DATE CHANGE! RE: PAROLE IN MASSACHUSETTS


From The Steering Committee of the Coalition for Effective Public Safety

NOTE DATE CHANGE BELOW!

GOV. BAKER HAS NOMINATED YET ANOTHER CAREER PROSECUTOR TO SIT ON THE PAROLE BOARD. CALL YOUR GOVERNOR’S COUNCILLOR NOW TO OPPOSE THIS NOMINATION. 

The governor has nominated Karen McCarthy, a prosecutor for the past 27 years at the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office, to fill a vacancy on the Parole Board. The Parole Board has seven members and McCarthy would be the fifth one from law enforcement.  She is being nominated to fill the spot left by another career prosecutor, Paul Treseler, now a judge.    

TELL YOUR GOVERNOR’S COUNCILLOR:  NO MORE LAW ENFORCEMENT.

Massachusetts legislators envisioned a diversified parole board when they required that persons appointed to the Board have an undergraduate degree and at least five years of experience and training in one or more of the following fields: “parole, probation, corrections, law, law enforcement, psychology, psychiatry, sociology [or] social work.” Our present Parole Board already has four members who have spent their careers in law enforcement– (Chair Gloriann Moroney, former Suffolk ADA), corrections (Sheila Dupre and Colette Santa), parole (Tina Hurley)– and one in law (Tonomey Coleman).

At present, there is only one person from human services on the Board, psychologist Charlene Bonner, who has been sitting in holdover status for a year because the governor has not re-appointed her. 

When parole boards are dominated by law enforcement, hearings are often an attempt to re-try the crime. Board members lack the expertise to ask more meaningful questions about recovery from mental illness and participation in sex offender and substance use treatment programs. However, given that 80% of the incarcerated population suffers from these ailments, we desperately need people on the Parole Board who have dedicated their careers to substance use and mental health treatment, trauma informed practices and adolescent brain development.

CALL YOUR COUNCILLOR NOW:  Nominations to the Parole Board must be approved by a majority vote of the eight-member Governor’s Council. We can make a difference. Act now!

● Urge your councillor to vote “no” on Karen McCarthy’s nomination.

● Tell your councillor that we need an experienced social worker, another forensic or clinical psychologist or a psychiatrist on the Board who has experience working with persons with substance use disorders, mental illness, and trauma; and understands adolescent brain development. 

● Ask your councillor to confirm only those who have demonstrated a belief in redemption and value rehabilitation and transformation. 

● Tell your councillor that a diverse Board combats a purely punitive approach to parole and is a necessity for fairness.

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THE PAROLE BOARD’S JOB:  
Parole is an important public safety tool that, when properly administered, eases re-entry problems, lowers recidivism, and results in significant cost-savings. As 70 community groups noted in a 2017 letter to Governor Baker and Chief Justice Gants, it has been understood for decades that formerly incarcerated people reoffend at significantly lower rates when they receive appropriate support and supervision on parole. In Massachusetts, however, due to our very low parole rates, most parole-eligible people complete or “wrap up” their sentences in prison and transition home with no help and no oversight.

It is the job of the Parole Board to understand and predict behavior.  Our system of parole only works when the Parole Board is made up of a well-rounded group of people who have the expertise necessary to properly evaluate candidates for parole. As the Parole Board gains more and more members with backgrounds in law enforcement, the parole rates drop correspondingly and precipitously. When parole rates drop, the rates of recidivism rise. A lack of diversification on the Parole Board not only leads to lower parole rates, but it also leads to less informed parole hearings and decisions. The vacancy on the Board must be filled by someone who believes in parole and second chances and who has education, training and expertise in mental illness, substance use, trauma and adolescent brain development.  

PAROLE IS NOT WORKING IN MASSACHUSETTS: 

● We have extremely low parole rates, which means we have too many people incarcerated; many persons who are ready for parole are being passed over by this law-enforcement-leaning Board. See June 2018 letter to Governor signed by 45 community groups.  

● People on parole are being returned to prison for very low-level technical violations, instead of receiving appropriate treatment in the community, again leading to unnecessary incarceration.   

● The Parole Board is not ruling on Commutation Petitions and Requests to Terminate Parole. Some have been pending for over three years, again leading to unnecessary incarceration.

● The Board takes up to a year to rule on parole-eligible lifers’ requests for parole.  This contributes to unnecessary incarceration and is evidence of a poorly run Board.

● The Board’s failure to maximize parole supervision is extremely costly for taxpayers. According to DOC, the average annual cost of housing a state prisoner is $70,892, while the estimated cost of a year of parole supervision is less than $10,000. (The Board reported an annual cost of $5,000 in 2013.)

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COME TO THE PUBLIC HEARING AT THE GOVERNOR’S COUNCIL on June 19th at 11:00 am – Room 360 at the Statehouse.  YOUR PRESENCE IS IMPORTANT. 

But right now, WE NEED YOU TO MAKE CALLS BEFORE THE JUNE 12th HEARING. IF YOU CANNOT CALL, PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO YOUR COUNCILLOR.

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FIND YOUR DISTRICT: http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eledist/counc11idx.htm

MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR’S COUNCILLORS.  HERE ARE THE PHONE NUMBERS/EMAIL ADDRESSES TO USE.  

Joseph C. Ferreira – District 1                             

7 Thomas Drive
Somerset, MA 02726
GC: 617-725-4015, ext. 1
Fax: 508-230-2510
Email: jferreira@lynchlynch.com

Robert L. Jubinville – District 2

487 Adams Street
Milton, MA 02186
GC: 617-725-4015, ext. 2
Bus: 800-828-9010
Fax: 617-698-8004
Email: Jubinville@comcast.net

Marilyn M. Petitto Devaney – District 3

98 Westminster Avenue
Watertown, MA 02472
GC: 617-725-4015, ext. 3
Cell: 617-840-7689
Fax: 617-727-6610
Email: marilyn.p.devaney@gov.state.ma.us or marilynpetittodevaney@gmail.com

Christopher A. Iannella – District 4

263 Pond Street
Boston, MA 02130
GC: 617-725-4015, ext. 4
Bus: 617-227-1538
Fax: 617-742-1424

Email: caiannella@aol.com

Eileen R. Duff – District 5

8 Barberry Heights Road
Gloucester, MA 01930
GC: 617-725-4015, ext. 5
Bus: 978-927-8700
Fax: 617-727-6610
Email: eileenduff3@gmail.com

Terrence W. Kennedy – District 6

3 Stafford Road
Lynnfield, MA 01940
GC: 617-725-4015, ext. 6
Bus: 617-387-9809
Fax: 617-727-6610
Email: twkennedylaw@gmail.com

Jennie L. Caissie – District 7

53 Fort Hill Road
Oxford, MA 01540
GC: 617-725-4015, ext. 7
Bus: 508-765-0885
Fax: 508-765-0888
Email: jcaissie@caplettelaw.com

Mary E. Hurley – District 8

15 Fields Drive
East Longmeadow, MA  01028
GC: 617-725-4015, ext. 8
Bus: 413-785-5300
Fax: 413-733-3042
Email: mhurley@pellegriniseeley.com

Mother’s Day in Prison

Many wonderful articles are appearing about mothers in prison as we approach this Mother’s Day, May 12th I am reposting this from some years ago.

mothersinprison

Photo courtesy of www.carbonatedtv.com

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Nancy Mullane, on the blog she co-founded, The Life of the Law, interviews
Veronica Martinez at Folsom Women’s Prison in California, which you can listen to or read to see how she was shackled during birth and had to give up her baby after three days—luckily to her family; but Martinez also points out the amazing support of the other women in the jail where she was at the time:

“My bunkie had a collage of babies pasted. She had pasted it with toothpaste, cause that’s what we used. In the county jail, you don’t have tape or glue or any of that so she took toothpaste and she pasted all these pictures of cutout magazines and baby feet and babies and stuff. And she made a little sign, ‘It’s a Girl’ on my bunk.” Martinez, like so many women echoed this sentiment about the cohort of women behind bars: “Everybody comes together in stuff like that cause women, we do understand. It’s not an easy thing to just give up your baby like that.”

Rachel Roth, activist and reproduction rights expert, wrote on the blog, Mom’s Rising,“Just in Time for Mother’s Day, Minnesota Bill Against Shackling Pregnant Women Heads to Governor.” Roth pointed out that Minnesota becomes one of nineteen statesthat now have “some type of statute limiting the situations in which a pregnant woman can be shackled.”

Deborah Jiang Stein who was born in prison to a pregnant incarcerated and addicted mother wrote her story in Prison Baby. She knows first-hand how, instead of prison, addicted mothers need “family support, community health care, wellness alternatives, and access to community resources,” for what Jiang Stein calls “a positive path to wholeness, health and full citizenship.” She presents facts on her website The unPrison Project, and they are compelling, although she doesn’t site where the stats come from. While I have heard 70-80%, she says that 85% of women in prison are mothers. She also says that

  • “2.3 million minor children, or 3% of all children in the U.S., have a parent in prison; most under age 10.”

From my research, when I wrote about holidays behind bars for Boston Magazine, I thought how sad it is that children must manage when parents are incarcerated, which according to Pew Research Study is not as rare as you might think: one in 28 kids has a parent in prison, nationwide.

Andrea James, now Executive Director of Families for Justice as Healing, wrote what it was like to leave small children and go to jail in her book Upper Bunkies Unite: And Other Thoughts On the Politics of Mass Incarceration. In a recent article on Huffington Post, James made the point that the so-called War on Drugs is responsible for separating so many non-violent women from their children, clearly calling for other ways to deal with behavior that needs “correcting.” Victoria Law also wrote about Families in her article for Waging Non-Violence, and brought up that the group of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women is organizing a FREE HER rally in Washington, D.C. on June 21st, an idea that emerged while James was serving time. Per James: “We wanted to have a huge public event to raise our voices and raise awareness of all the women inside who are separated from their families and their communities… We also want to let the legislative and executive branches know that people are paying attention. These are people we care about.”

In my experience teaching at Framingham, I remember Mother’s Day in prison and the heartbreak of women having to see their children in the Visiting Room for a few hours, or the more poignant heartbreak of their children not being able to get transportation to the one state prison for women in Massachusetts. The connection was so strong between mother and child that even time and distance could not, in most cases, sever that bond.

One of the most touching experiences I had around that issue was when we produced plays in prison. We taped the play—these were home videos, mind you, always with a see-saw effect of an amateur holding camera, but generously filmed by a dear soul in the Education department at the prison who believed as I do in theatre as transformation. We then sent these tapes home to the families of the woman so they could be proud of their work—in perpetuity. I began a tradition of allowing each participant to have a few moments on tape to talk to her mother, father, grandparents, lover, or to her children. The women would tell their kids “If Mami can do this, then you can too,” or “See, Mommy is in school, just like you!”

The women looked forward to these video moments. They were so simple but so important, and ultimately, when they received letters back or talked to their family during coveted phone time, they shared with me how proud they were that their parents and their kids were proud of them. This is not to say that they should have been in prison, but that they did something to make use of their best selves while they were there.On Mother’s Day, I remember my mother who died while I was teaching in prison, and the amazing comfort my prisoner-students gave me when I went behind bars to teach. On Mother’s Day, I also remember Bertie who somehow killed her baby and lived with that gruesome truth torturing her all her life. I honor Dolly, the heart and soul of my theatre program at Framingham. Dolly lost her mother when she was behind bars and could not go to the funeral; she lost her grand-daughter too who was brutally murdered. And while she suffered the losses and the stinging pain of being away from her family during those funerals, she received as much comfort as possible from the women. Just as Martinez says, the community knows what it is to bear such tragedies. And they know too what it is to see pure joy in the eyes of a child.This Mother’s Day, honor women behind bars by educating yourself about the Free Marissa Campaign. Per The Nation, “Activists launched a Mother’s Day “Week of Action” campaign on Friday to support Marissa Alexander, the Florida woman facing sixty years in prison for firing warning shots to ward off her abusive husband.” Alexander is a mother of two teenage twins and a 3-year-old daughter, and she will spend this holiday under house arrest. The campaign runs May 9-May 18 and you can find out more here. 

UPDATE: Stop Washington from banning free books for prisoners

From the website where you can sign a petition to stop this irrational practice: HERE
TONIGHT, APRIL 10, GOT THE WORD, OFFICIALLY REVERSED–HERE
THERE ARE STILL SOME PROBLEMS TO WORK OUT–STOP REJECT LIST!

Books to Prisoners Seattle started this petition to Washington DOC Secretary Stephen Sinclair and 3 others

“The Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) has just prohibited all nonprofit organizations from mailing free, used books to every prisoner in this state.

Across the country, dozens of volunteer nonprofits respond directly to prisoners’ book requests; together, these groups send about 200,000 free books every year to people behind bars, from westerns and science fiction novels to books about starting businesses after release. Access to information in prisons is a lifeline for literacy and skill-building; the humble dictionary, a book which most of us no longer possess as a physical book, is the number one request by prisoners because good sources of information are so scarce.

For the many prisoners and their families who can’t afford to buy new books, free, used books are a lifeline; for prisoners in solitary confinement (around 80,000 at any given time), these book donations may be the only reading material they have. We love prison libraries and their hard-working staff, but they are chronically underfunded, understaffed, and not accessible for all prisoners or open when needed. In Pennsylvania, for example, prisoners are allowed a maximum of 90 minutes per week at the prison library. Additionally, books checked out from prison libraries must be returned and may not be available at any given time due to circulation; by contrast, books mailed from prison book programs belong to prisoners forever as personal property. Four facilities in Washington don’t even have on-site libraries, an indication of the ongoing need for services like prison book programs to fill the gaps.

This ban will deny incarcerated people in Washington access to literally thousands of books.

Groups like the Prison Book Program in Massachusetts, Books to Prisoners in Washington, and LGBT Books to Prisoners in Wisconsin have successfully sent books without incident to Washington prisoners since 1973. Sadly, this isn’t the first time that a DOC has attempted to ban our programs. In 2018 alone, both Pennsylvania and New York attempted similar bans. Most attempted bans cite security reasons — though few (if any) can cite a single instance where a prison book program ever sent contraband material. 

Together, we stopped these attempted bans in Pennsylvania and New York in 2018; let’s stop it now in Washington.

Please join other prison book program supporters to contact the Washington DOC and Governor Jay Inslee’s office and demand that this new policy — a memo amended to policy 450.100 — be rescinded at once. #PrisonersNeedBooks”

Big Brother is Still Watching

Here’e my latest on Truthout.

Big Brother Steps Closer as Parents Shackle Teens to Ankle Monitors:

“A perfect example of George Orwell’s terrifying view of a society under government surveillance has arrived in the form of ankle monitors for your teens.

For parents who “need to keep track of [their] teenager at all times,” Tampa Bay Monitoring in Clearwater, Florida, is selling GPS tracking — similar to the shackles used to track those on parole — billed as a way for parents to have “peace of mind” and for so-called troubled teens to have “protection.” Never mind that these monitors function as a form of private surveillance, enabling parents and anyone else with access to shadow a teen’s every move. Besides, these devices can be uncomfortable and can cause problems at airports, hospitals and schools, and many people have concerns about where all the tracking information goes and who has access to it.” More