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The Barnstable County Correctional Facility could be nurturing the next New York Times Bestseller, thanks to its memoir-writing classes for incarcerated women. What began in 2023 as a regular chat between an inmate and the sheriff’s communications director about wanting to write a book has flourished into a transformative experience that participants say they find therapeutic. CAI reporter Jeannette Barnes recently stepped inside one of the classes to hear firsthand from the women shaping their stories.
Before we learn more, let’s get to the latest headlines.
Four Things to Know Today
1. On Wednesday, the nation’s highest court will hear arguments as the Trump administration tries to terminate temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians and Syrians nationwide. Greater Boston is home to the nation’s third-largest Haitian population behind Florida and New York, according to data from World Population Review. GBH News’ Sarah Betancourt spoke with some of the 19,000 Haitians with TPS in Mass. about what they fear could come next.
2. Fourteen green card holders suing the federal government argue that the Trump administration is making procedural errors and acting in a discriminatory manner by pausing immigration benefit applications — including naturalization applications — for people from 39 countries including Haiti, Venezuela and Côte d’Ivoire. “It’s hard not to look at it in any other way [than] as a thinly veiled excuse for denying citizenship to people from certain countries based on their country of birth, and not coincidentally, based on the color of their skin or the religion that they practice,” Gail Breslow, executive director of Project Citizenship, told GBH News.
3. After two years of waiting, this summer eligible Massachusetts lottery players will finally be able to play online, including instant-win games and contests like Powerball and Mega Millions. The biggest perk coming to consumers is the ability to purchase lottery games with a credit card. Generally, lottery players can only purchase tickets at a retail store, where cash is usually the only form of tender accepted. Lottery retailers — who typically receive a 5% commission on all their sales, and a 1% bonus for prizes cashed or won at their store — argue that making lottery tickets available online will hurt their sales. However, the success of online lottery systems in neighboring states such as Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Connecticut shows a promising model.
4. A group of Mass. immigration advocates rallied at the State House on Monday, urging legislators to strengthen the PROTECT Act. The coalition, made up of 58 immigrant advocacy organizations, is calling for restricted state and local cooperation with federal immigration agents. Advocates also want to end the 287(g) agreement between the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Corrections, which allows immigration enforcement authority to be delegated to local law enforcement, GBH News’ Sarah Betancourt reports.
'The deep stuff’: With hope for healing, women jailed on Cape Cod are writing their life stories
Every week, a group of women at the Barnstable County jail gathers for a writing class. They tell their own life stories, listen to their classmates’ stories and explore memoirs written by famous women. It’s a program that started after a woman incarcerated at the jail told the sheriff’s communications director she wanted to write a book.
“My breakfast doesn’t consist of scrambled eggs and toast, pancakes or sausage. There is no orange juice and coffee. No, I start off each day with a different sort of buffet,” said Jess Hutchins, reading from a personal essay she wrote. “Should I use a straw? Should I break out the tin foil? Or do I feed my addiction with an overused needle to curb the hunger pains my body has come to be acquainted with each day like clockwork — like breakfast, lunch and dinner?”
You can hear these stories in the women’s own words from CAI reporter Jennette Barnes here.
Dig deeper:
- Tablet learning is booming in Mass. prisons
- Patchwork of government services leaves former prisoners in the hands of strained nonprofits
- Many former prisoners are on parole indefinitely. One year into new rules, it’s finally ending for some.
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