FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | September 21, 2023 Media contact: Aaron Steinberg, asteinberg@plsma.org Plymouth, MA – Plymouth County Correctional Facility’s (PCCF) most recent Intergovernmental Service Agreement (IGSA), which allows the jail to detain immigrants on behalf of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was set to expire today, September 21, 2023. Yesterday, Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office disclosed […]
Media & Public Outreach
The Keeping Families Connected/No Cost Calls Coalition Celebrates Governor Healey and the MA State Legislature Putting Families Over Prison Profiteering
For Immediate Release: August 9th, 2023 Media Contact: Aaron Steinberg, asteinberg@plsma.org The Keeping Families Connected/No Cost Calls Coalition Celebrates Governor Healey and the MA State Legislature Putting Families Over Prison Profiteering MASSACHUSETTS – Today, Governor Maura Healey has signed a state budget that includes reforms that establish Massachusetts as the fifth state to enshrine free […]
PLS and Board announce transition of Executive Director, Elizabeth Matos
June 28th, 2023 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BOSTON– Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts’ (PLS) Board President Patricia Garin announced today that PLS’ Executive Director, Elizabeth Matos, will be leaving in September to join the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office as Civil Rights Division Chief and Senior Advisor to Attorney General Andrea Campbell. “It was with mixed emotions that […]
Sentencing Change: Call for Submissions
A Blog from Prisoners’ Legal Services As Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts (PLS) enters its 50th year of serving incarcerated people, we continue to seek new ways to further our mission of challenging the carceral system and ending harmful confinement. PLS’ new blog, Sentencing Change, will provide an outlet to discuss issues related to policing […]
Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts Statement on Governor Baker’s Latest Amendments to Incarceration-Related Bills
Governor Baker is refusing to sign a law that would provide free calls in prisons and jails, holding it hostage to try to force passage of a “dangerousness” bill that would expand pre-trial incarceration. This is unconscionable. Removing charges from prison phone calls will help keep prisons safer, give children and loved ones of those […]
Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts Statement on the 2021-2022 Legislative Session Budget
On Monday, July 18th, the Massachusetts legislature voted on the state’s budget, which was passed by both the House and Senate. The budget currently sits before Governor Baker for his final approval. There are multiple items in this year’s budget that will improve the lives of incarcerated people and their families in Massachusetts. PLS is […]
Ray Champagne
It is with great sadness that we share that PLS Board Member Ray Champagne passed away yesterday. Ray spent 45 years in prison after a wrongful conviction. He was a PLS client and then became a client-board member before his exoneration in 2020 after which he continued to serve on the Board. Ray served on […]
Report details women’s accounts of sexual misconduct by staff in Massachusetts prisons and jails
WBURBy Deborah BeckerJuly 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 […]
Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts Statement on its newly released Women’s Project Report and the Ripples Report
The Women’s Incarceration Conditions and Reentry Project (The Women’s Project) of Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts (PLS) interviewed and anonymously surveyed over two dozen women incarcerated throughout Massachusetts and has published A Different Way Forward: Stories from Incarcerated Women in Massachusetts and Recommendations. This report details the stories and experiences incarcerated women in the Commonwealth shared […]
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 […]