Activists have fought for years to convince Beacon Hill leaders to take on tough issues surrounding criminal justice reform and recidivism, matters of state law they say do much more harm than good for communities of color. Just as the leaders of the state’s three branches of government are settling on a plan to drastically alter how Massachusetts approaches criminal justice, activists are warning that the plan may not go far enough.
Over one hundred people, many activists with their own criminal pasts, have a clear message for Gov. Charlie Baker, judicial officials and legislative leaders: a bill reforming just the state’s parole and probation systems won’t cut it.
Instead, the Jobs Not Jails coalition warned Tuesday that the “front end” of criminal justice must also be reformed. The group is urging policymakers to restrict long mandatory minimum sentences for drug convictions and to provide more pathways to drug abuse treatment instead of prison.
“We need to do better by people. We cannot continue to let this system run on the backs of our people, poor people. People in poverty who have no money. They need opportunities. We want an opportunity to take care of ourselves,” said Cassandra Bensahih from the Worcester-based group Ex-prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement.
In 2015, The governor, legislative leaders and Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Ralph Gants are working with the nonprofit policy organization the Council of State Governments to identify policies that may reduce recidivism in Massachusetts.
In a statement outlining their goals, the coalition wrote that they are “very, very worried that the criminal justice bill to be filed in January by the Governor, Speaker, Senate President Chief Justice will only cover the ”back end“ of the system about changes to probation and parole.” They’re asking instead that state leaders end mandatory sentences practices, where judges are locked into strict guidelines for sentences based on the nature of crimes. Other changes the coalition endorses are increased funding for job training and education and changing the threshold for what is considered felony theft from a value of $250 to $1,500.
“One thing that they could be doing is doing a little bit, skimming off the top. A little tinkering here, a little tinkering there. Make something easier for a small group of people and they’re not going to do enough where it really counts on the mandatory minimums and really ending mass incarceration. If we just do a couple of things and we don’t really deal with the major, major problems, we’ll be in the same place in two years,” Calvin Feliciano from the labor union SEIU 509 told the crowd.
The group also has ideas for what should change for prisoners after they leave prison. Reforms to the Criminal Offender Record Information system, known as CORI, has been a goal of activists and some legislative Democrats for years, and many see this session’s criminal justice reform attempt as an ideal platform to change the way employers access the criminal history of job applicants.
Another suggestion of the group is to eliminate the average $65 per month people on parole pay into the system.
