{"id":38602,"date":"2023-06-27T16:30:37","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T20:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/?p=38602"},"modified":"2023-07-19T16:31:36","modified_gmt":"2023-07-19T20:31:36","slug":"in-historic-moment-mci-framingham-prisoners-testify-live-at-moratorium-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/in-historic-moment-mci-framingham-prisoners-testify-live-at-moratorium-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"In ‘historic’ moment, MCI-Framingham prisoners testify live at moratorium hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By\u00a0Sarah Betancourt<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
June 27, 2023<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A group of 20 women incarcerated at MCI-Framingham testified live on Zoom at a hearing on Monday \u2014 for the first time in legislative history.<\/p>\n

Clad in green uniforms, each woman sat in front of a camera in a white room and spoke in favor of a prison moratorium bill. The legislation would put a five-year pause on planning or building new prisons and renovating current prisons \u201cbeyond maintenance or building code requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their reasoning often stemmed from their own experiences, telling stories of poor medical care, concerns about limited reentry services upon entering the free world and dire conditions they experienced behind the walls of one of America\u2019s oldest functioning prisons.<\/p>\n

The bill was approved by the Legislature in the last session, but then-Gov. Charlie Baker vetoed it, saying the moratorium would restrict the ability to \u201cmaximize operational efficiencies.\u201d His administration was considering building a new women\u2019s prison in Norfolk to replace the aging MCI-Framingham. State Sen. Jo Comerford, who is the lead sponsor of the bill, called Baker\u2019s veto \u201cmisguided.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christen Longley at MCI-Framingham testified in support of the moratorium.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a much less costly option,\u201d Longley said as she sat before the camera. \u201cIt is getting people into alternative housing programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longley said that there\u2019s a false narrative that Framingham is overcrowded when the population has dropped, and said that there are two unused newer units at the Framingham facility. A decade ago,\u00a0more than 600 women<\/a>\u00a0were at MCI-Framingham, and now it\u2019s about 200.<\/p>\n

The state estimates\u00a0<\/b>that it\u00a0would cost $50 million<\/a>\u00a0to build a new women\u2019s prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cFifty million? Why do we need a new facility? There are two units they aren\u2019t even using so that they can cram us into less space,\u201d said Graciela Paulino.<\/p>\n

The Department of Correction did not specifically respond to questions about the new units.<\/p>\n

Several women, including Sandra Dostie, pointed to the $20 million spent to renovate the facility over the past few years. Dostie says there\u2019s a pervasive and false narrative about how the prison is so far gone that is can\u2019t be repaired.\u00a0<\/b>“Please keep talking to us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, MCI-Framingham needs repairs, but not imminently. What we need is accountability,\u201d said Robin Casali. She said she wanted to see restorative justice programs.<\/p>\n

Many of the women mentioned past history of sexual and domestic violence. \u201cEighty-six percent of women in prison identify as victims of sexual violence,\u201d said Hema Sarang Sieminski of Jane Doe Inc, saying the state needs to prioritize and resource healing services. \u201cWe need to recognize that passing the moratorium is a survivor issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paulino thinks the funding should go to reentry services. \u201cWhen I go home, I have nothing to go back to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advocates want to prevent that replacement of the women\u2019s prison, which has involved paying and\u00a0meeting with firms<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0draw up plans<\/a>\u00a0for a new facility. They also want to put a stop to incarceration overall, and an infusion of funds into alternatives, like a guaranteed basic housing program, and community-led crisis response.<\/p>\n

Others spoke of fellow prisoners who were aging and ill, and the need to release them and support them, not spend money on prison construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s people 80-years-old in here and they have dementia and don\u2019t even know they\u2019re here. They\u2019ll never see their families before they die. It\u2019s sad to say,\u201d Jasmin Rivera said. She said she\u2019s been in and out of prison since she was 18 \u2014 now, she\u2019s 49 \u2014 and that in-prison services have been poor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the judge sentenced me, he said it was for rehabilitation,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is not what has happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawmakers celebrated the testimonies from female prisoners. Comerford was overjoyed, called it a \u201chistoric moment\u201d and said that people impacted by policy should have a say in hearings. Committee Chair and state Rep. Antonio Cabral said that having prisoners Zoom into his committee was \u201cnew,\u201d and that it\u2019s \u201cimportant to hear from them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mallory Hanora of Families for Justice as Healing speaks at a rally to end new prison construction on Tuesday, June 27.<\/figcaption>
Sarah Betancourt \/ GBH News<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Advocates are calling on the new governor to back their bill, and called on Healey to support it during a rally outside of the State House.<\/p>\n

\u201cGov. Healey supports efforts to stop new construction of prison infrastructure provided it does not preclude the state from making critical renovations to maintain safe, modern facilities and attain quality programming and services,\u201d said Karissa Hand, spokeswoman for Gov. Maura Healey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill does not preclude repairs,\u201d Comerford said during the hearing. \u201cIt\u2019s important to note this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In 2021, the Department of Correction and the Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance signed a\u00a0contract<\/a>\u00a0with the firm HDR Architecture to design a new women\u2019s prison.<\/p>\n

In its original pitches to the state, HDR spoke of a smaller prison with trauma-informed services. But that isn\u2019t appeasing some legislators and advocates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not alone in believing there is no such thing as a trauma-informed prison,\u201d Comerford said. \u201cIncarceration is inherently traumatic.\u201d She said prisoners need alternatives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Sarah Betancourt June 27, 2023 A group of 20 women incarcerated at MCI-Framingham testified live on Zoom at a hearing on Monday \u2014 for the first time in legislative history. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-coverage"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}