In Massachusetts, investments in prisons and jails exceed the amount we invest in communities impacted most by police and incarceration. We have one of the lowest rates of incarcerated women in the country. Yet while the incarceration rate decreased 21% from 2011-19​, spending on incarceration has increased 25%. Massachusetts spends about $1.4 billion annually operating jails and prisons, and plans to spend an additional $720 million in capital funds on major jail/prison construction projects over the next 10 years, on top of regular maintenance. We have a different vision for what communities could do with $50 million of capital investments and we ask you to join us in supporting that different vision.
An Act Establishing A Jail and Prison Construction Moratorium, filed in the House as H1905 by Rep. Chynah Tyler and in the Senate as S2030 by Sen. Jo Comerford, would address the Commonwealth's huge investment in prisons, jails, regional lock-ups, and other such facilities by pausing new construction and planning. As your constituent, I am asking you to co-sponsor, support, and vote for this bill.
A broad coalition of formerly incarcerated women, children directly impacted by their parent’s incarceration, and organizations fighting for racial, economic, and social justice demand change. Incarcerating people because of poverty, mental health and substance use is a crisis. For many years directly impacted women have been demanding investments in dignified housing, resource centers, healing spaces, equal educational opportunities, and health care and treatment. Instead of making investments in the communities most affected by incarceration, the government wants to build a new prison for women and a new jail in Dukes County, actions which will derail the work communities are doing to create healthy thriving neighborhoods.
Since December 2019, Families for Justice As Healing and The National Council of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls have been fighting to stop the DOC’s attempts to build a new $50+ million women’s prison. The Dukes County Sheriff is also pursuing a new jail/House of Correction at an unknown cost. There are only four people incarcerated in Dukes County right now--just 10% of capacity. Surely there are better solutions for those four people and for our Commonwealth’s limited resources!
I know the conditions inside Massachusetts jails and prisons are toxic and inhumane because incarcerated and formerly incarcerated residents have been raising the alarm for decades. Yet I also know that we need to shift our state’s focus from investment in imprisonment to decarceration and real alternatives to incarceration. The government’s plans for both these facilities would be obsolete if we invested in the 160 people inside them instead of in new or “updated” prisons, jails, regional lock-ups, or other facilities.
We’re at a historic moment in Massachusetts. How will we rise to our communities’ demand for racial, gender, economic, and environmental justice? How will we recover from COVID as a Commonwealth? New and bigger jails and prisons are the last thing we need. We’re asking you to support and help pass S2030 and H1905, An Act Establishing A Jail and Prison Construction Moratorium to put a 5-year pause on jail and prison design, construction, and expansion in Massachusetts. Passing this legislation will give us a window of time to refocus our state’s resources toward health and wellbeing. Imagine what all of us can create if we pause jail and prison construction and redirect tens of millions of dollars into community-led solutions!