This is an email I received yesterday from Lois Ahrens, executive director of the Real Cost of Prisons Project and I decided to post it here because it really is disturbing. It was tited: “Cost for STAFFING ONLY for MA jails. Our tax dollars at work.” Her information is based on what she received from the Bristol County for Correctional Justice (bristol.county.justice@gmail.com) on April 14, 2018. I’ve included the chart she sent as well. Oh, Massachusetts…

“More than half a billion for jails and $640 million for state prisons. Only about 2% of the governor’s $640 million Department of Corrections budget is earmarked for programs for incarcerated people.

Here in Massachusetts we spend HALF A BILLION dollars on just the jailers for our county jails. There are 6,629 men and women who put handcuffs on another 11,480 men and women in 14 county facilities and leave education and rehabilitation to others. There are very close to 2 prisoners for each staff person — or 6 per shift —. The table below does not represent all the costs of running a prison — technology, infrastructure, vehicles, power, maintenance, food, medical, education, or rehabilitation — much of it outsourced.”

Please see my newest article on Boston Magazine

“As the Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC) rolls out revisions to state prison visiting procedures, former prisoners and families of incarcerated loved ones are fighting back.”

Please read my newest on Truthout: Lifting Up Community Voices to Tackle Injustice. It begins:

“Lillie A. Estes calls herself a “community strategist.” Others see her as a force of nature. She has lived in Richmond, Virginia, for 35 years, where she builds and develops innovative alliances between organizations and people. Estes is well-known and respected both in the public housing project where she lives and by many public officials in Richmond. She has been a pioneer in race reconciliation work in the heart of the Confederacy, and is on what she calls a “spiritual journey” to improve her community. This began with her first efforts as a high school student in Newport News, Virginia, and as an active member of the NAACP Youth Council.

In an interview, Estes told Truthout the question she asks in all of her work: “How do you build a platform that allows the adversely impacted community members to step into their power?”

At a time when many are feeling defeated as they try to fight against a racist and non-responsive government, many justice advocates around the country are asking this critical question. They recognize that nothing less than a total sea change in perspective will work: In order to create new policies and enhance community life, community justice organizers must turn to those most impacted. They must seek out community voices to truly improve their lives and the well-being of their communities.” MORE