Prisoner Advocates Call For Reform Of Parole Board As COVID Spreads
At least 17 people incarcerated in the stateâs prisons and jails have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and more than 3,000 prisoners have tested positive for the disease in a prison population now hovering just under 13,000, data shows.
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Amid mounting cases of COVID-19 in the stateâs prisons and jails, a group of community organizations are calling on Gov. Charlie Baker and top lawmakers to push the Parole Board to expedite releases of eligible parolees.
More than 70 organizations on Tuesday sent a 10-page letter alerting state officials to what they call âserious concernsâ about the parole system, including what they allege are low release rates, long delays for decisions and unnecessary re-incarceration of parolees who havenât committed new crimes.
Almost a decade after Annie Dookhan and the state drug lab scandal, the fallout is growing
Wronged defendants to receive millions while former prosecutors face discipline
By Andrea Estes Globe Staff,Updated January 1, 2021, 4:41 p.m.
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Annie Dookhan, a former chemist at the Hinton State Laboratory Institute, listened to the judge during her arraignment at Brockton Superior Court in Brockton on Jan. 30, 2013.Reuters
Three former state prosecutors are facing possible disbarment. Thousands of men and women convicted of drug crimes continue to see their convictions overturned. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is on the hook for an estimated $10 million to wrongfully convicted defendants.
As a Massachusetts proposal to expand abortion access nears the finish line, a longtime advocate now finds reproductive rights issues âhitting homeâ particularly hard.
Rabbi Liz P.G. Hirsch of Temple Anshe Amunim in Pittsfield has advocated over the past two years for the Massachusetts Legislature to pass the ROE Act, which seeks to âremove obstacles and expand abortion access.â This year, Hirsch has become pregnant.
âItâs very present, this worry over where you fall in this spectrum of what can happen and what canât,â she said. âAnd in pregnancy, itâs not always assured what happens, and thereâs a lot of twists and turns that Iâm very closely in touch with right now, being pregnant.â
(Jesse Costa/WBUR)
Two lawsuits filed in the past week allege that Massachusetts correction officials are endangering prisoners and staff during the pandemic, refusing to take steps that would tamp down infections and protect communities outside the prison walls.
Both suits say the current outbreaks in correctional facilities could have been avoided if more prisoners were released. In the past six weeks over 1,000 prisoners have been confirmed infected, over two thirds of the total infections to date. Five incarcerated people have died in the past month, reads the preliminary injunction filed Wednesday by Prisoners Legal Services of Massachusetts (PLSMA). All the measures DOC has put in place to control the spread of infection, such as lockdowns, mask use, and disinfection, have failed.
December 24, 2020 - 1:25 PM
BOSTON - Massachusetts has ended the use of a controversial license plate surveillance system after discovering a glitch that caused inaccurate data to be recorded for more than five years, according to a report obtained by The Boston Globe.
The inaccuracies were found in a network of mounted, fixed high-speed cameras installed by Massachusetts State Police that took photos of license plates of passing vehicles.
The stateâs Executive Office of Public Safety and Security issued a memo Wednesday that said the problem was discovered Nov. 12 by state police officials reviewing data collected.
The officials said the dates and time stamps for some of the entries were inaccurate.