Jan 20, 2021
CommonWealth Magazine
By John Messinger and Leo Beletsky
NowThis: Massachusetts Sending Innocent Drug Addicts to Involuntary ‘Treatment Centers’ in Prison-Like Facilities
Innocent people in this state are being involuntarily imprisoned as a form of addiction ‘treatment’
More money for prison-run treatment center in wake of troubling reports about facility
January 24, 2018 The Boston Globe By Maria Cramer and Felice J. Freyer A prison-run center for men ordered by a judge to undergo addiction treatment would receive an additional $3 million for medication and new staff, including substance use counselors, under Governor Charlie Baker’s proposed state budget. The Massachusetts Alcohol and Substance Abuse Center […]
Prison is no place to cure the opioid epidemic
December 12, 2017 The Boston Globe Editorial In late September, David McKinley was found hanging from the top bunk bed in his room at a Plymouth treatment center for drug and alcohol dependency. As reported in the Globe, McKinley’s suicide raises important questions about the suitability and management of the unit he was housed in for […]
Is It Addiction Treatment Or Prison? A Look Inside A State Center For Involuntary Commitments
September 13, 2017 WBUR By Deborah Becker Enter the former Massachusetts minimum security prison in Plymouth and you might think it’s still a prison. Men arrive in handcuffs, they wear orange jumpsuits, and they’re monitored by correction officers. But the men have not committed any crimes. They’re at the new Massachusetts Alcohol and Substance Abuse Center — or MASAC — […]
Judge troubled by allegations from civilly committed addicts
July 14, 2017 The Boston Globe By Maria Cramer A Suffolk Superior Court judge Friday said he was troubled that state officials had placed men civilly committed for drug treatment in a facility for sex offenders and called on the officials to find a quick alternative. “I don’t know why someone who is committed for the […]
Worse than jail: Addicts civilly committed say DOC abused them and failed to treat them
July 14, 2017 The Boston Globe By Maria Cramer Iraida Hernandez was desperate to find help for her son, a developmentally disabled 26-year-old long addicted to heroin. Regular treatment centers weren’t enough — he walked out almost as soon as he walked in. Finally, Hernandez told him she wanted him to enter a program that would […]