November 15, 2017 WBUR By Bonita Tennierrello Right now hundreds of Massachusetts prisoners are locked alone in a concrete cell about the size of a parking spot. They can stay there for months or years on end, allowed only one hour a day outside, in a small exercise cage that looks like a dog run. Their meals […]
Offering some solitary thoughts
July 8, 2017 The Boston Globe By Yvonne Abraham We like to think of ourselves as enlightened here in Massachusetts. But when it comes to how we treat inmates in our jails and prisons, a bunch of other states have us beat — including Maine, led by governor Paul LePage, who has spoken longingly of bringing […]
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 […]
Play About Solitary Confinement To Be Performed At State House Tuesday
March 25, 2017 CBS Boston A play that prisoners’ rights advocates hope will raise awareness about the practice of solitary confinement is coming to the Massachusetts State House this week. Julia Steele Allen will perform her play “Mariposa and the Saint,” which tells the story of Sara “Mariposa” Fonseca’s experience in solitary confinement through the […]
Amid State House Debate, Play Confronts Solitary Confinement
March 24, 2017 WBUR By Deborah Becker Massachusetts is one of a handful of states that allows inmates to be held in solitary confinement for up to 10 years. But next week, lawmakers will review changing that. Amid that debate comes a play from a New York playwright that will be staged right on Beacon […]
It’s time to fix solitary confinement, before more abuse occurs
By Adrian Walker The Boston Globe January 9, 2017 The enduring appeal of solitary confinement as an option is easy to understand. It seems to make sense that removing troublesome criminals from the general population might deter bad behavior, or at least make it easier to manage. But that isn’t what the evidence suggests. States […]
Critics: Hodgson’s plan to send inmates to build Trump’s wall ‘absurd’
By Brian Fraga Enterprise News January 6, 2017 FALL RIVER – Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson’s offer to have inmates build President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed border wall generated national headlines and plenty of reaction Thursday in the press and in social media. The sheriff’s critics say that was all by design. “It sounds to me […]
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, […]
With prisoners left out, state’s work on hepatitis C drug access is far from over
Letter to the Editor by PLS Staff Attorney Joel Thompson Boston Globe August 6, 2016 MASSACHUSETTS’ DECISION to lift restrictions on hepatitis C treatment for MassHealth patients is laudable (“Wider access to hep C drugs is humane and pragmatic,” Editorial, July 29), but those and other restrictions remain in place for the more than 1,500 […]
Report blames state government for suicide of mentally ill inmate at Bridgewater State Hospital
By Shira Schoenberg MassLive June 27, 2016 On April 7, 2016, Leo Marino tried to commit suicide by choking himself with toilet paper. The staff at Bridgewater State Hospital, where Marino was confined, ordered that his access to toilet paper be curbed and he be placed under 24/7 suicide watch. A specially trained observer was sent […]