Baker attaches “significant” costs to solitary confinement reform

Sentinel & Enterprise May 14, 2018 By Katie Lannan, State House News Service BOSTON — A month after Gov. Charlie Baker signed a major criminal justice overhaul into law, debate around the issue is not yet settled, and prisoners’ rights advocates on Monday urged lawmakers to reject some of Baker’s recommended changes to the new […]

Lawsuits add up over Bristol County jail inmate suicides

March 9, 2018 The Boston Globe By Jenifer McKim and Chris Burrell Barbara Kice wants justice for her son, who hanged himself in 2015 in the Bristol County House of Correction. The jail, all by itself, accounts for more than a quarter of county inmate suicides statewide, and Kice thinks she knows why so many die: […]

Prisoners’ Rights Group Sues Bristol County Sheriff Over Segregation Cells

January 9, 2018 Rhode Island Public Radio By Lynn Arditi A not-for-profit prisoners’ rights group is suing Massachusetts Bristol County Sheriff’s Office for holding prisoners with serious mental illness in segregation cells. The class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday in Bristol County Superior Court, in Fall River, claims that prisoners with mental illness have been locked in cells […]

Advocates: Mass. unlawfully isolates mentally ill inmates

By Maria Cramer and Jenna Russell The Boston Globe December 31, 2016 One inmate, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, became so distraught after months in the prison’s isolation unit that he began talking to himself and counting compulsively. Another, who suffers from schizoaffective disorder, declined so much in isolation that he smeared himself with feces. A third, […]

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 […]