A group of over 50 people gathered on the steps of the Massachusetts State House today in support of a bill that would place a five-year moratorium on jail and prison construction and expansion.
The protesters affixed valentine-themed signs to the fence around the State House and spoke on their opposition to a $50 million project to replace the women’s prison at MCI-Framingham, as well as any other prison construction or renovation projects in the state, beyond required maintenance.
Two versions of the moratorium bill ( H. 1905 and S. 2030) are currently before committees in each chamber. A vote of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary — the next step needed to move the bill forward — was originally scheduled for this week but has been postponed to April.
Roxbury Rep. Chynah Tyler, the presenter of the bill in the House, attended the gathering and thanked the supporters of the bill for their work.
“The bill wouldn’t be where it is today, and its collaboration, and its progressive future, if you didn’t continue to show up,” she said to the crowd in front of the State House steps.
The rally was organized by Families for Justice as Healing and The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women, two nonprofits that advocate for reallocating resources and funds from the criminal justice system to support people in underserved communities.
For Sashi James of Roxbury, who is involved with both groups that organized the rally, the issue is deeply personal: both of her parents were incarcerated. She has also seen the impact of incarceration on her community.
“Over the last three years, there’s been a decrease in women incarcerated, which shows that we can really be a model and an example to what different looks like,” James said. “The prison and jail moratorium bill is just kind of us planting the seed to say that we don’t need — not just a women’s prison — but we don’t need any more prisons and jails, period, in Massachusetts.”
Instead, James said, the state should invest the millions of dollars it would use to build jails and prisons in communities that are over-incarcerated and under-resourced.
Chase Struss, who grew up in Brockton and now resides in North Attleboro, has been canvassing in support of the bill. He also said he has seen the negative impacts of incarceration.
“Prisons don’t help communities; they damage them incredibly,” Struss said.
