LAST MONTH, three days before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, women in Massachusetts lost another opportunity for bodily autonomy and personal dignity when the Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC) released a “Strategic Plan for Women Incarcerated in Massachusetts,” commissioned for $225,000 from the Ripples Group, a “boutique management consulting firm.” The strategic plan […]
Susan Sered
Posted inCriminal Justice
A new women’s prison would be a mistake
THE MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION announced recently that it will suspend operations at Massachusetts Correctional Institute in Shirley and South Middlesex Correctional Center in the wake of high rates of COVID-19 infections and deaths in Massachusetts prisons and the ongoing decline in prisoner populations in the state. This announcement follows on the heels of last year’s announcement regarding plans to consider […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Involuntary commitment of drug users wrong approach
MASSACHUSETTS IS AIMING to tackle the opioid crisis head on. On Friday, the Joint House and Senate committee dealing with substance abuse is set to move forward on major legislation known as the CARE Act. Though the bill includes many good measures, it would also expand the dubious practice of involuntarily sending drug users to rehab. And that […]