Tag Archives: Massachusetts

Amazing article by Chris Faraone about MOTHERLOVE

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Please check out this incredible interview that my editor at Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism did with me here. Entitled, Prison journalist and writer Jean Trounstine explores unspoken pain around incarceration with new collection of short stories

It begins: “When it comes to writing about prison and parole, there are very few reporters who have as many sources among advocates or the incarcerated population as Jean Trounstine. I would know; as her editor at the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism for the past several years, I have been floored by her ability to unearth major scoops on the strength of those connections.

Jean is also an accomplished educator, activist, and author who has directed stage plays and published multiple books touching carceral topics, among them Shakespeare Behind Bars: The Power of Drama in a Women’s Prison. So with those noted contacts and that much experience, it surprised me to learn that she chose fiction as her next vehicle for impugning the US prison system and its “devastating impact on our communities in Massachusetts and beyond.”

The resulting work is Motherlove, in which Jean compassionately considers an ‘often-forgotten group—the mothers of children who kill, each struggling with the aftermath of murder.’ As she explains it, while fictional, each of the 10 characters is ‘drawn from her more than 30 years of experience with prisoners and their families.’” MORE

 

Lawmakers Question Mass Parole Process. Can They Improve the System?

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Please read and share my newest at BINJ. It begins: 

On Oct. 20, the Massachusetts Parole Board, under the leadership of chairperson Tina Hurley, met with state legislators from the Black and Latino Caucus, the Criminal Justice Caucus, and the Justice-Involved Women’s Task Force of the Women’s Caucus. It was the first such meeting, Sen. Jamie Eldridge said at a legislative briefing on parole bills at the State House on Oct. 31. He told BINJ the meeting with the board represented a “greater focus on parole” for legislators.

“I’ve never been so encouraged,” Sen. Liz Miranda echoed during the briefing, adding that she had “tried unsuccessfully for four years to meet with the Parole Board.” In a followup email, Miranda wrote, “Having worked on parole reform for many years, I see momentum building amongst legislators.” MORE