Fires with no functioning sprinklers to put them out. Tear gas used against individuals in confinement. Individuals being denied access to basic medication. Amputations due to a lack of care and supplies. Year-long delays in access to recommended treatment. Retaliation against individuals who submit grievances. Conditions so bad that the Department of Justice under Donald Trump called out the Department of Correction for its failings.
All of these happen in Massachusetts’s prisons, regularly with little scrutiny or corrective action.
There are many steps needed for robust accountability and a top-to-bottom rethink of the criminal justice system.
But there’s one that can happen now: your state legislators can start actually visiting prisons themselves.
State legislators, who vote to provide funding for the Department of Correction, should view it as incumbent upon themselves to follow up about how that funding is being used, not used, and misused. And they should be willing to listen to and meet with their constituents who are behind the wall when they raise the alarm about inhumane conditions.
Only a few state legislators visit prisons at all. Even fewer do so unannounced, a statutory right that all state representatives, senators, and governor’s councillors have and a more potent tool for accountability.
We plan to track which legislators follow through in our Legislator Scorecard, so let us know if and when you hear back.
