My name is Fred Smith. I am the Director of Program Development, Research and Evaluation for St. Francis House, a multi-service day shelter located in downtown Boston. For 10 years prior to my current position, I had the privilege of developing and directing the Moving Ahead Program, a 14-week residential treatment, life skills and career development program for individuals with issues of homelessness, addiction, mental health and post incarceration for 10+ years.
In the course of my work I have the opportunity of visiting inmates in virtually every prison and jail in the commonwealth including, and especially, the Massachusetts Treatment Center in Bridgewater. As one of the only programs that, not only corresponds with inmates, but makes a concerted effort to visit and interview prospective participants for our rehabilitation programs, my staff and I get to hear, up close and personal, the hopes and dreams of the men and women waiting for a chance. (more…)
A prison sentence is the set up for the rest of your life, and is not only the business of the Department of Correction, but is the urgent business of the communities to which prisoners are returning, and from which prisoners were removed. A transparent must be built, tended, and supported between our communities and the corrections system.
Community based programs and services must be the cornerstones of any re-entry plan. Meaningful collaborations between community based programs and correctional facilities are essential. (more…)
KEXP radio in Seattle conducted this Interview in January 2008 with Paul Wright, founder and editor of “Prison Legal News” and author of the book “Prison Profiteers: Who Makes Money From Mass Incarceration.”
Note: The following is a contribution from a member of the End the Odds Coalition.
Prison reform and abolition advocates in Massachusetts are continuously told that our Public Safety system is so fragmented that true reform or progress is virtually impossible to accomplish. As a result, many have concluded that it cannot even be called a system. The fragmented system excuse is the classic pass the buck answer to questions about why we cannot implement reentry programs that all experts know and actual experience shows actually reduces recidivism significantly.
Well, I see it a little differently, however. I still see it as a system, it’s just not a public safety or criminal justice system because for one, there’s no safety and two, there’s no justice. What we have is a system of industry, a very successful one because it is accomplishing what it set out to do, generate jobs and increase profits. That is the system—the industry—the prison industrial complex. They cannot generate the kinds of jobs and profits this system produces without a steady flow of crime; any reduction in crime would mark the end to this gravy train.
At the Cell Block to City Block hearing, Commissioner Clarke stated that crime will always be with us as a matter of course; well, he and everyone else in this system most certainly hopes so because it means job security for him and the rest. I disagree that it needs to exist the way it does today, considering it didn’t always, and doesn’t in many other ‘developed’ countries the way it does here. There’s been a little behind the scenes assistance going on for some time now. (more…)
…There is to be a meeting with the Commissioner here at Norfolk. We have been told that he is interested in seeing this inmate council which we have here. I, for one, look to place before him the lasting benefits of the things done here.
When I first arrived at this facility and learned of this “inmate government” I had the typical reaction; cynically I asked: “Are you kidding? Do these people not know where they are?”
Then it dawned on me, that’s the point! This place is set up to get you out of the “I am in prison” thinking; because, in prison the guards begrudge everything which they have to give you, if you want anything beyond that, you need to employ guile and deception. Prison socializes one to be sneaky, to resent authority and view it as the repressive enemy. Prison makes “convicts.” (more…)
November 18, 2008
Good evening,
My name is ,,, and in the last 22 years I have served time under 6 governors, 4 DOC Commissioners, and perhaps 100 different ideologies and studies on how best to change this system. Now nearly some 5 years after the Commission on Corrections Study; created by Gov. Mitt Romney, the philosophy most often heard as to why many of those changes haven’t happened are because – “Nothing changes over night!” But sadly, some things do. On January 15th of this year my second oldest son was shot and killed on the streets of Boston. He died and moments later my entire family life was changed forever. Throughout the city of Boston and other cities many families lives have also been “changed overnight,” from a sudden loss of a love one. With that said, I know there are some very influential and professional people in this room who can not afford to pay for another study. So I offer you my own brief study based on years of great loss to myself, my family, and other I have encountered. For me it’s too late to cast blame that will have to be someone else’s job for tonight. (more…)
EtOC Note: the following was read at the From Cell Block to City Block hearing on November 18, 2008, where prisoners, the formerly incarcerated, and organizations who serve them expressed their concerns, needs and proposals to the Commissioner of Correction Harold Clarke, his administration, and some legislators on what kinds of programs are needed to ensure public safety for all. The following was compiled by several prisoners at one MA prison in the form of questions for the Commissioner to consider.
Re-entry initiatives must begin early during the incarceration period and extend through the general prison population. Family and community-based programs have to include lifers in preparing for eventual return of convicted felons to the neighborhood. Do you agree with both statements and if so, please suggest the process of implementation?
In recent years, program volunteers have been prevented from attending and submitting documents to commutation and parole hearings. Such contributions offer a neutral perspective about the rehabilitative process. Would you change this policy to allow program volunteers to participate in these public hearings?
Note from End the Odds Coalition: In an effort to keep the focus on the cause of compassionate release of elderly prisoners, the author, a prisoner, has requested anonymity. Experience has taught him that when his name is associated with good works, his critics seek to discredit the cause along with vilifying his name.
As the sponsors of this website blog, EtOC will respect the author’s request for anonymity, but we challenge those entities and individuals who have forced him to remain nameless. Those in authority are abusing their power and are effectively abrogating the right of free speech of others. Furthermore, they are depriving him of receiving recognition for his contributions.
Factoring in all of the medical expenses and security cost, the last few years in the life of Nick Montos cost Massachusetts tax payers in excess of one million dollars. At the expense of the Commonwealth, Mr. Montos had received triple by-pass surgery, the implantation of a pacemaker, cancer treatment, and medical services for a host of age-related illnesses, not to mention emergency life ending care. Mr. Montos, who at the time of his death on November 30, 2008, was 92 years of age, and barely able to walk without the assistance of other prisoners, surely could not have posed any threat to public safety. (more…)
As for “the commission,” with the exception of a few of its proposed members those people are already overseeing operations of the prison system. Maybe they’re trying to appease the law enforcement and criminal justice arena by making it heavy with “cop-minded” individuals and hope just to get the Bill to pass, finally. I don’t know. But my position is, if the entire prison industry is funded by tax dollars there should definitely be a lot more than one appointment from the Mass. Taxpayers Foundation, don’t you agree? I haven’t done the ratio but at first glance it does appear to be a little cop-heavy, and the bad guys greatly outnumber the good. It is also made up of far too many people, which will only over-compl icate matters and most likely self-destruct due to all of the usual reasons–egos, narcissism, stubbornness… (more…)
