LANDMARK PROPOSED APPROXIMATELY $7 MILLION SETTLEMENT REACHED IN CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT CHALLENGING SYSTEMATIC ABUSE AND RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AT SOUZA-BARANOWSKI CORRECTIONAL CENTER
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 22, 2025
BOSTON, MA – Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts (PLS) and co-counsel law firm Hogan Lovells announce the proposed approximately $7 million settlement of Diggs v. Mici, the federal class action lawsuit filed in January 2022 that exposed a campaign of systematic, extreme, and unconstitutional violence against incarcerated people at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center (SBCC). The parties have requested the Court’s preliminary approval of the proposed settlement.
The proposed settlement requires significant policy changes and compensation to incarcerated people injured by officer brutality. It would resolve claims brought on behalf of approximately 150 currently and formerly incarcerated people who were subjected to excessive force during a weeks-long campaign of violence by corrections officers from January 10 to February 6, 2020. This brutality included beating and kicking incarcerated people; gouging eyes; grabbing testicles; smashing faces into the ground or wall; deploying Taser guns, pepper ball guns, and other chemical agents; and ordering K9s to menace and bite incarcerated people. Further, the lawsuit addresses the unconstitutional treatment of Black and Latino individuals who were targeted for particularly harsh treatment because of their race, including excessive force, yanking or cutting dreadlocks from people’s heads, racial slurs, and other discriminatory actions.
“This proposed settlement aims to bring justice to the many incarcerated people injured by extreme and unlawful use of force by officers,” said David Milton, a lawyer at PLS. “This proposed settlement is about holding DOC accountable for the harm it causes by perpetuating a culture of violence at SBCC and allowing officers to harm incarcerated people with impunity.”
The federal class action, certified by U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman in September 2024, detailed how tactical teams used brutal force against numerous individuals who were not involved in the initial incident. Officers employed pepper ball guns, Tasers, K9 dogs, physical beatings, and racial slurs during what the lawsuit described as “brutal and calculated collective revenge.”
“SBCC has been plagued with violence since it opened in 1998,” added Milton. “The events of 2020 were not isolated incidents but part of a pattern in which decisions made in the running of the prison have too often given officers the green light to commit violence against incarcerated people.”
“As a society, we are judged by how we treat the least advantaged and privileged amongst us,” said Kayla Ghantous, attorney at Hogan Lovells. “This proposed settlement helps ensure that the Department of Corrections lives up to that expectation and will bring much needed relief to our clients.”
Proposed Settlement Establishes Reforms and Accountability
If approved by the Court, the proposed settlement would pay close to $6 million in compensation to incarcerated people who suffered physical and psychological injuries during the January-February 2020 campaign of violence. It would also establish concrete reforms aimed at addressing the underlying conditions that have made SBCC Massachusetts’ most violent correctional facility, including:
- Removing corrections officers found to have used excessive force from Special Operations Response Units (SORU) and prohibiting their reapplication for three years. DOC will also require review of any civil verdict or finding against DOC staff to determine whether internal action against such staff is warranted.
- Prohibiting the use of patrol K-9s except to regain control after a major disorder, and in that case requiring that K-9s remain muzzled as default policy.
- Prohibiting the use of kneeling as a “stress position,” addressing the fact that dozens of Class Members were forced to kneel with their hands shackled behind their backs and ankles shackled, in some occasions for several hours.
- Implementing diversity and implicit bias training into its training academy and required annual staff training.
- Requiring racial identifications of incarcerated people to be self-reported at booking, to curb misidentification of racial identities that may misrepresent DOC data on demographics most impacted by use of force.
- Requiring name tags for Special Operations officers.
- Implementing an anonymous staff-misconduct hotline for DOC employees.
- Explicitly prohibiting and disciplining use of racial slurs by DOC employees.
- Requiring additional procedures regarding documentation of injuries to incarcerated people after a use of force.
- The proposed Agreement also requires DOC to commit to policy changes including additional training on disorder management, forced moves, other tactics, and requiring that a video team be automatically activated whenever a special operations unit is activated.
These proposed changes are long-overdue measures necessary to address the policies at SBCC that contribute to violence against incarcerated people.
Persistent Pattern of Excessive Force and Mistreatment
The proposed settlement addresses SBCC’s well-documented history of ongoing violence. SBCC accounts for a dramatically disproportionate share of excessive force complaints to PLS, with allegations involving chemical agents, head injuries, and reports of racial discrimination appearing with alarming frequency.
The events at issue in this case highlight that brutality in corrections is not perpetrated by a few ‘bad apples’ but by a broken system that not only fails to rehabilitate incarcerated people but actively harms them physically and psychologically. This proposed settlement recognizes that systemic abuse requires systemic solutions.
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For more information, please contact PLS Communications Director Aaron Steinberg at asteinberg@plsma.org. Hogan Lovells’ Public Relations Manager Kathleen Dailey can be contacted at kathleen.dailey@hoganlovells.com.
Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts’ mission is to challenge the carceral system through litigation, advocacy, client counseling, partnership with impacted individuals and communities, and outreach to policymakers and the public in order to promote the human rights of incarcerated persons and end harmful confinement. The office prioritizes work involving health and mental health care, assaults by staff, extreme conditions of confinement, misuse of segregation and isolation, and racial equity.
Global law firm Hogan Lovells has a long tradition of supporting ground-breaking social developments, focusing on access to justice and the rule of law. As lawyers we recognize this commitment is part of our professional practice and collectively we spend 150,000+ pro bono hours per year on work to achieve lasting impact for others.