The rollout begins about a month after county jails and the Department of Correction experienced the highest number of active COVID-19 cases among prisoners and workers since the state started documenting real-time infections in July.
Push To Release Prison Inmates In MA Amid Pandemic
Prisoner advocates in Massachusetts are redoubling their legal efforts to release inmates from state prisons because of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a story reported on by WWLP/22 News, Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts argued in a Suffolk Superior Court filing Thursday that the state Department of Correction needs to release inmates to home confinement, furlough, medical parole, and other legal measures so that the remaining prisoners can safely socially distance behind bars.
The organization submitted accounts from roughly 40 inmates about crowded conditions in state prisons and their fears of contracting COVID-19 to bolster their appeal.
3 months ago in Local Denise Vozella Photo: WHMP
(Undated) More than half the cities and towns in Massachusetts are now listed as at high risk for the coronavirus. The number has ticked up over the course of the past week. Elsewhere in New England, a federal food box program set to end with the year is being taken over by Vermont Foodbank. It plans to fund it through February. Schools across Maine are reporting dips in academic performance during the coronavirus pandemic. And in Rhode Island, the positivity rate for the coronavirus is trending downward.
(Undated) The state reports nearly 3,000 newly confirmed COVID cases Sunday, as well as 100 new deaths. That raises the statewide death toll since the pandemic started to 11,852. There are currently 416 people being treated for coronavirus in intensive care.
Published December 25, 2020 •
Updated on December 25, 2020 at 10:39 pm
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Here s a look at coronavirus developments in New England:
MASSACHUSETTS
Prisoner advocates in Massachusetts are redoubling their legal efforts to release inmates from state prisons because of the coronavirus pandemic. Prisoners Legal Services of Massachusetts argued in a Suffolk Superior Court filing Thursday that the state Department of Correction needs to release inmates to home confinement, furlough, medical parole and other legal measures so that the remaining prisoners can safely socially distance behind bars.
The organization submitted accounts from roughly 40 inmates about crowded conditions in state prisons and their fears of contracting COVID-19 to bolster their appeal. Prisoners Legal Services also said four prisons MCI-Norfolk, MCI-Shirley, NCCI Gardner and MCI Concord account for nearly all of the more than 1,000 new cases of the virus in the correctional system since O