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October, 2003 Newsletter
Criminal Justice Policy Coalition Fall Newsletter
1) Letter from the Chair 2) Legislative Update 3) Conditions in Framingham MCI post Geoghan murder
1) Letter from the Chair
October 19, 2003
Dear CJPC member,
Could anyone have predicted that the deaths of two people within the custody of the Department of Corrections (DOC) within one month this past summer would produce such widespread acknowledgement of serious problems within that agency? This is the third rewrite of this fall newsletter within two weeks; nearly daily developments making obsolete the preceding version. By time this arrives, undoubtedly more public announcements from the government will update/change this letter as well as the legislative update included.
The tragic murder of John Geoghan at MCI Souza-Baranowski, and the death of Kelly Jo Griffin at MCI Framingham, a citizen who had not yet been charged with any crime but merely picked up and detained on an outstanding traffic violation, have provoked the executive and legislative branches of government, as well as the fourth estate, to acknowledge and/or report on the need for a thorough public review of conditions within our prisons. Hopefully the wasted lives of Griffin and Geoghan, and countless other prisoner deaths as well as physical torture suffered by those incarcerated will provoke the Commonwealth to take seriously our responsibility for those we imprison. Few within the state are absolved from responsibility for the violence which happens within prisons as we taxpayers are responsible for those institutions (see enclosed report).
Last August, the CJPC Board understood that this is the time to increase our effort to address the need for long term monitoring of our correctional facilities in order to move the state towards a more healing response to violence. In September, the Board decided to engage the services of a field organizer to take our concerns to areas of the Commonwealth where we have, as yet, had little impact. Patrice Brymner, a Hastings College of the Law graduate, formerly a practicing lawyer in the San Francisco/Bay area (criminal and civil) and currently a freelance writer for suburban west area newspapers, has begun working with us to formulate and carry a message to several of the communities which host MA Correctional Institutions. Our message will be the need for increased citizen awareness of and responsibility for the DOC and for certain criminal justice policies. CJPC has contracted with Ms. Brymner for a three day week, five month period, with the possibility of continuing her work as funds allow.
Financial Status of CJPC It has been nearly two years since the major changes which impacted CJPC’s financial stability. This new commitment to increase our impact through a field worker demonstrates the Board’s belief that there remains a will to improve our Commonwealth’s correctional policies. Of course, this would not be possible without those who have continued their financial support through this difficult period. Renewed growth will not be possible without that continuation, as well as the recommitment by the many others who have not yet renewed their membership. Continuation of our organizing work will only be possible with the support of many. Now is the time to let us know that we are going in the right direction and to help us help the Commonwealth move toward a more constructive and healing approach towards violence. If you have not done so, please renew your membership for the year of 2003. You can save yourself (and us) time and funds by renewing for 2004 at the same time.
For the Board,
Lloyd Fillion, Chair
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2) LEGISLATIVE UPDATES October 20, 2003
Civilian Review Board or Blue Ribbon Commission? It is hard to divine whether recent developments bode well or ill for a standing civilian review board, such as outlined in Rep. Kay Khan’s H.2853 – “An Act to Create a Citizen Review Board for the Department of Corrections” (see earlier newsletters for description, or go to our revised website at [email protected].)
On Monday, October 6th, the Committee on Public Safety Co-Chair Senator Jarrett Barrios, committee members Senator Stephen M. Brewer and Rep. Kathi-Anne Reinstein and a number of staff of that committee toured the Souza-Baranowski MCI. According to committee staff, the goal of the visit was to gain a direct knowledge of one state institution considered to be “state of the art”. Later this month the committee intends to visit another facility which is not as “modern.” The committee decided to not talk to guards or prisoners in order to not be seen as intruding on the work of the Governor’s panel. After touring the Souza-Baranowski facility, Co-Chair Barrios indicated a willingness to recommend the appointment of a “blue ribbon commission” to do a “soup-to-nuts” review of the correctional facilities. Co-Chair Rep. Timothy Toomey joined in this view.
There continue to be questions regarding the impartiality of the panel that Gov. Romney has appointed to review the Geoghan murder. Further, the administration has yet to indicate that it sees any cause for concern in the death of Ms. Griffin. Just this past Friday, Governor Romney announced the creation of yet a fourth commission dealing with matters of criminal justice (this past spring, the “Governor’s Commission on Criminal Justice Innovation”, followed by the Geoghan panel, and then a “Governor’s Council on Capital Punishment”). This new commission, the “Governor’s Commission on Corrections Reform”, to be chaired by the former MA Attorney General Scott Harshberger, is charged with the same soup-to-nuts scope as earlier identified by co-Chairs Barrios and Toomey, concerns which many non-government critics of the DOC had identified years ago. This commission is heavy with members from the prosecutor/correctional institution side and shy on persons with extensive backgrounds in human development. There is also only a modicum of women and minorities on the commission, both significant constituencies with critical perspectives. The necessity of social scientists and minority representations are addressed in H.2853; the lack of social scientists on the current Parole Board is the focus of corrective legislation (Rep. Ruth Balser’s H.3568, and Rep. Vincent Pedone’s H. 2856 – both entitled “An Act Providing for Behavioral Science Representation on the Parole Board”) currently pending in the Committee on Public Safety.
Hopefully, this commission will realize that a detailed snapshot of current conditions, while important, can not be a substitute for ongoing review of and comment on these institutions’ workings. The DOC has a history of either withholding information or not even collecting the simplest of data. Any commission with a reporting deadline may find themselves at their final meeting without the DOC statistics needed for a comprehensive analysis. A report which limits itself to addressing immediate problems can not provide permanent guidance, and the issues do not lend themselves to permanent repair. To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, the price of responsible prison stewardship is eternal vigilance. (In the last half century alone, there were five commissions created to deal with reoccurring problems.) This is why an ongoing Review Board for the DOC is needed.
N.B. On October 28th, at 10:30a.m .in room 222 at the State House, the Public Safety Committee will hold a public hearing to receive testimony regarding a number of facets of Department of Corrections’ policies and procedures. Testimony is likely to cover issues regarding female prisoners, classification and mentally ill inmates among other concerns. This hearing will receive oral testimony from invited guests only; later hearings will allow oral public comment. Of course, written testimony is always welcome. A sizeable audience will impress the government that many are alarmed with the state of our prisons.
Female Inmate Issues Staff for the Public Safety Committee have indicated that some of the bills affecting female inmates (H. 2492 by Rep. Gloria Fox, and H. 2854 by Rep. Kay Khan, both concerned with treatment of pregnant inmates; H.1341 by Rep. Martin Walsh and H. 3024 of Rep. Khan, both bills relating to alternative programming for women within prison, and H.1911 of Rep. Deborah Blumer a bill to evaluate health care at Framingham MCI,) will likely be reported out of committee following the Oct. 28th hearing referred to above.
Wrongful Conviction Restitution As of a few weeks ago, H.2506, by Rep. Patricia Jehlen, “An Act Relative to the Wrongfully Convicted” to provide for compensation to those persons wrongfully convicted murder, had a second reading in the Ways and Means Committee has been reported out and is expected to come to the floor of the House on Tuesday October 21st for a vote. If passed, it then goes to the Senate for consideration.
Drug Policy Sen. Cynthia Creem’s S. 167 – “An Act Relative to Drug Mandatory Minimum Sentences” proposes eligibility for parole after serving 2/3’s of the sentence for the violation of certain controlled substances violations. There is some concern that movement on this will be tied into legislative action on the Sentencing Guidelines, one version of which (S.219, introduced by Sen. Marian Walsh, and H. 3302, introduced by Rep. David Linsky) comes from the Sentencing Commission of the 1990s, and a version (H.2749 and H. 2750 introduced by Rep. Stephen Tobin) crafted by the Criminal Justice Committee and viewed by many as somewhat harsher. The Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts www.dpfma.org is coordinating work on S. 167.
Prison Health and Post Release Health Care As announced in the Sunday Globe (10/19), the MA Public Health Association (617-524-6696) is this week releasing a study documenting the prevalence of Hep.-C and AIDS in MA prisons. This same week the Joint Committee on Health Care is holding a hearing on Sen. Richard Moore’s S.598, “An Act Relative to MassHealth Enrollment for Persons Leaving Correctional Facilities in Massachusetts.” The Bill would provide for immediate health care for inmates upon release. Sen. Moore is co-chair of the committee, Rep. Peter Koutoujian is the House chair.
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3) The State of MA Corrections after the Deaths of John Geoghan and Kelly Jo Griffin Leslie Walker, Executive Director, Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services October 9, 2003
While the Legislators who visited Souza-Baranowski refrained from talking to inmates during their October 6th visit, representatives from the Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services (MCLS) did not. Staff from MCLS recently visited both Framingham MCI and Souza-Baranowski MCI to talk to inmates and discovered that conditions have not changed in the past months after the deaths. Leslie Walker, executive director of MCLS gave a presentation to the Task Force on Women and Children in Prison at the State House Thursday, October 9th, based on recent conversations with inmates at Framingham, and on the comments of Michael Cutler who visited with inmates at Souza-Baranowski on behalf of MCLS.
The biggest problem continues to be overclassification. While Massachusetts recognizes 6 levels of classification, with the most violent offenders at level 6 and those of least concern at 1, the Department of Correction continues classifying inmates in the levels 4, 5, and 6 long after those inmates have demonstrated an ability to be moved to a lower level. Many inmates remain at these levels from the day they enter the system to the day they are released; there is little attempt to step inmates down to lower levels in preparation for return to the street. Higher levels mean less contact with other prisoners and more regimented daily life. Often those released after lengthy sentences at higher levels return to our communities without having had any human physical contact (the comfort of a touch as distinct from punitive beating) for years and with little or no experience at self control, having been conditioned to allowing a bureaucracy to regulate every detail in their daily life. Perhaps coincidentally, overclassification requires thousands of dollars more per inmate, which helps explain the state’s bloated state prison budget. Of course, overclassification also dictates a greater number of Correctional Officers (COs).
At Framingham, while the majority of COs do a credible job, returning respect to inmates who offer them respect, there continue to be those guards who make life miserable for all. Verbal abuse (one notorious guard addresses inmates as “whore” or “bitch”, once publicly suggesting that an inmate had on the wrong bra size , or no bra at all) physical abuse (random public checks for “illegal” clothing –one inmate had her pants pulled down by a guard while the inmate was waiting in line for medications; the guard observed a thong undergarment and told the inmate that “those belong to me – you are forbidden from wearing thongs.”) continues. The inmates are afraid to file grievances related to the abuse, fearing retribution. Racial comments continue as in references by some COs to “Brillo hair.”
Institutional degradation continues: inmates are initially given a kit of toiletries –soap, shampoo, toilet paper, toothpaste in the sizes found in hotel rooms. Thereafter, all personal hygiene items must be purchased at the commissary, which charges street prices while inmates earn at best 3 dollars/day at prison jobs, of which there are not enough for all prisoners. Lending such toiletries to another inmate, a prohibited interchange, can get one sent to isolation as punishment. A year ago, all cosmetics were banned; the only lipstick available is an institutional pink which inmates describe as uncomplimentary for either whites, blacks or latinos. Food continues to be a high starch, low vegetable diet. Toilet paper continues to be in short supply. As distinct from some of the institutions for men, there is no segregating of women being held in pending trial; a woman facing trial on a charge of passing a bad check may be put in a cell with a convicted violent offender. There is no protective custody unit for the more vulnerable population.
A high number of inmates are on psych medications – as many as 80 percent. 30% of the women have major mental illnesses. Yet all of the women must wait in line daily for their dosages. (This includes motrin for menstrual cycles.) And the dispensing time may not be related to the purposes of the medication, with only two nurses dispensing all medications. Inmates prescribed meds to help them sleep may be gotten from their cells at one a.m. to receive their sleep inducing medication.
For the 600 women at Framingham there are about 300 jobs, all of them in traditional female occupations. Working in the prison library, food preparation, making garments, housekeeping provide for the vast majority of jobs available. However, grounds keeping remains subcontracted to outside firms- inmates don’t cut the grass (other states allow female inmates to learn heavy construction equipment operation). Few women benefit from educational opportunities. While there were twelve teachers at Framingham as recently as a few years ago, the number now stands at only 4 – two teach pre-GED, one teaches computer skills and one the building trades. There are only 45 inmates (out of the 700) enrolled in classes this semester. All of this translates into much idle time for many people in an overcrowded prison.
The interviewer gained a distinct impression that a number of the COs are aware that much about the institution needs corrective measures.
At Souza-Baranowski, the tension is palpable. Anger towards prisoners and the interviewer was evident during the visit. The protective custody unit, which was created earlier this year, houses high profile inmates, inmates convicted of notorious crimes, and other who have, or are likely to have, enemies elsewhere in the system. Some in the protective custody unit are severely mentally ill, and a majority of them should be hospitalized.
(from notes by Lloyd Fillion and Patrice Brymner)
December, 2003 Newsletter
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