An important 168 page report was issued January 5 to the new governor Maura Healy) and her lieutenant governor, Kim Driscoll via PLS in MA from a number of incarcerated groups in the Commonwealth. It is a must-read, in my opinion. You can find it here.

According to an email from PLS Attorney Jesse White:”This briefing was led and written by the Lifers Group, Inc., the Norfolk Inmate Council, the African American Coalition Committee at MCI-Norfolk, and incarcerated community members from Old Colony Correctional Center, MCI-Concord, and Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center. It outlines issues within the Department of Correction, and proposes solutions to rectify them.” 

Key takeaways from the report:

1. Infuse Outside Leadership into the DOC
2. Return DOC to Health & Human Services
3. Require DOC and Parole Board Work Together
4. Utilize Lower Security Facilities
5. Separate Mental Health from DOC
6. Increase Skilled Training and Jobs
7. Expand Education
8. Eliminate Privatization
9. Use Medical Parole
10. Restore Furloughs

The report also expands on the need to

11. End Life Without Parole
12. Create Presumptive Parole
13. Have Civilian Oversight of the DOC
14. Have Adequate Wages 

As well as these areas of concern
1. The DOC’s Deliberate Acts of Falsely Identifying Individuals Race & Ethnicity/Truth in Numbers
2. Strengthening Rehabilitation Through Strengthening Family & Community Bonds
3. Strengthening Education and Civic Duties
4. A Separate Authority with Power to Oversee the DOC & Parole Board
5. Help Implement Legislation to Provide Legitimate Oversight Authority of the DOC