Tag Archive for: Sarah Nawab

Report details women’s accounts of sexual misconduct by staff in Massachusetts prisons and jails

Report details women’s accounts of sexual misconduct by staff in Massachusetts prisons and jails

WBUR
By Deborah Becker
July 11, 2022

A report obtained by WBUR attempts to document what’s often a hidden problem: sexual misconduct against women incarcerated in Massachusetts.

The research, from Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts, is based on interviews with 22 women, either currently or formerly incarcerated in prisons and jails across the state. Of the women interviewed, the vast majority — 19 women — said they had either experienced or witnessed sexual harassment or sexual violence while in custody.

The women provided detailed descriptions of the alleged misconduct by correction officers and other staff, including harassment.

“Officers frequently use misogynistic language when referring to incarcerated women,” the report said. “Officers also use their positions of power to leer at and comment on incarcerated women’s bodies in a sexual manner. Incarcerated women report that officers have become verbally and physically abusive during unclothed searches.”

Read more…

New Report Proposes a Different Way Forward for Incarcerated Women in Massachusetts

New Report Proposes a Different Way Forward for Incarcerated Women in Massachusetts

For immediate release

BOSTON – July 11, 2022 – Today, Prisoners’ Legal Services’ (PLS) Women’s Incarceration Conditions and Reentry Project (the Women’s Project) released a new report detailing the traumatic experiences of incarcerated women in Massachusetts and the urgent need to remedy the harm that women face in the carceral system.  

The report, A Different Way Forward: Stories from Incarcerated Women in Massachusetts and Recommendations, draws on interviews and surveys of incarcerated women throughout Massachusetts, providing a comprehensive picture of how violence, trauma, and discrimination are intrinsic to women’s experiences of incarceration.  

Most respondents in the report have experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct by staff. Some experienced physical violence by staff, and others have been threatened with physical violence by staff. Transgender women incarcerated in men’s prisons reported sexual misconduct from both correctional staff and incarcerated men. The Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC) reports that 70% of women in its custody have an open mental health case. A Different Way Forward highlights how this trauma is exacerbated in custody. 

“This report is one of countless pieces of evidence that women can never heal from past trauma by being punished and placed in a cage,” said Stacey Borden, a formerly incarcerated interviewee for the report and Founder and Executive Director of New Beginnings Reentry Services, Inc. “We hope that the voices of the directly impacted people in A Different Way Forward will be heeded and inform our path to a brighter future.” 

The harm women face at the hands of correctional staff is illegal but continually occurs with impunity. Staff sexual misconduct is pervasive despite the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), which was meant to address exactly these issues, and women regularly experience retaliation, in direct violation of DOC policy, for reporting staff misconduct. Transgender incarcerated women report being punished instead of protected by staff, including being subjected to unclothed searches conducted by male officers and being placed in solitary confinement after they experience sexual violence, all in contravention of law. 

For this report, the Women’s Project partnered with PLS’s Racial Equity in Corrections Initiative (REICI) to learn about the experiences of incarcerated Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) who are women. Incarcerated BIPOC women reported experiencing discrimination in the assignment of jobs and worse medical and mental health care as compared with incarcerated white women. Incarcerated BIPOC women who speak English as a second language reported struggling to be heard, understood, and have issues addressed due to inadequate interpretation services. As one incarcerated woman interviewed for the report put it, “As a woman, it’s like, where’s the dignity?” 

Informed by these experiences shared by women in state prisons, the report proposes five recommendations to respond to the trauma women face in criminal legal and carceral systems, calling for greater independent oversight over DOC and county sheriffs and a shift away from reliance on carceral systems and toward investments in community-based systems of care and safety. 

“Incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women have been clear: women are never safe in the custody of the DOC. We cannot allow DOC to build another prison where generations of women will suffer. It’s time to do something different. The Commonwealth should pass a five-year moratorium on jail and prison construction without loopholes and spend that time focused on releasing women and investing in community-led solutions that stop the flow of women into incarceration. Directly affected women are already leading the important work to create what different looks like here in Massachusetts,” said Mallory Hanora, executive Director of Families for Justice as Healing 

The release of the Women’s Project’s report follows the publication of a report written by a consulting firm at the behest of the DOC, called Strategic Plan for Women Who Are Incarcerated in Massachusetts (the Ripples Report). The Ripples Report calls for the construction of a $40 million-dollar DOC-run “rehabilitation center” in response to the trauma incarcerated women experience in their lives. This rehabilitation center is simply a prison by another name, run by the same DOC responsible for the concerns outlined in A Different Way Forward. Building a new prison for $40 million, while underfunded and underutilized alternatives exist, does not benefit public safety, and only harms incarcerated women, their families, and their communities.  

“Trauma and discrimination are inherent to incarceration, so healing trauma requires us to shift away from reliance on carceral systems, and towards addressing the root causes of harm. The Ripples Report completely misses that point, and instead advocates for more of the same under the façade of innovation,” said Sarah Nawab, author of the A Different Way Forward and an Equal Justice Works fellow and attorney at PLS. 

Currently, fewer than 200 women are incarcerated in state prison in Massachusetts, down 75% from 2015. With the passage of a prison construction moratorium likely in Massachusetts, we are at a critical juncture to reduce the use and negative impact of incarceration. A Different Way Forward outlines the urgency of doing so and centering trauma-informed care and racial and economic equity in all public policy.  

### 

Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts awarded Cummings Foundation grant

Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts awarded Cummings Foundation grant

Boston nonprofit receives funding from Cummings Foundation in Support of Women’s Incarceration & Reentry Project

BOSTON – June 1, 2022 –  Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts (PLS) is one of 140 local nonprofits to receive grants of $100,000 to $500,000 each through Cummings Foundation’s $25 Million Grant Program. The Boston-based organization was chosen from a total of 580 applicants during a competitive review process. 

PLS is an organization committed to being anti-racist and whose mission is to challenge the carceral system through litigation, advocacy, client counseling, partnership with impacted individuals and communities, and outreach to policymakers and the public in order to promote the human rights of incarcerated persons and end harmful confinement. The office prioritizes work involving health and mental health care, assaults by staff, extreme conditions of confinement (including COVID, overcrowding, exorbitant prison phone rates), misuse of segregation and isolation, and racial equity. 

“Generous funding from organizations like the Cummings Foundation enable us to not only fulfill our core mission, but also to expand the purview of our work and assist people impacted by the carceral system in new ways,” said PLS executive director Lizz Matos.  

The funding from the Cummings Foundation will help to support the recently developed Women’s Incarceration Conditions and Reentry Project at PLS, currently headed by attorney and fellow, Sarah Nawab. The project seeks to (i) deepen and expand PLS’s direct services to be more gender-responsive and improve conditions for incarcerated women; (ii) uplift currently and formerly incarcerated women’s voices and experiences; and (iii) reduce reliance on incarceration by improving access to release mechanisms and enhancing reentry success for women.

The Cummings $25 Million Grant Program supports Massachusetts nonprofits that are based in and primarily serve Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties. 

Through this place-based initiative, Cummings Foundation aims to give back in the areas where it owns commercial property. Its buildings are all managed, at no cost to the Foundation, by its affiliate, Cummings Properties. This Woburn-based commercial real estate firm leases and manages 11 million square feet of debt-free space, the majority of which exclusively benefits the Foundation. 

“We are so fortunate in greater Boston to have such effective nonprofits, plus a wealth of talented, dedicated professionals and volunteers to run them,” said Cummings Foundation executive director Joyce Vyriotes. “We are indebted to them for the work they do each day to provide for basic needs, break down barriers to education and health resources, and work toward a more equitable society.” 

With the help of about 90 volunteers, the Foundation first identified 140 organizations to receive grants of at least $100,000 each. Among the winners were first-time recipients as well as nonprofits that had previously received Cummings Foundation grants. Forty of this latter group of repeat recipients were then selected to have their grants elevated to 10-year awards ranging from $200,000 to $500,000 each. 

“Our volunteers bring diverse backgrounds and perspectives, which is so critical to our grant selection process,” said Vyriotes. “Through this democratized approach to philanthropy, they decide more than half the grants every year.” 

This year’s grant recipients represent a wide variety of causes, including food insecurity, immigrant and refugee services, social justice, education, and mental health services. The nonprofits are spread across 45 different cities and towns. 

The complete list of 140 grant winners, plus more than 900 previous recipients, is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org. 

Cummings Foundation has now awarded more than $375 million to greater Boston nonprofits. 

About Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts 

Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts is an organization committed to being anti-racist and whose mission is to challenge the carceral system through litigation, advocacy, client counseling, partnership with impacted individuals and communities, and outreach to policymakers and the public in order to promote the human rights of incarcerated persons and end harmful confinement. The office prioritizes work involving health and mental health care, assaults by staff, extreme conditions of confinement (including COVID, overcrowding, exorbitant prison phone rates), misuse of segregation and isolation, and racial equity. 

Contact: Aaron Steinberg, Prisoners’ Legal Services, 423-314-6355, asteinberg@plsma.org 

About Cummings Foundation 

Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings and has grown to be one of the largest private foundations in New England. The Foundation directly operates its own charitable subsidiaries, including New Horizons retirement communities, in Marlborough and Woburn, and Cummings Health Sciences, LLC. Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org. 

Contact: Alison Harding, Cummings Foundation, 781-932-7093, aeh@cummings.com 

### 

Testimony of Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts in support of S. 2030: “An Act establishing a jail and prison construction moratorium”

TESTIMONY OF PRISONERS’ LEGAL SERVICES OF MASSACHUSETTS IN SUPPORT OF S. 2030: “AN ACT ESTABLISHING A JAIL AND PRISON CONSTRUCTION MORATORIUM”

Thank you, Chairpersons Pacheco and Cabral, and the members of the committee, for this opportunity to speak in support of S.2030. 

My name is Sarah Nawab and I am an attorney at Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts, or PLS. As head of PLS’s Women’s Project, I am regularly in contact with incarcerated women throughout Massachusetts. Incarcerated women often contact PLS about the mistreatment they experience at the hands of prison staff, and these experiences would not go away in a so-called “trauma-informed prison.” Control over women’s bodies is an inherent part of incarceration and thus, as many of my colleagues here today have pointed out, there is no such thing as a “trauma-informed” prison.

In prison, women regularly undergo unclothed searches and are monitored while in the shower and while performing bodily functions. According to the Massachusetts Department of Correction, or DOC, 81% of the women in their custody have open mental health cases, and many women I have spoken to have suffered through DOC’s punitive mental health watch which the US Department of Justice found violated incarcerated peoples’ constitutional rights. 

Unclothed searches, monitoring during moments that should be private, and a punitive culture are all inherent and trauma-inducing elements of incarceration that will be a part of any prison DOC builds. We know from formerly incarcerated women we have heard from today that prisons and the trauma they inflict do not make our communities any safer. We need a five-year pause on the building of all prisons and jails to give communities the opportunity to find more effective ways to spend the tens of millions of dollars currently being spent on ineffective punitive systems. 

There are already underutilized laws on the books that can be implemented to decarcerate safely, such as the primary caretakers law, clemency, and medical parole, and with a five-year pause on prison and jail construction, and a reallocation of resources, communities can build systems to focus on healing and addressing underlying causes of harm and violence. Massachusetts has always been a national leader when it comes to progressive change and innovation, including in the realm of criminal justice. Many of the Commonwealth’s prisons were built in the name of reform, and those same prisons are now spaces of environmental degradation, brutality, inadequate healthcare, and infectious disease outbreak. With the prison population in Massachusetts consistently declining, now is the time to pause construction and show the country what a different way forward looks like.

I hope that you will report S.2030 out favorably and I thank you for your time.

Sarah Nawab 

Equal Justice Works Fellow, Attorney 

Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts

July 20, 2021