Tuesday, July 25, 2023
Chair Eldridge, Chair Day, and Members of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary:
My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the Policy Director of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group committed to fighting for an equitable, just, democratic, and sustainable Commonwealth.
We urge you to give a favorable report to H.1795: An Act establishing a jail and prison construction moratorium and H.1796: An Act relative to telephone service for inmates in all correctional and other penal institutions in the Commonwealth.
We were very grateful last session when the Legislature passed the Prison Moratorium and No Cost Calls. Unfortunately, due to vetoes from Governor Baker, they did not become law. It is just as urgent to finish the job this session, and we urge you to advance these bills as swiftly as possible and to strengthen the No Cost Calls language in the FY 2024 budget currently under negotiation.
H1795: The Prison Moratorium
If you have not yet watched the testimony from women at MCI-Framingham during the State Administration & Regulatory Oversight hearing on the Prison Moratorium, please do. The Committee had the opportunity to hear from the most directly impacted individuals, and their testimony was powerful.
We find it deeply misguided that Massachusetts is considering spending $50 million on a new women’s prison. As of January 1, 2022, the population in MCI-Framingham stood at 179, with more than 20% held in pre-trial detention. In part as a result of sentencing reforms, Massachusetts’s incarceration rate has been falling, and the population at MCI-Framingham could be reduced further through tools such as medical parole.
Studies have repeatedly shown that society cannot incarcerate its way to safety, and the family separation of incarceration and the well-documented inhumane conditions in Massachusetts’s prisons and jails fuel the community instability that is detrimental to public safety. Think of how much we could do for expanding economic stability and opportunity with that $50 million, rather than creating a new prison. The five-year moratorium in this bill recognizes that such alternative visions of public safety exist on the ground, and they merit investment and experimentation and scaling.
H1796: No Cost Calls
Choosing between paying rent or buying groceries and being able to connect with loved ones is a decision no one should be forced to make, but Massachusetts is currently forcing this dilemma on thousands of families across the Commonwealth. Families are being charged exorbitant fees to maintain vital connections with incarcerated loved ones — a regressive tax on the most vulnerable populations of the Commonwealth.
While only 21 percent of the state’s population is Black or Latinx, more than 54 percent of the people imprisoned by the Department of Corrections are. Black and Latinx children are, respectively, nine and three times more likely than White children to have a parent in prison. As communities already struggle with the high cost of housing, health care, and transportation, no one should be forced to choose between paying rent or buying groceries and maintaining contact with loved ones.
Moreover, punitive policies targeted at the families of incarcerated individuals leave us all worse off: numerous studies have shown that contact with loved ones promotes lower recidivism rates and successful reentry.
Additional Bills
We would further like to go on the record in support of the following bills:
- H.1401/S.997: An Act relative to Massachusetts state sovereignty
- H.1688/S.959: An Act to Prevent the Imposition of Mandatory Minimum Sentences Based on Juvenile Adjudications
- H.1821/S.1045: An Act to reduce mass incarceration
- H.3956: 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
- H.1461: An Act relative to juvenile fees, fines, and restitution
Thank you for all your work in organizing this hearing.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Cohn
Policy Director
Progressive Massachusetts
