Guest Columnist Lois Ahrens: ‘When will they be held responsible?’
LOIS AHREN
Published: 2/8/2021 4:35:24 PM
According to the Jan. 27 Special Masters Report, 2,861 women and men incarcerated in Massachusetts’ state prisons have become infected COVID-19. The total number of people incarcerated is 6,528. At Norfolk prison, the state prison with the oldest population, almost 50% of the men are or have been infected. At Framingham women’s prison, 94 of 163 women have had COVID.
In February and March 2020, advocates, attorneys and loved ones of incarcerated people filed lawsuits, wrote letters, protested and demanded that the Department of Correction and the governor take all possible measures to release people who were: 1) eligible for medical parole, 2) had six months left on a sentence, 3) in prison for parole violations, and 4) had earned positive parole votes. It took months for 300 people who earned parole to actually be released because the Parole Board had not establ
BOSTON, MA For some time, Tracy A. Miner and Megan Siddall had been kicking around the idea of an all-female firm focused on white-collar crimes and regulatory infractions.
Then an opportunity presented itself and they decided to seize it.
On Dec. 14, the pair announced the formation of Miner Siddall. The firm has the perfect acronym “MS” for what they say is Boston’s only all-women white-collar defense litigation boutique.
“Certainly, almost every firm has a ‘token’ woman on an executive board now because a lot of clients are demanding it,” Miner says. “But it’s one thing for one or two women to be on an executive board or chair a department; it’s another to have them be the majority [in terms of holding positions of power].”
(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.