mission to provide “custody, care, and programming for those under our supervision to prepare them for safe and successful reentry into the community.” However, many existing practices run fully counter to such a stated goal.
Visitation Bill (S.1720/H.2591)
In 2018, the DOC passed severe restrictions on visitation rights. These included limiting the number of individuals on a pre-approved visitor list and the number of times said list can be changed each year, creating a burdensome application for visitors, imposing strict dress codes, and limiting the number of individuals anyone can visit.
Visitation is crucial to the well-being of families, children, incarcerated individuals, and even prison employees. Research has shown that visitation is an effective strategy in reducing recidivism and thereby enhancing public safety. Children of incarcerated parents are less likely to be incarcerated themselves if they visit their incarcerated parents. Visits help incarcerated individuals maintain relationships in their outside community which makes re-entry into the community much more likely to be successful.
Given that visitation enhances public safety, reduces recidivism, and promotes rehabilitation, our prisons and jails should be fostering the maintenance and growth of positive bonds between incarcerated individuals and their friends, family, and broader community—not limiting these relationships.
Elder and Medical Parole (S.1722/H.2693)
Despite our comparatively low incarceration rate by US standards,, we are tied with New Hampshire for the highest proportion of incarcerated people over the age of 55 in the country, who experience significantly worse health outcomes than people outside of prison.
Moreover, older incarcerated individuals are significantly less likely to cause harm when released from incarceration. We are warehousing people as they get older and sicker in ways that make no one safer.
Moreover, one driver of our comparatively old prison population is that, in recent years, MA has reformed our criminal legal system and moved away from the mistakes of the past. But many Black and Brown people still carry the burden of unnecessarily harsh sentencing laws in the “war on drugs” era.
Human Rights Bill (S.1651/ H.2608)
Again, if the DOC understands that its mission is to prepare people for successful re-entry, then its practices and policies should be better oriented toward that goal. This bill recognizes that and would establish universal access to programming, education, and vocational training opportunities, as well as meaningful and productive out of cell time. If we want to cultivate a culture of respect and growth outside the walls, we need to cultivate that inside too.
Independent Correctional Oversight (S.1725/H.2636)
The Special Legislative Commission on Structural Racism in Correctional Facilities of the Commonwealth documented what is widely known: that structural racism is rampant in our carceral system. A lack of transparency and accountability reinforces this and allows it to worsen. An independent oversight office is long overdue.
Let’s recognize the value of rehabilitation and reentry and our align systems in support, rather than around creating new cycles of harm.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Cohn
Policy Director
Progressive Massachusetts