WBSMBy Kate RobinsonMay 17, 2022 The state’s highest court has affirmed today that Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson is legally authorized to collect revenues for his office through phone service fees. A May 2018 lawsuit taken by four people against Hodgson and county telephone contractor Securus Technologies had claimed that payments from the contractor to the sheriff’s […]
SJC says sheriffs can charge commissions for prison phone calls
Court leaves issue up to Legislature Commonwealth MagazineBy Shira SchoenbergMay 17, 2022 MASSACHUSETTS SHERIFFS HAVE the legal authority to raise revenue from contracts for inmate phone calls, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday. Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, whose office was at the center of the lawsuit, called the decision “a win for taxpayers.” “In […]
Mici: No need to release inmates due to COVID-19
MICI: NO NEED TO RELEASE INMATES DUE TO COVID-19 By Sarah BetancourtApril 29, 2020Commonwealth Magazine Says prisoners need to do their part in avoiding infection THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION’S top prison official told a state judge on Wednesday that she is satisfied with the way the system is responding to COVID-19 cases and sees no need to […]
Suit alleges bias in civil commitments for addiction
The Boston Globe March 14th, 2019 By Felice J. Freyer Ten men who have been ordered into treatment for addiction filed suit Thursday against several state agencies, alleging that they are unlawfully being held in a prison instead of a treatment facility. The plaintiffs are among the roughly 3,000 men each year who have not […]
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 […]
A Turnaround: At last, decency at Bridgewater
September 14, 2017 The Boston Globe By Yvonne Abraham Just like that. For decades, Bridgewater State Hospital was a hellhole, the heinous treatment of mentally ill inmates there the subject of countless exposes and lawsuits. Yet, though this place was the moral shame of Massachusetts, nothing ever changed. Until, quite suddenly, it did. Who knew this could […]
Sheriff Hodgson strikes again
August 5, 2017 The Boston Globe Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson has hit on a new idea to mistreat the inmates he’s been elected to rehabilitate: deprive them of in-person family visits. If that seems too cruel to be true, take note that this is the same sheriff who infamously volunteered his prisoners as free labor […]
DOC’s drug-sniffing dogs wind up on SJC’s docket
August 1, 2017 The Boston Herald By Bob McGovern The use of drug-sniffing dogs on prison visitors in the Bay State is under attack, according to a lawsuit going before the state’s high court. The state Supreme Judicial Court announced it will determine whether the state Department of Correction overstepped its bounds by using Labradors and […]
Disability laws apply to prisoners seeking parole, SJC rules
May 16, 2017 Boston Globe By John R. Ellement The state’s highest court Monday extended the Americans with Disabilities Act to mentally and physically disabled prisoners seeking parole, ruling that the state must help them get support systems in place in the community. The Supreme Judicial Court, in a unanimous ruling, wrote that the federal […]
Admin briefs lawmakers on Bridgewater State Hospital plan
By Andy Metzger WWLP.com September 14, 2016 STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, SEPT. 13, 2016….Bridgewater State Hospital will move from a hybrid correctional facility and mental health treatment center to take on a more pure clinical focus under a new Baker administration plan that was hailed by prisoner advocates who sought further reforms. Secretary of Public Safety […]