Senator Eldridge Praises Governor Healey Decision to Close MCI-Concord Prison
Eldridge urges state to invest savings from closing prison into education, programming and addressing impacts of mass incarceration and the War on Drugs
BOSTON — With Governor Maura Healey’s decision to close the MCI-Concord medium security prison, the oldest men’s prison in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, State Senator Jamie Eldridge (D-Marlborough), who serves as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Judiciary and the Criminal Justice Reform Caucus, praised Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) Secretary Terrence Reidy, Undersecretary of Public Safety for Criminal Justice Andrew Peck, and Department of Corrections Commissioner Carol Mici for their strong partnership to improve safety at Department of Corrections facilities, expand education, programming and re-entry, and make sound decisions on the operations of prisons, as the number of incarcerated people in Massachusetts continue to decline.
“Today, I am deeply encouraged that the Healey-Driscoll administration has decided to close MCI-Concord prison,” said Senator Eldridge. “The facility, opened in 1878, is the oldest operating men’s prison in Massachusetts. Given the declining number of incarcerated people in state prisons, the challenges of providing modern education, programming and re-entry support to incarcerated people in aging buildings, and the state’s fiscal challenges, this is a common sense decision that strikes yet another blow in the criminal justice reform movement to end mass incarceration. In the 21st century, we must continue to overhaul our criminal justice system in a manner that creates more alternatives in holding people accountable for committing crimes than just incarceration, and repairing the harm to victims of crimes.”
“Among the highest Executive Branch priorities for the Criminal Justice Reform Caucus has been the closure of correction facilities. I was pleased last year that the Department of Correction (DOC) closed MCI-Cedar Junction (Walpole) prison, saving approximately $15 million a year in operating costs. The planned closure of MCI-Concord will likely save about the same amount of money, on top of avoiding new capital investments in the oldest men’s prison in Massachusetts.”
“With this news, I encourage the Healey-Driscoll administration and the Legislature to consider using this anticipated savings for the purposes of ‘justice reinvestment,’ investing taxpayer dollars in education, programming and re-entry services for incarcerated people and returning citizens, and in communities across Massachusetts that have often been unjustly targeted by mass incarceration and the War on Drugs.”
“On a personal note, as someone who grew up in Acton, driving through the Concord Rotary past MCI-Concord on Route 2, looking out on the prison reminded me of the injustices and inequalities that exist in Massachusetts, and the need for all concerned residents, elected officials, responsible parties of crimes, and state agencies and institutions to work together to create a more fair, just and equal Commonwealth.”
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