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^TM	Massachusetts Statewide Harm Reduction Coalition ...Building momentum towards a moratorium on jail and prison expansion

Get

Involved

See the Bill for a 5-Year Moratorium on Jail and Prison Construction in MA (H. 01723)

SHaRC's 3-Fold Pamphlet on H. 01723 (PDF Format)

Listen to a SHaRC radio interview on H. 01723

Sign This Petition

03 / 12 / 2007

SHaRC press release on recent suicides and against culture of violence in MA jails and prisons

10 / 16 / 2006

SHaRC calls attention to the criminalization of queer people

08 / 17 / 2006

SHaRC launches day-long van tour calling for jail/prison expansion moratorium in Massachusetts

07 / 27 / 2006

SHaRC demands voting rights for felons

06 / 15 / 2006

Stop rape, torture, and abuse in jails and prisons

04 / 05 / 2006

Community coalition applauds anti-jail stance of gubernatorial candidate; Invites candidates Patrick, Healey, Reilly, Mihos to support fiscally, socially responsible policy

03 / 13 / 2006
With liberty and justice for some: Incarceration is not an equal opportunity punishment

03 / 08 / 2006
Why Women Are Not Best Served by Incarceration. A SHaRC Position Paper

03 / 08 / 2006
Prisoner panel recommendations are socially, fiscally irresponsible: Community coalition opposes new jails; demands housing, healthcare and human rights

03 / 08 / 2006
SHaRC to attend State House briefing on women in prison report: Reformers exploit International Women's Day to push pro-jail agenda

02 / 13 / 2006
Education not incarceration: It's time to stop the school-to-jail pipeline

In 2005:

Jobs, Not Jails

Housing and Human Rights,
Not Jails

Health Care,
Not Jails

Cliff Thornton

DPA Conference 2006

Also see

"Torture in U.S. Prisons"

What does the term Custom Therapeutic Module
mean to you?

See the Massachusetts Department of Correction's interpretation:

To view, point to and click on the images.

When Liberal Paternalism Becomes Collusion with the Department of Correction

Read Torture as therapy and therapy as punishment

BREAKDOWN: The Prison 'Suicide' Crisis

Advisory: SHaRC cannot confirm the veracity of this series. Reader beware.

Part 1: Inmates at risk

With 15 suicides in three years, inmates have taken their own lives in Massachusetts prisons at roughly triple the national rate for state prisons. And hundreds more inmates are hurting themselves and attempting suicide. A Globe Spotlight Team investigation found that most of the deaths came after careless errors and deadly decisions by Department of Correction officials and health staff, at times when inmates were obviously at risk.

Photo essay Amid trail of errors in prisons, families left with questions

Photos Jarred Aranda, comforts long forgotten

Notes Read some inmates' last words

Part 2: An inmate's suicide

Nelson Rodriguez was a mentally-retarded 26-year-old when he hanged himself in the notorious 10-block isolation unit at MCI-Cedar Junction. Unable to master the rules of prison life, he was repeatedly punished with solitary confinement.

Part 3: Desperation, frustration

As prisons become the asylum of last resort for the mentally ill, desperation, frustration and violence are rising on both sides of the cell door. About 50 times each month, inmates are assaulting prison staff members. And, at nearly the same rate, inmates, many of whom say they are abused by officers, attempt to kill or injure themselves. The Spotlight Team examines the tension between mentally disturbed inmates and their jailers.

What Do Prisoners Have to Say?

The $40M Ripoff

Call to Action. There is an opportunity to bring OUR insight, our expertise to this issue and to the greater public next week. There are many avenues here for effecting REAL CHANGE.

SEE:

Testimony regarding House No. 1723, Petition of Carl M. Sciortino, Jr., and others relative to the construction of new correctional facilities and providing for an investigation of incarceration and its impact on public safety, 08 May 2007
Testimony

Oversight Hearings on Prison Suicide and Prison Mental Health, 01 May 2007

Testimony of the Statewide Harm Reduction Coalition

Supporting Documentation

In memory of:

2007 Jarred Aranda · Mark Cunningham · Russ Dagenais · Francelina Soares Furtado · Miguel Velasquez

2006 Glen Bourgeois · Nicole Davis · Anthony Garafolo · Michael Keohane · Steven Koumaris · Eduardo Soto · Johnny Walker

2005 Pedro Alvarez · Andrew Armstrong · Ronald Binnette · Daniel McMullen · Nelson Rodriguez · Jason Smith · John Yovino

2003 Kelly Jo Griffen

***

"[President Nixon] emphasized that you have to face the fact that the whole problem is really the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this while not appearing to."

~ Diary of H. R. Haldeman

Chief of Staff, Nixon Administration

In 1971, Richard Nixon declared the War on Drugs.

That failed war continues to have a grossly disproportionate impact

on people of color. Link

ACT now!

See the Bill for a 5-Year Moratorium on Jail and Prison Construction in MA (H. 01723)

See SHaRC's H. 01723 Fact Sheet

Listen to a SHaRC radio interview on H. 01723

Sign This Petition

Keep the Pressure On! JUST SAY NO to a quarter billion dollars for new jails.
Fight Jails in Middlesex and Suffolk Counties. Distribute our "Did You Know?" leaflet.

Download:

Middlesex County

Suffolk County

Adequate funding for basic human needs is the FIRST step in crime control, NOT construction of new jails. Even Sheriff DiPaola of Middlesex County agrees that building more prisons will not solve any crime problems. SEE: [Rep.] Sciortino concerned about sheriff’s proposal for new jail. Somerville News. June 18th, 2006
Fight against new women's prison takes on incarceration habit by Megan Tady. 5 July 2006