The 2024 paroling rate in Massachusetts was 68%, according to a presentation by Gomez to the Commission on Correctional Consolidation and Collaboration. The body of lawmakers, stakeholders and officials has been tasked with determining options for collaboration and consolidation among the Department of Correction, county sheriffs, the Parole Board and the Office of Community Corrections.
Department of Correction
Posted inOpinion
Should we impose a moratorium on new prison construction or expansions?
Advocates say a moratorium on prison construction makes sense because the state’s incarceration rate has dropped dramatically and most imprisonment is inherently dehumanizing, and too many criminal offenses are the result of race-based oppression. Opponents say we need updated prison facilities, even with fewer prisoners behind bars.
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC to referee another medical parole dispute
SINCE THE LEGISLATURE established medical parole in 2018, prisoners’ rights advocates and Department of Correction officials have been in a near-constant fight about how the law is being implemented. Advocates […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
What to do with the state’s half-empty prison system
MASSACHUSETTS IS POCKMARKED by a web of correctional facilities, 484 buildings in total with nearly 10 million square feet of space among them. Picture the Hancock, the Pru, the Boston […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Souza-Baranowski prison to introduce officer-worn body cameras
SOME CORRECTION OFFICERS at Souza-Baranowski prison will begin wearing body cameras this summer, under a new pilot program being launched by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
High court sides with DOC on prison COVID rules
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT ruled Thursday that the Department of Correction has not been “deliberately indifferent” to inmates’ health during the COVID pandemic, because it took precautions and, most significantly, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Department of Correction finally hires ombudsman
AFTER A DELAY of several months, the Department of Correction has entered into a contract with the University of Massachusetts Medical School to create an ombudsman’s office within the department. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Ombudsman position at Correction Dept. still unfilled
AS THE COVID-19 pandemic spread through the prison system, lawmakers inserted an item into last year’s budget bill creating a new position of ombudsman at the Department of Correction. The ombudsman was […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Lawsuit says DOC accused lawyers, inmates based faulty drug test
ARE LAWYERS ACTUALLY sending letters to inmates in Massachusetts prisons that are meant not so much to be read but smoked? It sounds like the plot to a zany dramedy, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Judge denies injunction to cut prison population
A SUPERIOR COURT judge denied a preliminary injunction that would have required the state Department of Correction to make specific efforts to further reduce its prison population in light of […]
Posted inThe Download
Medical parole not always compassionate
Ten months after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ordered the Department of Correction to provide daily reports to shed light on the COVID-19 situation inside its facilities, questions are surfacing […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Medical parole not always compassionate
TEN MONTHS after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ordered the Department of Correction to provide daily reports to shed light on the COVID-19 situation inside its facilities, questions are surfacing […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Coronavirus infection in state prisons more than two times statewide rate
THE CORONAVIRUS INFECTION rate among inmates in the state prison is more than two times than the statewide rate, according to new figures from the Department of Correction. Prisoners’ Legal Services sent out an […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Inmates accuse Souza guards of retaliation
THE STATE’S MOST SECURE prison facility has turned into a war zone since a group of inmates attacked and severely injured three corrections officers on January 10. Staff at the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC voids medical parole regulations
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT issued a ruling Tuesday that will make it easier for Massachusetts prisoners to request medical parole, which is sometimes called compassionate release. The court held that […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Baker administration tying up medical parole program
EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO, Peter Cruz began serving a sentence of life imprisonment for his role as an accessory in the armed robbery and murder of a Holyoke store manager. This past […]