The Keeping Families Connected / No Cost Calls Coalition Urges the Legislature to MakePrison Phone and Jail Phone Calls Free, Fully Funded, and Guaranteed in the MA FY23 Budget

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Boston – June 2, 2022 – After years of organizing, language ensuring free phone calls for people incarcerated in Massachusetts jails and prisons has passed in the House and Senate budgets for the first time. The Keeping Families Connected / No Cost Calls Coalition deeply thanks Sen. Creem, Rep. Tyler, and all […]

The Jailing of Jesse Harvey

A drug war activist turned to civil commitment for help — and found a civil liberties nightmare. Type InvestigationsBy Jordan Michael SmithMarch 23, 2022 Jesse Harvey had one big idea left. Charismatic and outspoken, he was a graduate student of public policy at the University of Southern Maine and a prominent activist battling the drug […]

Hearing shows setting matters for addiction, mental health care

State House News/MassLiveNovember 9, 2021By Katie Lannan BOSTON (SHNS) – Two sets of elected officials on Monday offered different visions on the role of correctional facilities in addiction treatment, an issue that has become part of the public debate over how to respond to the substance use and homelessness crises at Boston’s Massachusetts Avenue and […]

Can sheriffs collect lucrative commissions from inmate phone calls?

Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments in case seeking to limit fees Commonwealth MagazineOctober 27, 2021By Shira Schoenberg FOR YEARS, Bristol County Sheriff Tom Hodgson’s office collected hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in telephone fees paid by family members, attorneys, and others who received calls from county jail inmates.  Similar structures are set up across the state’s county […]

DAY-LONG HEARING ON CORRECTIONS SEES PLEAS FOR FREE CALLS AND AN END TO LIFE W/OUT PAROLE

DAY-LONG HEARING ON CORRECTIONS SEES PLEAS FOR FREE CALLS AND AN END TO LIFE W/OUT PAROLE DIG BostonOctober 7, 2021By Jean Trounstine On Tuesday, Oct. 5, a legislative hearing held by the Joint Committee on the Judiciary highlighted the work activists across Massachusetts are doing to end racism and injustice in the criminal legal system. One-hundred sixty […]

Some advocates and experts push back against sheriff’s Mass. and Cass proposal

SOME ADVOCATES AND EXPERTS PUSH BACK AGAINST SHERIFF’S MASS. AND CASS PROPOSAL The Boston GlobeSeptember 27, 2021By Danny McDonald Some civil rights advocates and public health experts are calling the Suffolk sheriff’s proposal to use one of his buildings as a treatment center to alleviate the suffering in Boston’s Mass. and Cass area deeply misguided […]

SJC urged to reduce prison population during COVID

SJC urged to reduce prison population during COVID DOC says 81% of inmates vaccinated; zero active cases September 10, 2021Commonwealth MagazineBy Shira Schoenberg THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION is not doing enough to prevent the spread of COVID-19 because it has failed to take meaningful steps to reduce its prison population, prisoners’ rights advocates are charging in […]