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Stop the $360 Million Prison Plan

What's at Stake
Why It Matters
Take Action
Spread the Word
Write a Letter
Read More
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What's at Stake

On June 30, 2025, the Healey-Driscoll Administration announced plans to spend $360+ million to rebuild the Massachusetts Correctional Institution-Framingham (MCI-Framingham), the state’s prison for women. 

The Facts

  • The population at MCI-Framingham is declining: The number of women at MCI-Framingham is steadily going down; it has dropped 63% since 2017. Currently, only around 230 women are incarcerated there on any given day, including women who are being held in pre-trial detention for cases in Middlesex County courts. 
  • Solutions like elder and medical parole, which have had momentum at the State House, could reduce the population further: Many women are middle-aged and elderly: 59 women are in their 40’s; 27 women are in their 50’s; and 21 women are 60-80 years old.
  • Women in Framingham have said loud and clear that new construction won’t solve what’s wrong: Women at the prison say the buildings matter less than the DOC’s policies and practices.​​
  • Other alternatives are possible: The State’s own data show most women score as low security risks, with very low incidence of recidivism, violence, or seriously disruptive behavior. There are alternatives for many women, including medical parole, minimum security or pre-release placements, or community supervision.

The facts don’t lie: MA does not need to spend millions on prison construction. Let the Governor and Lt. Governor know you oppose this plan!

MCI Framingham status
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Why It Matters

Why It Matters: The Cost

  • The planned prison will be paid for with bond money. Bond money is used for “capital projects,” i.e., construction. The more bond money the state spends on prisons, the less there is available for schools, housing, and community mental health centers proven to reduce crime.
  • Bond money needs to be repaid with interest, further raising the cost of prison construction.
  • Massachusetts is already reeling from about a billion dollars in federal cuts and is bracing for at least $2 billion more in cuts.

Why It Matters: The Lack of Transparency

  • The DOC and Division of Capital and Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) have hired architects and contractors but have not disclosed the projected capacity of the prison rebuild–they are moving ahead without even saying how many women they are building for.
  • The DOC and Executive Office of Safety and Security (EOPSS) have failed to explore less expensive community-based options for the many women who do not pose risks to public safety. It has not released any information indicating how many women might be eligible for medical parole, minimum security or pre-release placements, or community supervision instead of prison.
  • The Administration has not calculated the projected return on investment to communities specific to public safety.

Without transparency, taxpayers wonder if the Governor’s plan amounts to, “if they build it, they will fill it”:

  • Judges may send women to prison if they violate parole on the theory that the renovated prison can “meet their needs”
  • DOC may use “extra space” to lock up immigrants for ICE (DOC already hands immigrants over to ICE)
  • Women who have been civilly committed for drug or alcohol use are already being incarcerated at the prison instead of being sent to a residential treatment center in the community. Will the new medical building be used to incarcerate even more women who need treatment?

This is the time for innovative, cost-effective, smart solutions, not a nicer version of the status quo. We can do better, Massachusetts!

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Take Action

(1) Tell the Governor and Lt. Governor to put their plans on hold.

First, call Governor Healey and Lt. Governor Driscoll Monday-Friday from 9-5 at (617) 725-4005 or (413) 784-1200. Then, send them an email. 

(2) Call Your Legislators

If you have the time, call your legislators as well–calls get more attention than emails. (But if all you can do is email, here’s a template.) 

(3) Get Involved

Join us in a statewide campaign to stop new prison construction at this time of fiscal crisis! Progressive Mass and Indivisible Mass Coalition have joined together to activate their chapters. Together with Families for Justice as Healing, we hope to mobilize people across Massachusetts to take a stand. Email: NoMassIncarceration@indivisible-ma.org to get involved.

(4) Email the DOC.

The Department of Correction (DOC) put up a new website in September 2026. DOC says it is the “central source” for “information and u[dates” on plans for the new women’s prison complex; however, the content is not always complete or accurate. The website does not address the most significant issue affecting women, which is DOC’s policies and practices. These include routine strip searches, the paltry pay of less than $10 a day for prison jobs, and the lack of reentry resources for women returning to the community.

DOC lists an email on the website for anyone to ask questions about its plan. You can find a few examples below. Send questions and comments about why you oppose the new prison complex to MCIFinfo@mass.gov. Let us know what you hear back at NoMassIncarceration@indivisible-ma.org

Examples: 1) “Regarding ‘aging-in-place’: How much will it cost to renovate the prison AND keep elderly women incarcerated compared to moving women to community placements or nursing homes?” 2) “Regarding ‘stronger opportunities for family engagement’: Does DOC plan to stop strip-searching women before and after visits with their children and other loved ones?” 3) What alternatives to constructing a new prison complex did the DOC consider?

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Spread the Word

  • The federal government is cutting billions to Massachusetts. Invest in our safety net, not prison cells @MassGovernor
  • The government doesn’t spend millions on new prison buildings unless it plans to keep them filled with people. We need to end mass incarceration, @MassGovernor. #PauseThe$360millionPrisonPlan
  • Invest in communities, not prisons, for real safety, @MassGovernor
  • There’s no such thing as a humane prison. We need a #PrisonMoratorium now, @MassGovernor
  • Why keep pouring money into a system that already costs more than $250,000 per woman, per year and only causes further harm, @MassGovernor?  #NoNewWomensPrison #PrisonMoratorium
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Write a Letter to the Editor

Submit a letter to your local paper or online news site. Your legislator’s office will see it and so will your neighbors. Aim for up to 200 words. Find your local paper here. 

Adapt the template below or use the info above to create your own letter. Personalize it by saying something about why you care (As a resident of…; As a teacher, social worker, parent…) or what resources your community could create if it had the funding. You can also email NoMassIncarceration@indivisible-ma.org for help with your letter!

Governor Healey is planning to spend at least $360 million to renovate and rebuild the state’s prison for women, MCI-Framingham. The number of women in prison has gone down 63% since 2017. This is great progress. Why not focus on how to lower the numbers further instead of pouring even more money into a system that is already one of the most expensive in the country at $250,000 per woman, per year?

Women in the prison have bravely testified at legislative hearings that they are more concerned about the harmful ways they are treated than they are about the state of the buildings they live in. Our focus should be on improving treatment and increasing access to opportunities, not building new prison capacity that will lock in high rates of incarceration for decades to come. 

Hostile forces in D.C. are cutting funds that Massachusetts relies on for MassHealth, food aid, housing, and other necessities.

The Governor should put her plan on hold and use our limited resources to protect the investments in communities that actually keep us safe. 

Sincerely,

NAME & CONTACT INFORMATION

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Read More

  • “Incarcerated Women Testify in Support of the Prison Construction Moratorium,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4N5jiM4ELY. (5/13/2025 hearing of the Joint Committee on State Administration & Regulatory Oversight)