WBURBy Deb BeckerJanuary 27, 2022 Correction officers at Massachusetts’ beleaguered maximum security prison will soon wear body cameras. The state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security announced the pilot program Thursday, saying the cameras will strengthen transparency and accountability at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center. “Implementing this BWC (body-worn camera) pilot program reinforces our commitment […]
Federal lawsuit accuses state officials of retaliatory violence against Souza-Baranowski prisoners
Class-action case filed by nine Black and Latino men focuses on treatment by prison officials in early 2020 The Boston GlobeBy Mark ArsenaultJanuary 11, 2022 A federal lawsuit filed Monday by nine Black and Latino men who are, or recently were, incarcerated at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center accuses prison officials of orchestrating “weeks of unprovoked, retaliatory […]
New lawsuit accuses state officials of retaliatory violence against prisoners
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BOSTON – January 10, 2022 – Today, Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts (PLS) and the law firm Hogan Lovells filed a class action lawsuit against the Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC) and its officials responsible for overseeing Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center (SBCC) during a campaign of systematic, extreme, and unconstitutional violenceagainst more than […]
Correction Department cries out for oversight
With officer brutality and discipline shrouded in secrecy, the need for an independent eye is obvious. The Boston GlobeBy the Editorial BoardDecember 1, 2021 When brutality happens not on a city street but behind prison walls, there’s no citizen with a cellphone to record the abuse of authority, and often no bystander to bear witness […]
Following Hernandez’s Death, A Discussion Of Suicide In Custody
April 19, 2017 WBUR By Deborah Becker Leslie Walker, executive director of Prisoners’ Legal Services, joins WBUR to discuss Aaron Hernandez’s suicide in his prison cell. Listen here or on the WBUR website:
Aaron Hernandez’s reported mode of suicide unusual for prison
April 19, 2017 The Boston Globe By Eric Moskowitz The executive director of the statewide inmate-advocate organization said she believes Aaron Hernandez’s death is the first reported successful suicide by an inmate hanging a sheet from a window at the maximum-security Souza-Baranowski prison, as authorities say Hernandez did. Leslie Walker, executive director of the nonprofit Prisoners’ […]