Opposition to Building a New Women’s Prison In Massachusetts
Why We Don’t Need a New Women’s Prison
- The large majority of incarcerated women are poor, have serious health challenges, are victims of gendered violence, and experience housing insecurity. Incarceration caused further harm to these women. See: Women Who Cycle Through Jails and Prisons in Massachusetts
- Despite the government’s interest in constructing a “trauma-informed” carceral facility, studies make it clear that prison is not an appropriate or effective setting for medical, substance use, or mental health treatment. See: How Incarceration Harms Women
- There are multiple points at which women can and should be diverted from incarceration. See: Alternatives to Incarceration
- The process to award a design contract for the proposed women’s prison has been deeply flawed from the beginning. See: Media Coverage Below
Women, Incarceration, and Violent Crime: A Briefing in Response to Plans for Building a New Women’s Prison in Massachusetts (September 2021)
Click here for a downloadable memo
The population of women incarcerated for crimes labeled as violent has emerged as a sticking point in efforts to balance concerns for public safety with the rights and well-being of women and communities most impacted by pro-incarceration policies of the late 20th and 21st centuries. To explore whether these concerns are grounded in the facts, we prepared a briefing that presents an overview of the scholarly literature on women, violence, and crime as well as stories of real women who have been incarcerated for crimes classified as violent in Massachusetts.
Key Points
● Classification of acts into “violent” and “non-violent” is inconsistent in American law and practice, and has problematic racial and gender implications.
● Women have very low rates of arrests and convictions for violent crimes.
● Women are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violent crimes.
● Women who commit violent crimes usually do so in the context of household or intimate partner abuse.
● Women released from prison after serving time for violent crimes are unlikely to commit a subsequent violent crime.
● It is highly unlikely that spending $50 million on new construction to incarcerate a small population of women will contribute to public safety or the well-being of women and families.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is facing a critical juncture as the Department of Correction (DOC) and the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) move forward with a plan for a new women’s prison. Touted as a “trauma-informed” and therapeutic facility for women, the prison project has a price tag of at least $50,000,000. That is in addition to the $162,000 per woman per year cost to incarcerate.
As academics, attorneys and social workers we are concerned that the proposed prison project is fiscally irresponsible, harmful to women and their families, and inherently unable to meet the project’s stated goal of being “trauma-informed.” We are further troubled by the lack of transparency and input from formerly-incarcerated women and other people directly impacted by incarceration, as well as from experts who work and conduct research in the criminal justice system, and from state and local legislators.
This document reviews the “Strategic Plan for Women Who Are Incarcerated in Massachusetts” submitted by the Ripples Group to the Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) on June 21, 2022. The purpose of this review is to provide policy-makers and the public with a detailed understanding of the Strategic Plan’s shortcomings.
The 7 Key problems with the Strategic Plan
- Methodological shortcomings regarding both synthesizing relevant literature and engaging appropriate experts.
- Superficial understanding of trauma; disregard of critical factors such as racism and structural violence.
- Failure to consider options other than incarceration.
- Negligible consideration of assessments and outcomes of current Department of Correction (DOC) healthcare and other programs.
- Lack of knowledge of relevant state laws.
- Absence of strategies to overcome institutional obstacles such as ongoing opposition to change on the part of the DOC and the powerful correctional workers union.
- Little to no elaboration of how crucial parts of the strategic plan would be implemented.
The number of women incarcerated in Massachusetts has steadily declined over the past decades. There currently are under 200 women housed at MCI-Framingham. Our research shows that the vast majority of currently incarcerated women could be released right away under existing statutes.
Current statutes are broad enough to encompass a complete re-envisioning of how this state can or should respond to individuals convicted of violating the state’s criminal laws in the twenty-first century.
- Neither the government nor the architectural firm (HDR) selected to design the new women’s prison provide evidence-based research demonstrating that prison can be an effective setting for healing from trauma. This report reviews the sources cited by the government and by HDR.
“The inability and unwillingness [of counties and states] to develop robust alternatives [to incarceration] shows us the values, or lack thereof, of the punishment bureaucracy and that carceral spaces are fundamentally ill-suited to provide a therapeutic environment, let alone evidence-based care.”
WIP Members’ Testimony at Legislative and Other Public Hearing
“No Women’s Prison Movement” PowerPoint presentation — Criminal Justice Reform Caucus Briefing, March 31, 2021, Facebook Live recording starting at minute 33:42 (requires Facebook account)
Concerns with Special Commission on Correctional Funding Report — April 11, 2022
Testimony on data collection from October 25, 2021 hearing before the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security
Media Coverage of the Plan for a New Women’s Prison in Massachusetts
Massachusetts keeps trying to build a new women’s prison, DigBoston, February 8, 2021
Inside the Battle over a New Women’s Prison for Massachusetts, Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, February 8, 2021
A new Mass. women’s prison may have disastrous consequences for poor and Black communities for decades, advocates say, The Boston Globe, April 19, 2021
Investing in Women and Families: Alternatives to a New Prison, Somerville Times, May 26, 2021
Why Massachusetts Should Not Build Any New Women’s Prisons, Danielle Rousseau, April 23, 2021
Lawmakers, Advocates Question Need For New Women’s Prison In Massachusetts, WBUR, April 1, 2021
Does Mass. need a new plan for women’s prison – or a better plan to decarcerate them? The Boston Globe, February 9, 2021
Decarceration—and support on the outside—is the answer, not therapy behind bars, Prison Policy Initiative, February 3, 2021
A New Women’s Prison Would Be a Mistake (click here for full op ed), CommonWealth Magazine, January 16, 2021
Massachusetts Women Do Not Need a New Jail, Prison Policy Initiative, March 29, 2019
Public Documents Related to the New Prison Plan
PowerPoint presentation of the architectural firm selected by the Massachusetts Designer Selection Board to design the new prison
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- HDR, Inc. PowerPoint presentation, March 3, 2021
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Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) Requests for Proposals (RFPs)
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- 1/13/2021, Public Notice of Designer Selection, Designer Selection Board, Project No.: DOC2106
- 12/28/2020, Statement of Work (SOW) for Strategic Plan for Incarcerated Women in Massachusetts, Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, Project No.: DOC2104
NOTE: This is the RFP for the strategic plan giving a rundown of what the consultants should look at and be provided with by the Massachusetts Department of Correction. - 8/19/2020, House Doctor Request for Proposal, to Finegold Alexander Architects, from Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, Project No.: DOC 2002
NOTE: Included in a letter dated 11/16/2020 from Families for Justice as Healing to the Attorney General’s Office from Atty. Katy Naples-Mitchell
NOTE: Most of the August 2020 RFP concerns items on which architects have no expertise. There is arguably an architectural component on p. 9, section c) where the RFP asks for data on “current facility conditions, deferred maintenance backlog, capital investment needs, and current facility space inventories” at MCI-Framingham, South Middlesex, and the Shattuck Hospital. The RFP also merges programming and space needs on p. 9, section d). On p. 11, deliverables include methods and guidelines for “prioritizing capital investment to meet collective programmatic and capital needs,” merging those two needs again. - 12/4/2019, Public Notice of Designer Selection, Designer Selection Board, Project No.: DOC2002
- 4/17/2019, Statement of Work (SOW) for Facility Conditions Assessment of Massachusetts Correctional Facilities, Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, Project No.: EPS1802 HS1
NOTE: This is an RFP for Norfolk County converting the wing of the men’s jail to a women’s jail. Following are resulting reports in reverse chronological order:- 12/4/2020, Facility Condition Assessment of Correctional Facilities, DCAMM and Faithful & Gould, PowerPoint presentation for Correctional Funding Commission
from the Correctional Funding Commission website at Correctional Funding Commission > Resources > Presentations to the Commission > DCAMM Presentation or https://correctionalfunding.com/resources/presentations-to-the-commission/ - 9/29/2019, Report of Facility Condition Assessment: Bay State Correctional Center, Faithful & Gould, for DCAMM
- 7/26/2019, Report of Facility Condition Assessment: South Middlesex Correctional Center, Faithful & Gould, for DCAMM
- 12/4/2020, Facility Condition Assessment of Correctional Facilities, DCAMM and Faithful & Gould, PowerPoint presentation for Correctional Funding Commission
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