The Patrick Administration has estimated that, if current criminal justice policies are not changed dramatically, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will have to spend $2 billion in the next seven years, to build 10,000 new prison units, as well as $150 million more each year to fill them. Massachusetts already has one of the highest rates of incarceration in the world – on par with French Guiana a
nd Kazakhstan. There are so few opportunities, and so many barriers to successful re-entry, that most (>60%) of prisoners released from DYS, county jails, and prison recidivate within 3 years. Meanwhile, we are sliding quickly away from a full-employment economy. Businesses are shedding entry-level and middle-class jobs at an alarming rate, as many functions such as check-out clerk and warehouse operator are automated. Massachusetts has lost 100,000 manufacturing jobs just in the last six years. Other states – including New York, Washington and Texas – have overhauled their criminal justice systems using practices that are proven effective, and so reduced their prison populations that they have closed prisons, saving taxpayers billions of dollars. Massachusetts can do the same, by ending practices that are proven ineffective, and implementing the best of what other states have already proven can work. For example:
Ending mandatory minimum drug sentences;
Diversion of low-level drug offenders to treatment even before trial;
Eliminating counter-productive “collateral sanctions” such as an automatic driver’s license suspension for drug offenses, and high fees for probation, parole, court costs, and telephone charges;
Reforming the systems of parole and probation;
Bail reform;
Restoring educational programs including vocational education as well as college-level courses in prisons and jails;
Many of these proposals are on the table in Massachusetts, and grassroots organizations are working to win each of these vital reforms. Together, we are building the infrastructure to engage thousands of people in a campaign to stop $2 billion of prison construction, and re-direct those funds into creating good jobs for people in low-income, high-crime neighborhoods. FOR MORE INFORMATION:
CALL EPOCA (508) 410-7676, or [email protected] or
CALL BWA (617) 784-2555, or [email protected] or
Steering Committee Members:
Rev. Wayne Daley, Boston 10-Point Coalition
Monalisa Smith / Sarah Flint, Mothers for Justice and Equality
Rev. Jason Lydon, Black and Pink
Chuck Wynder / Sunni Ali / Phil Reason, Boston Workers’ Alliance
Judith Roderick
Nate McQueen, Youth Against Mass Incarceration
Josh Beardsley, Jobs Not Jails organizer for communities of faith
Felix Colon, Jobs Not Jails organizer for the North Shore
Donnelle Wright, Jobs Not Jails organizer for Western Massachusetts
CJ Coleney, Andrew Wagoner, Teen Empowerment
Nicole Sullivan, Boston Feminist Liberation
Andrew Zarro, Criminal Justice Policy Coalition
Morrigan Phillips, Boston Living Center
Delia Vega / Steve O’Neill / Cassandra Bensahih, EPOCA
Andrea Goode-James, Families for Justice as Healing
