State Senator Eldridge Urges Senate Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures, and State Assets to Remove State Funding of New Women’s Prison and Buying New Police Vehicles from IT Bond Bill
Senator Eldridge and 8 other Senators urge bonding committee to invest in programs to improve criminal justice system.
Boston, MA - On Thursday, June 4th, Senator Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton), along with eight other senators, wrote a letter to the Senate Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets with proposed changes to H.4733, An Act financing the general governmental infrastructure of the Commonwealth also known as the IT Bond bill.
State Senator Jamie Eldridge stated, “At a moment when the continued killings of black people, most recently Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, has awakened us all to the Black Lives Matter movement, it is important to ensure that this bond bill does not allow for the constructions of any new prisons, including a proposed new women’s prison at MCI-Norfolk, or the purchase of new vehicles for the Department of Correction (DOC) and State Police, when there continues to be massive underinvestment in communities most impacted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ mass incarceration agenda.”
The senators requested that the Senate Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures, and State Assets make three changes to the IT Bond bill: eliminate spending for new vehicles for the DOC and State Police, eliminate funding for the construction of any new prison or jail facility, and instead invest in technological improvements to criminal justice reform programs, including automating the process of criminal record sealing. In the letter, 9 State Senators urged the funding in the IT Bond bill be prioritized instead to “be reinvested in community-based programs and services.”
They built on this request when asking to reallocate prison-building funds to instead fund efforts to decarcerate, noting that “sound policy and strategic investments in housing, mental health care, addiction treatment, education, employment and economic opportunity will address the reasons for incarceration and further decrease incarceration rates.”
Automating the process of criminal record sealing refers to the fact that the Office of the Commissioner of Probation requires petitions to seal criminal records to be sent by mail or hand delivered to the Commissioner, requiring a large amount of staff and attorney time. When the office shut down due to COVID-19, so did the process. The senators noted that investing in technological improvements that allow filing petitions electronically would not only be cost effective but also safer than mailing petitions during public health emergencies such as COVID-19.
The full letter can be found at here.
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