Prisoners’ Legal Services has a longstanding history of collaborating with community partners and participating in community efforts in order to achieve reform. It is our philosophy that the people most qualified to speak about the experience of incarceration are those directly affected by it, and to that end, we participate in as many groups as possible that center the voices of the currently and formerly incarcerated. Below are several coalitions, commissions, and organizations working to affect change.
Massachusetts Against Solitary Confinement (MASC)
MASC is a campaign by Massachusetts organizations and individuals to eliminate solitary confinement as we know it, by greatly reducing its use and ending harsh conditions for those who are so confined. Member groups include Black & Pink, Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts, UU Mass Action, and the ACLU of MA. In order to join MASC, please email masccoordinator@gmail.com.
Coalition for Effective Public Safety (CEPS)
CEPS is a coalition of advocates, program providers, formerly incarcerated men and women, and friends and relatives of prisoners. They have joined forces to promote and safeguard the human rights of all people across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and focus on issues of parole. CEPS supports the work of many other coalitions that are working for justice in arenas such as solitary confinement, medical release and juvenile justice. In order to join CEPS, please email jean@trounstine.com.
Keeping Families Connected Coalition
The Keeping Families Connected Coalition (KFC) advocates for policies that promote communication, connection, and support between people who are incarcerated in Massachusetts and their loved ones, and for full implementation of these policies. They seek to center the people most impacted by this issue in their work.
FreeHer Campaign
The FreeHer Campaign is a national issue advocacy, distributed organizing campaign. The campaign and its volunteer base, Building up People Not Prisons work with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women leaders, to decarcerate, decriminalize, and close the women’s prisons in battleground states. Locally, PLS works with the FreeHer Campaign on Elder and Medical Parole reform efforts and supports their work in other issue areas such as the prison and jail construction moratorium.
Campaign to End Life Without Parole (CELWOP)
CELWOP is committed to ending life without parole in Massachusetts through legislative advocacy, coalition building, education and mobilization, community outreach, and collaboration with individuals and families of those incarcerated or formerly incarcerated. CELWOP is led by those currently or formerly incarcerated, the loved ones of those serving extreme sentences, and those harmed by violent crime who envision a new way forward.
Massachusetts Survivors Act Coalition
A coalition of organizers, lawyers, advocates, social workers, researchers, and community members committed to ensuring that survivors can access the legal relief they need and deserve. The coalition is working to pass The Massachusetts Survivors Act, a bill aimed to interrupt cycles of harm by allowing criminalized survivors of abuse, sexual assault, or trafficking to seek relief from extreme punishment. The bill allows courts to consider critical information about survivors’ experiences in order to make informed determinations. It also expands opportunities for survivors to obtain diversion, reduced sentences, and post-conviction sentence reductions. Member organizations include The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, Families for Justice as Healing, Boston University School of Law, Antiracist and Community Lawyering Practicum and Human Trafficking Program, and Jane Doe Inc.
As part of the criminal justice reform legislation that passed in April 2018, a number of oversight committees and commissions were formed. PLS staff sit on two of these.
Restrictive Housing Oversight Committee
The Restrictive Housing Oversight Committee (RHOC) was created to gather information about restrictive housing in the state prisons and county jails and houses of correction in order to determine the impact of restrictive housing, otherwise known as solitary confinement or segregation, on incarcerated people, rates of violence, recidivism, incarceration costs, and self-harm within correctional facilities.
Special Commission to Study Health and Safety of LGBTQI Prisoners
The Special Commission to Study Health and Safety of LGBTQI Prisoners was created to evaluate current access to appropriate healthcare services and health outcomes of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex individuals. The commission is tasked with gathering information and preparing a report with specific recommendations to improve outcomes for LGBTQI individuals, a timeline for tasks to be achieved, and recommendations for improving health and safety.
‘An Act relative to justice, equity and accountability in law enforcement in the Commonwealth’, which is police reform legislation that was signed into law on December 31, 2020, creates the following commissions related to prisons and jails.
Structural Racism in Corrections Commission
The Commission on Structural Racism in Corrections will study the disparate treatment of people of color incarcerated at state and county correctional facilities and determine the role of structural racism in those disparities. It will investigate prison policies and procedures, and thoroughly review access to educational, vocational, and other programming options for incarcerated people.
Family members with questions or concerns about the commission can contact LaToya Whiteside at lwhiteside@plsma.org.
Special Legislative Commission on Structural Racism in the Parole Process
The commission will thoroughly investigate the disparate treatment of people of color and will determine the role that structural racism plays in those disparities. The commission will study, for example, whether racism plays a role in who is granted or denied parole, or in the conditions of release.
If you have questions or concerns about the commission, please contact Kristyn Huey at khuey@plsma.org.
The American Friends Service Committee
AFSC is a Quaker organization that promotes lasting peace with justice, as a practical expression of faith in action.
American Civil Liberties Union of MA
The ACLU is dedicated to ensuring that our prisons, jails, and detention centers comply with the Constitution, domestic law, and human rights principles.
BARCC Incarcerated Survivor Support Program
BARCC believes that all survivors deserve support in healing from the trauma of sexual violence. We also know that sexual violence affects thousands of people who are in the correctional system. That’s why BARCC started working in 2014 to provide vital support to survivors of sexual violence who are incarcerated in Massachusetts.
Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network (BIJAN)
BIJAN is a community network of individuals, faith communities, and other activist groups working to reduce the escalating harm of our immigration system in the current political context.
Citizens for Juvenile Justice
CfJJ advocates for a fair and effective juvenile justice system in Massachusetts, designed to promote the healthy development of children and youth so they can grow up to live as responsible and productive adults in our communities.
Criminal Justice Policy Coalition
CJPC is a member-based, non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of effective, just, and humane criminal justice policy in Massachusetts.
Criminal Justice Reform Task Force of Congregation Dorshei Tzedek
CDT’s Criminal Justice Task Force participates in a statewide Campaign for Criminal and Economic Justice focusing on replacing the carceral state with programs that treat people as human beings no matter their transgressions through changing unfair and ineffective laws, such as mandatory minimums for drug offenses.
#DeeperThanWater
Deeper than Water is a coalition of organizations dedicated to exposing the rampant human rights abuses that incarcerated individuals in the United States are subjected to, using the lens of water justice as an entry point.
DropLWOP New England
Drop LWOP New England is a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring hope to people serving life without the possibility of parole (LWOP) and other extreme sentences through advocacy and community engagement. Drop LWOP New England creates awareness of death by incarceration and works to end life without parole sentences (LWOP) one New England state at a time.
Emancipation Initiative
The Emancipation Initiative is about infusing our system with equitable justice and bringing about absolute inclusion for our people locked down and out of our democracy. Our focus is ending Life Without Parole prison sentences and restoring voting rights here in Massachusetts as well as establishing universal suffrage for incarcerated individuals throughout the country.
End Mass Incarceration Together
EMIT is a statewide working group of the Unitarian Universalist Mass Action Network. EMIT partners with people to encourage and facilitate face-to-face meetings with state representatives and senators to let them know we are outraged about the over-incarceration of people in America who are more likely to be black, brown, poor, under-educated, mentally ill and have substance abuse problems.
EPOCA
Ex-Prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement are formerly incarcerated and currently incarcerated individuals, along with allies, friends, and family, working together to create resources and opportunities for those who have paid their debt to society.
Families Against Mandatory Minimums
FAMM’s mission is to create a more fair and effective justice system that respects our American values of individual accountability and dignity while keeping our communities safe.
Families and Friends of Individuals with Mental Illness
FFIMI is a Massachusetts-based organization dedicated to advocating for compassionate, effective mental health care for those impacted by both mental illness and the justice system. We believe that legal circumstances should never be a barrier to receiving humane, comprehensive treatment.
Families for Justice as Healing
FJAH is an organization by and for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and girls and women with loved ones who are locked up. We are working to end the incarceration of women.
GBLS CORI & Re-entry Project
Greater Boston Legal Services assists individuals with CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information) who are shut out of the economy, rejected for housing, and denied other opportunities because of their criminal records.
GLAD
Through strategic litigation, public policy advocacy, and education, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders works in New England and nationally to create a just society free of discrimination based on gender identity and expression, HIV status, and sexual orientation.
Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project
PLAP is a volunteer organization at Harvard Law School in which law students represent inmates in Massachusetts prisons.
Jobs NOT Jails
Jobs NOT Jails works with allies to advance economic and racial justice by ending mass incarceration, changing unfair laws, and creating access to living wage jobs for all.
Justice4Housing
Justice 4 Housing is a grassroots organization committed to ending housing discrimination and homelessness for individuals impacted by incarceration and those criminalized for being victims of domestic violence, as well as ending incarceration.
League of Women Voters
LWV-MA is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization working to expand and protect voting rights in Massachusetts to ensure everyone is represented in our democracy. We empower voters and defend democracy through advocacy, education, and community engagement, at the local, state, and national levels.
Mass POWER
Mass POWER stands for Massachusetts Prisoners and Organizers Working for Enfranchisement and Restoration. Mass POWER is a campaign and a coalition committed to restoring the right to vote to people who are incarcerated.
Massachusetts Parole Preparation Partnership
MPPP helps people serving life sentences, with the possibility of parole, prepare for their parole hearings and live successfully in the community.
Medical Justice Alliance
MJA trains volunteer clinicians to provide expert witness services in cases involving incarcerated people, advocates for policy changes needed to ensure that incarcerated people receive their right to medical care, and educates key stakeholders regarding the medical impacts of incarceration to ensure that the medical needs of incarcerated people are met.
Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee
MHLAC works to enhance and protect the rights of persons with mental health concerns in key areas most closely related to their ability to live full and independent lives free of discrimination.
MIRA
MIRA is the largest coalition in New England promoting the rights and integration of immigrants and refugees.
National Association of Social Workers, MA Chapter
Founded in 1955, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is the largest membership organization of professional social workers in the world, with more than 120,000 members across its 55 chapters. The Massachusetts Chapter of NASW is one of the largest chapters in the country with more than 6,300 members. NASW works to enhance the professional growth and development of its members, to create and maintain professional standards, and to advance sound social policies.
New Beginnings Re-entry Services
New Beginnings Reentry Services’ mission is to empower, heal, and uplift individuals impacted by incarceration. Through compassionate support, trauma-informed care, and transformative programs, we provide the tools and resources needed to break cycles of incarceration, foster personal growth, and promote successful reintegration into the community.
Parole Watch
A civic group formed in 2020, Parole Watch members attend public hearings for prisoners serving life sentences, collect data, document observations about the Parole Board’s process and advocate for policy change.
Partakers
Partakers works every day to reduce prison recidivism through essential educational opportunities and empowering mentorship relationships.
Prison Book Program
The mission of Prison Book Program is to support people in prison by sending them free books and reading materials that meet their specific needs and interests. They do this through a highly engaging volunteer experience that connects people inside and outside of the American prison system.
Prison Policy Initiative
The non-profit, non-partisan Prison Policy Initiative produces cutting-edge research to expose the broader harm of mass criminalization and then sparks advocacy campaigns to create a more just society.
Progressive MA
Progressive Massachusetts (“Progressive Mass”) is a statewide, member-driven grassroots organization committed to fighting for a vision of shared prosperity, racial and social justice, good government and strong democracy, and environmental sustainability in Massachusetts.
The Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School
CHHIRJ was launched in September 2005 by Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Jesse Climenko Professor of Law. The Institute honors and continues the unfinished work of Charles Hamilton Houston, one of the 20th century’s most important legal scholars and litigators.
The Massachusetts Bail Fund
The Massachusetts Bail Fund pays up to $500 bail so that low-income people can stay free while they work towards resolving their case, allowing individuals, families, and communities to stay productive, together, and stable. The Fund is committed to the harm reduction of freeing individuals serving pre-trial sentences, and to abolishing pre-trial detention and supervision in the long-term.
The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls
The National Council is a 501c3 organization founded in 2010 by a group of women incarcerated in the federal prison in Danbury, CT. Most were mothers, separated from their children. The mission of The National Council is to end incarceration of women and girls and create the infrastructure for the systems in support of building healthy, thriving people and communities.
The Real Cost of Prisons Project
The Real Cost of Prisons Project brings together justice activists, artists, researchers, and women and men directly experiencing the impact of mass criminalization who are working to end the carceral state.
Transformational Prison Project
Founded and led by formerly incarcerated people, TPP’s mission is to encourage healing and accountability by facilitating restorative dialogue between those responsible for harm and those who have experienced harm.
Unitarian Universalist Mass Action
The Unitarian Universalist Mass Action’s mission is to organize and mobilize UUs in Massachusetts to confront oppression. We provide pathways towards justice and identify opportunities in which we can live our values.
We Are Joint Venture
Founded by people incarcerated at MCI Norfolk, WAJV focuses on the sentence parity in our community.
Women and Incarceration Project, Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights at Suffolk University
WIP is a group of Boston-based academics, attorneys, and social workers researching and writing about the costs and harms of incarcerating women.
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As of February 1, 2026, PLS has a new address located on a different floor in the same building.
Our new address is:
Prisoners’ Legal Services
50 Federal Street, 7th Floor
Boston, MA 02110
Any mail already in transit will be forwarded. Thank you!