Criminal Justice Reform Caucus and Prison Construction Moratorium Bill Sponsors Reject Ripples Group Report Recommendation for New Women’s Prison
Boston, MA – The Ripples Group released a report Tuesday, June 21, titled “Strategic Plan for Women Who Are Incarcerated in Massachusetts.” The report, independently commissioned by the Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM), recommends the development of a new medium-security “point-of-arrival” facility. While many findings of the report speak the truth about the deteriorating conditions at MCI-Framingham, we strongly disagree with the proposal for the expansion of a correctional center.
One recommendation of the Ripples Group’s study is a “reimagined correctional center for women” that is estimated to cost $40 million. While the so-called facility is aimed to provide an updated rehabilitative experience and programming, a new space means more space for incarceration. The detailed recommendations provided by the Ripples Group ask for an overall better rehabilitation strategy, including policies, staffing, environment changes, and re-entry philosophies, but do not recognize the fact that a “rehabilitative” detention facility is still a prison.
The recommendations made in the report also do not align with the intent of the House or Senate versions of the General Government Bond Bill passed earlier this month, which included moratoriums on the construction of new prisons in Massachusetts. The bills pause new correctional facility construction and restrict facility expansion in the Commonwealth.
The contract awarded for strategic planning directed the Ripples Group to examine multifaceted issues and opportunities for incarcerated women. The report specifically notes that prison diversion and reentry support are key elements of criminal justice reforms happening across the nation. Several successful alternatives to incarceration have been evaluated and proven effective in recent years specifically in Massachusetts. Despite the numerous references to alternatives to incarceration and accelerating reentry, the report contains absolutely no recommendation for release or decarceration for currently incarcerated women.
"While I appreciate the dedicated work of The Ripples Group on developing a strategic plan for incarcerated women in Massachusetts, I strongly disagree with the report's recommendation to build a new medium-security prison for women," said State Senator Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton), the Senate chair of the Criminal Justice Reform Caucus. "Calling a prison a ‘rehabilitation center’ doesn't change that proposed facility being a place of confinement, trauma, and massive power imbalance between the state and incarcerated people.”
“As the caucus has emphasized this entire session while working directly with advocates, we ask that the Baker-Polito administration begin de-carcerating many of the less than 200 incarcerated women in state correctional facilities. We also ask that they close the MCI-Framingham women's prison, and use those funds to reinvest in communities most impacted by mass incarceration and the War on Drugs, investing in transitional housing, education, training, and re-entry services for formerly incarcerated people," said State Senator Jamie Eldridge.
“This report refers to many other models of incarceration that we could borrow from to improve conditions at MCI-Framingham, without needing to build a new facility. The Ripples Group already spent time and resources researching those other methods. The DOC should be using those blueprints instead, rather than rebuilding a system that will be broken before it's even constructed,” said State Representative Mary Keefe (D-Worcester), the House Chair of the Criminal Justice Reform Caucus.
“While I am supportive of a financial investment to our incarcerated community, I am concerned about the Ripples Group suggestions on how those dollars should be spent,” said State Representative Chynah Tyler (D-Roxbury), House sponsor of the jail and prison moratorium legislation. “We need to be intentional about every opportunity we have to invest in a better quality of life for our constituents - including incarcerated individuals. Right now, investing in re-entry and giving formerly incarcerated individuals a real second chance is where our efforts need to be focused - not building prisons.”
“The Ripples report suggests that now is the time ‘to transform’ women's incarceration in the Commonwealth,” notes Senator Jo Comerford (D-Northampton), Senate sponsor of the jail and prison moratorium legislation. “True transformation will be found by replacing handcuffs with healing and by returning women to communities with adequate services and equitable opportunity. To suggest that transformation lies in a new prison is a deeply concerning conclusion given the clear evidence that alternatives to incarceration are both highly effective and fiscally prudent.”
###
