BUDGET APPROACH TO A CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD
In concert with this legislative action, an amendment to the House Budget including a number of bills from the Joint Committee on Public Safety has been successfully adopted and the entire House Budget awaits a final vote, expected within the month. This amendment includes $100,000 for a Citizen Review Board for the DOC and language to create such a Board. This Budget is different from the Governor’s budget and those with whatever Budget passed by the Senate will need reconciliation.
This version of a Review Board has much the same mandate as H.2853 and H4457. However, there are two consequential changes- the composition of the Board and an added section focusing the attention of the Board on the conditions of “Unit 4” employees, which includes entry level correctional officers, sergeants and Lieutenants, all of whom are members of the MA Correctional Officers Federated Union (MCORFU).
The “Citizens Correctional Review Board” of this budget version would “…consist of twenty-one members as follows: 3 members appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives, 3 members appointed by the president of the senate, the president of the Massachusetts Sheriffs Association or his designee, the inspector general or his designee, the attorney general or his designee, the auditor or his designee and 3 members appointed by the governor, one of whom shall be the secretary of public safety, and one of whom shall be the commissioner of the department of public health, the chair of the parole board, a representative of the Massachusetts Correctional Officers Federated Union, a representative from the Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, League of Women Voters, a representative from the Massachusetts Council of Churches, a the Executive Director of the Massachusetts District Attorney Association or his designee, and a representative of the Victim and Witness Program.“
The change in composition of the Board substantively increases the seats directly or indirectly appointed by the Governor (3 and 4 in H.2853 and H4457) to 10. The seats appointed by the Legislature increase from 2 in the original two bills to 6, and the Chair of the Board is specifically designated as filled by a member from the Legislature. The seats from the private sector essentially remain fixed while the Judiciary seat is eliminated entirely. While in both H2853 and 4457, private sector organizations representing constituencies controlled 50 % of the seats, shy one; in the Budget version, that is reduced to 25% less one. Continuing to call it a “Citizens” board may be seen as somewhat misleading.
Section (g), pertaining to staffing oversight reads: “ [The Board] shall report annually on the staffing of Unit 4 positions, so-called, in each state correctional institution. Such report shall include, but not be limited to, the following: The number of Unit 4 positions broken down by correctional institution, and the number of Unit 4 positions vacant; the number of Unit 4 positions lost to retirement, discharge or resignation and the number that have been replaced; a breakdown by correctional facility of the staff hours of overtime worked by Unit 4 personnel and the annual aggregate costs related to this overtime; the number of reported assaults upon Unit 4 personnel; the number of Unit 4 personnel out on industrial accident leave, and for each individual, the length of time on leave.”
The full text of the budget amendment may be found at:
http://www.state.ma.us/legis/05budget/house/amendments/consolidated.htm#B