At Department of Correction, a death of compassion

Boston Globe June 28, 2018 By Yvonne Abraham How meaningful is the state’s new compassionate release law if it doesn’t help a man for whom it seems to have been designed? That’s the question that must be asked in the case of Alexander Phillips, the first inmate to apply for medical release under the state’s […]

State wants to show compassion to ill inmates — and save money

Boston Globe May 21, 2018 By Jenifer McKim, New England Center for Investigative Reporting GARDNER — Beyond the barbed wire of a state prison, down a dirt road marked with “no trespassing” signs, lies a hill dotted with PVC-pipe crosses marking the graves of nearly 90 inmates. The makeshift crosses in this state-owned cemetery bear […]

Koutoujian and Walker: Compassionate release programs are good public policy

June 22, 2017 Metrowest Daily News By Sheriff Peter Koutoujian and Leslie Walker We believe it is time for Massachusetts to join the list of 45 states and the federal government who have instituted Extraordinary Medical Placement, Medical Parole or Compassionate Release programs. Our incarcerated population is aging, and the graying of corrections has brought with it […]

Among state lawmakers, compassionate release of inmates is divisive issue

By Milton Valencia The Boston Globe October 20, 2016 State lawmakers applauded the recent request by the federal government to free former House speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi from prison early under a program for elderly and severely ill inmates, agreeing that DiMasi, who has twice battled cancer while incarcerated, should be home with his family. […]