For the 2025-2026 legislative session, we grounded our legislative platform, the Dignity and Freedom Platform, in input from our clients, people who are in prisons and jails throughout the Commonwealth. We surveyed more than 160 currently incarcerated people who have served a combined total of 972 years in Massachusetts prisons and jails to ask what the most pressing issues are for us to focus on for reform.
The results were clear: People who are in prison and jail need meaningful pathways to release, conditions of confinement that support personal growth and prepare them for re-entry, and to strengthen their connections with family and community.
We welcome you to join our policy mailing list to get information about our priority bills, volunteer opportunities, events held by PLS and the coalitions we work with, and opportunities to testify or connect directly with legislators. We especially formerly incarcerated people and loved ones of people impacted by the carceral system to join our list and get involved!
You can learn more about the legislative process in Massachusetts by checking out PLS’ Democratic Participation Guide, which was created to facilitate incarcerated people’s participation in carceral reform.
The Racial Equity in Corrections Initiative (REICI) team needs your support is pivotal in the fight to pass An Act creating an independent correctional oversight office to facilitate the recommendations of the special legislative commission on structural racism in correctional facilities of the Commonwealth. Please utilize this form to sign up for any advocacy efforts you would be able to assist our team with. We ask that you fill out as much of this form as possible. If you have questions or need assistance for any reason, please contact us at REICI@plsma.org.
We encourage you to use the link below to learn more about how you can reach out to your legislators to ask for their support on these important bills.
Filed by Senator Liz Miranda, and Representatives Lindsay Sabadosa and Erika Uyterhoeven
We have a crisis of aging and sickness in the commonwealth’s prisons, with our correctional system too often becoming expensive, high security, nursing care for a population that has already served decades of time behind bars, and which poses little to no risk to public safety.
This bill creates a safe and reasonable pathway for our elders to be considered for parole once they have reached the age of 55 and served 15 years or half of their sentence, and makes needed changes to our medical parole system to ensure that people who are terminally ill and permanently incapacitated have access to medical parole as our legislature originally intended.
Filed by Senator Liz Miranda and Representative Marjorie Decker
One of the cruelest aspects of imprisonment is family separation, with mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters paying the price alongside their incarcerated loved ones. This bill protects access to daily visits, eliminates draconian caps on the number of visitors, creates child-friendly spaces, and reduces discrimination. Instituting a fair process to facilitate visits sustains families during periods of incarceration and promotes successful re-entry.
Filed by Senator Cindy Creem and Representative Brandy Fluker-Reid
Even while prison and jail populations decline, and budgets increase, the prison system continues to prioritize punishment and deprivation over supporting people to work towards personal growth and successful re-entry into the community. Right now, one out of every six people in state prison is in maximum security, with little to no access to programming, educational, and vocational training. We are setting people up for failure on release and contributing to cycles of violence and harm. This bill would establish universal access to programming, education, and vocational training opportunities, meaningful and productive out of cell time, and ensure that people’s human rights are protected while they are behind prison walls.
For more information about these bills, please contact Legislative and Policy Director Jesse White at jwhite@plsma.org.
Filed by Representative Russell Holmes and Senator Liz Miranda and Erika Uyterhoeven
In this country and state, structural racism is inescapable in carceral institutions. These systems continually perpetuate harm against Black and Brown incarcerated people with impunity, hidden by the lack of available data and systemic non-compliance. This bill will establish an independent oversight office within the Office of the Inspector General to oversee and investigate these issues and empower it to enforce the reforms it deems necessary.
For more information about this bill, please contact Director of the PLS Race Equity in Corrections Initiative, LaToya Whiteside at lwhiteside@plsma.org.
If you have any suggestions or questions about our legislative priorities, please contact Jesse White, jwhite@plsma.org.
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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!