MA Show up on Wednesday!

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Dear Activists,

Your presence is needed on Wednesday, Jan. 9, 9 am, Room 360 – in the Governor’s Suite at the Statehouse to advocate that the governors’ councillors oppose the nomination to the Parole Board by Gov. Baker of the current Parole Board Executive Director, Gloriann Moroney.

The Parole Board has myriad problems that keep our prisons full and create more harm, including:

  • The Board does not have a healthy paroling rate;
  • Prisoners with life sentences are still waiting 8-10 months for parole decisions;
  • The Board has not recommended one person for commutation or pardon in the past few years;
  • The Board has not even reviewed four-fifths of the petitions it has received from those who have requested termination of parole; and
  • Too many people are returning to prison on technical violations rather than receiving intermediate sanctions.

We have power to influence the Parole Board by taking an interest in nominees to fill positions to review the almost 5,000 annual parole applications.

Gov. Baker nominated on Jan. 2, 2018, Gloriann Moroney – yet another person from Corrections – who prior to working for the Parole Board as General Counsel in 2016, worked as an assistant district attorney in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office for 14 years.

CEPS [Coalition for Public Safety] in Massachusetts has advocated for a parole board member to be a social worker, sociologist, psychologist, or psychiatrist. Such a nominee, particularly with a background in treating mental health problems and addiction, would also be committed to the objectives of parole. We currently only have one Board member with such a background and it is not enough to deal with enough of those 5000 hearings.

The Governors’ Council will hear testimony on Moroney’s nomination on Wednesday, Jan. 9, and then vote next week on it.

PLEASE join me in attending the Governor’s Council on Jan. 9, at 9am and oppose the nomination of current Parole Board Executive Director, Gloriann Moroney. She first served as counsel and has been now nominated to take the place of Lucy Soto Abbe as a Board member.

PACK ROOM 360 OF THE STATE HOUSE on Wednesday.