05/23/2026
Message from Jessie White of MA PLS
In theory, the outcome of incarceration is successful reentry into the community. In practice, the carceral system is actively harming people, and too often killing them. We write now to help illuminate how some of this death-making occurs, why it is unnecessary, and to invite you to help now by advocating for legislation that would help.
Current budget proposals call for Massachusetts to spend approximately $1.7 Billion over the next fiscal year to operate our state prisons and county jails, where over 140 people have died since 2022. None of these deaths in custody were inevitable. They are the result of policy failures. Policies that warehouse people with mental illness in solitary-like units, policies that restrict basic familial and community connection, and policies that leave the elderly and the infirm to die "expected" deaths, shackled to a hospital bed while a medical parole application sits unanswered.
Earlier this session, well over 100 organizations sent a letter to Legislative leaders, asking that they make it a priority to pass a small slate of bills that were reported out favorably from their original committees and are now in the Committees on Ways and Means. Together, these bills would help protect vulnerable populations from the worst harms of incarceration, particularly families, young people, elders, and survivors of violence and abuse. After this letter was sent, S.2857, An Act to ensure access to medical parole, was also reported out favorably and sent to the Committee on Ways and Means. S.2857 concentrates on medical parole reform and is in alignment with the original bill package.
The highlighted bills would promote efficient use of state resources at a time when every dollar matters, uphold the civil rights that Massachusetts is already defending from federal attack, and break cycles of violence by investing in people rather than in costly systems of incarceration. Notably, the reforms being prioritized are cost effective; a conservative cost analysis shows that passing elder and medical parole reform would save the Commonwealth $250 million over the next ten years.
Please read below for evidence that change is urgently needed, and for more information about how these bills would help. We are calling on all members of the public to reach out now to your legislators to share this letter with them, and ask them to prioritize passage of the below listed bills:
· An act to ensure access to medical parole (S.2857)
· An act relative to medical and elder parole (H.2693)
· An act to build restorative family and community connection (H.2591)
· An act relative to human rights and improved outcomes for incarcerated people (H.2608)
· An act relative to justice for survivors (S.1256)
· An act establishing a jail and prison moratorium (H.3422, S.2944)
· An Act to Promote Public Safety and Better Outcomes for Youths (S.1061)
Recent polling data of Massachusetts voters, equally representing Democrats and Republicans shows that:
· 77.2% support allowing people who were victims of domestic violence to raise abuse or coercion as a factor in sentencing or resentencing.
· 74.4% believe that releasing elderly or seriously ill people who no longer pose a risk can improve public safety.
· 76.2% believe that prison and jail conditions should be safe and humane, even though incarceration itself is the punishment.
Support these bills by clicking here
Inadequate mental health care, substance use disorder, and solitary confinement: a perfect storm for an alarming rise in su***des
An investigative series by MassLive and The Springfield Republican, "Death Under Watch," has documented the circumstances surrounding the 140 people who died in custody over the last several years. The data was obtained only after the outlets fought denials through the state's public records appeal process. County jails were especially resistant to transparency, with most denying records requests in full until the appeal process compelled disclosure.
The year 2025 brought a particularly alarming spike in su***des. After su***des in state prisons dropped significantly, with one each in 2022 and 2023 and none in 2024, six people died by su***de in Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC) facilities in 2025. Four of those deaths occurred between September 20 and November 2; a six-week span. Two men, Christopher Stiles and Robert McNickles, died by hanging one week apart in the same Behavior Assessment Unit (BAU) at MCI-Norfolk, reportedly after being placed there following overdoses on a synthetic drug called K2.
Following the surge in deaths, the DOC commissioned an independent review from Dr. Sharen Barboza, a clinical psychologist with expertise in correctional mental health care. Her January 2026 report reviewed the records of all six individuals who died by su***de in 2025 and identified systemic failures at every level of care.
· Four people had previously attempted su***de, yet none had a safety plan in their clinical record.
· Clinical contacts in the BAUs were shockingly brief. The vast majority lasted under five minutes, and some were documented as lasting less than one minute.
· People on the mental health caseload saw a different clinician at nearly every contact. Psychiatric providers were different for nearly every visit.
· Mental health and substance use treatment providers had no access to each other's records and held no regular interdisciplinary meetings.
· The DOC's response to intoxication was inconsistent, punishing some individuals and treating others. Several people were transferred to isolated BAU cells after overdosing rather than receiving clinical care. Dr. Barboza found this pattern could not be overlooked given its connection to the 2025 deaths.
Solitary Confinement by Another Name
When the Legislature restricted and regulated the use of solitary confinement under the 2018 Criminal Justice Reform Act, the DOC created the Behavior Assessment Units (BAUs) and Secure Adjustment Units (SAUs) as replacements, claiming that legal protections did not apply. Incarcerated people describe them as solitary confinement by another name. Prisoners' Legal Services filed a lawsuit in 2024, Evelyn v. Jenkins. This is a class-action lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of incarcerated people alleging that conditions in the BAU and SAU-IV at Souza Baranowski Correctional Center mirror solitary confinement and are worsening incarcerated people’s mental health, and that the DOC is failing to comply with the 2018 law. People confined in BAUs are held in their cells for 21 hours a day. Dr. Barboza acknowledged that the units she observed were previously classified as "restrictive housing" and could have a similar isolating psychological impact on those confined there.
Profit Over People
The DOC's health care is provided by VitalCore, a for-profit company. The Barboza report makes clear that VitalCore's clinical staff were conducting contacts under a minute, lacked coordination across disciplines, and produced documentation so generic that subsequent clinicians could not rely on it for treatment decisions. This is not a resource problem. It is a structural one: a profit-driven model applied to a captive, vulnerable population with no ability to seek care elsewhere. DOC has failed to come into full compliance with constitutional demands despite years of federal oversight: The Kapoor Reports
A Failing System
Payne's case is not an outlier. Between fiscal years 2018 and 2024, fewer than 14 percent of the 677 people who applied for medical parole were granted release. Last year alone, six people died while a request or appeal was pending. Three more were granted medical parole but died before they were released, including James Ware, who was approved in January 2026 and died in prison in April. Prisoners' Legal Services has represented a dozen people who died while their applications were pending. People of color are approved at a rate of 10 percent, compared to 15 percent for white applicants, compounding an already unjust system with racial inequity.
The process itself is structurally broken. A single person, the DOC Commissioner, decides whether to grant a petition, and the Court has decided that a judge cannot overturn that decision. A study published in the journal Nature last year analyzed 31 petitions filed by Prisoners' Legal Services and found no correlation between the DOC's own standardized recidivism risk score and whether people were released. What was correlated with the outcome was the prison superintendent's recommendation. The difference between dying in custody and dying at home comes down largely to the discretion not of doctors, but of one administrator.
The financial case for reform is just as clear. It costs the state approximately $600,000 per year to house one incarcerated person at Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, where many terminally ill prisoners die. A nursing home costs the state under $200,000 per year. The Commonwealth is spending three times as much to provide worse care, to people who pose no public safety risk, under conditions that amount to punishment for being sick.
The Solution: Legislation to improve conditions, reduce deaths in custody, protect families, elders, and young people, and improve true public safety.
In March 2026, 111 organizations signed onto a letter that forwarded a small package of critical bills that would help ameliorate the harms that are leading to premature death behind bars. More details on each bill are included in the linked letter and are also below. These bills have all been vetted and reported out favorably by their initial committee and now are in the Committee on Ways and Means for review. We ask you to please contact your own legislator to support these priorities.
Support these bills by clicking here
[https://secure.everyaction.com/Wqnffb8ZvEGszRvSOOuFDA2](https://secure.everyaction.com/Wqnffb8ZvEGszRvSOOuFDA2)
1. An Act Relative to Human Rights and Improved Outcomes for Incarcerated People ( H.2608)
This bill would establish universal access to programming, education, and vocational training; guarantee meaningful out-of-cell time; establish community standards of care for mental health care and substance use disorder; and enshrine baseline human rights protections for all incarcerated people. The isolation and idleness documented across every expert report are not accidents. They are the product of a system designed around punishment rather than rehabilitation, and solitary-like conditions in BAUs thrive in the absence of enforceable standards. This bill creates those standards.
2. An Act Relative to Elder and Medical Parole (H.2693) and An Act to Ensure Access to Medical Parole (S.2857)
Eleven of the 28 people who died in DOC custody in the past year were classified as "expected" deaths. Many could and should have been released under medical parole to spend their final days with their families. H.2693 and S.2857 would clarify the medical parole law to increase access to medical parole as originally intended by the legislature and H.2693 would also allow those age 55 and older who have served at least 15 years or half of their sentence to see the full parole board for review.
3. An Act to Build Restorative Family and Community Connection (H.2591)
Strong family connections reduce recidivism and support mental health. Yet our prison system imposes arbitrary barriers to visitation, limiting the number of approved visitors, restricting access for children, and subjecting families to harassment. This bill would protect daily access to visits, eliminate harsh caps on visitor lists, and create child-friendly visiting spaces. It addresses precisely the isolation Dr. Barboza identified as a contributing factor in the 2025 su***des.
4. An act relative to justice for survivors (S.1256)
Survivors of abusive relationships or other violence are particularly vulnerable to secondary trauma during their incarceration. This bill interrupts cycles of harm by allowing criminalized survivors of abuse, sexual assault, or trafficking to seek relief from extreme punishment. It creates a fair and consistent process for courts to use critical information about survivors’ experiences to reach informed dispositions. It also expands diversion, alternative sentencing, and re-sentencing for survivors.
5. An act establishing a jail and prison moratorium (H.3422, S.2944)
This bill would pause expensive prison construction and expansion projects in a moment when capital dollars are urgently needed to address housing, healthcare, and education infrastructure issues. A five-year pause would allow time to pursue sensible efforts to further reduce the incarcerated population and implement alternatives. Incarcerated people, formerly incarcerated people, clergy leaders, public health professionals, respected advocates, and constituents broadly support a prison moratorium.
6. An Act to Promote Public Safety and Better Outcomes for Youths (S.1061)
This bill would gradually raise the age of juvenile jurisdiction to include 18–20-year-olds, so that young people would be tried as adults only after they reach the age of 21. This reform would ensure that young people could get developmentally appropriate interventions towards rehabilitation, rather than exposure to the harmful, counterproductive adult prison and jail system, which is actually criminogenic, meaning it increases chances of recidivism.
The Time for Action Is Now
The evidence before us, from federal investigators, independent experts, investigative journalists, and the families of people who have died, is overwhelming. We have a humanitarian crisis in our prisons and jails. The response cannot be another round of pledges and action plans that yield the same results year after year. People are dying in custody because the system’s primary focus is punishment instead of healing. That is a choice. It can be unmade.
Join us in calling on the Massachusetts Legislature to pass the reasonable and timely bills highlighted above. We call on Governor Healey to support this legislation and make clear that the Commonwealth's commitment to human dignity extends behind prison walls.
And we ask you to join us in calling on every resident of this Commonwealth who believes in justice: learn about this crisis, share this letter, contact your legislators, and make clear that you expect them to act. The people dying in our prisons are our neighbors. They deserve better. We all do.
Together, we can dismantle systems that cause harm and build systems that create healing.
