There has been significant activity around legislation relating to Massachusetts prisons, while simultaneously, facilities operated by the Department of Corrections (DOC) have seen a decline in COVID-19 cases. Political leaders have been pushing to pass the Prison Moratorium Bill, which would freeze new prison construction projects for five years. In addition, the VOTES Act was passed in the Senate, giving incarcerated people the ability to vote in elections. According to the DOC’s Special Master’s Report, on August 16, there were 41 active cases among inmates in DOC prisons. On September 15, there were zero.
Michael Horrell, a staff attorney at Prisoners’ Legal Services, was critical of the DOC’s approach to handling the spread of the coronavirus. He said that it is dangerous to assume that just because there has been a period of time without many active cases does not mean that the virus will not reignite. “I think there are a number of problems with the DOC’s response to COVID in prisons,” said Horrell.
“They really have not utilized the mechanisms that they have available to reduce the prison population to a point where people can socially distance [themselves]. Currently, as of today, 45% of the population in prisons in Massachusetts are housed in multi-person cells where it’s just not possible to stay six feet away from people. We’ve seen the CDC recommend from the very beginning of the pandemic that social distancing is the most critical tool that we have against the spread.”
Horrell added that he believes that prison staff should be required to be vaccinated. “Prisons are congregate settings, just like nursing homes are congregate settings. We know from our experience in this pandemic that these types of environments are particularly susceptible to spreading the virus. And so it’s critically important that people in those environments are vaccinated, particularly people who are entering and exiting. … The rest of the CDC recommended prevention measures, including face coverings, frequent cleanings, increased sanitation, increased ventilation, all of those remain vitally important. I think the problem in Massachusetts is [that the] DOC has implemented those with varying degrees of success.”
The DOC reported in February that vaccines are being offered to all inmates and staff at their facilities. The Executive Office of Public Safety and Security partnered with Commonwealth Medicine to create a “culturally competent COVID-19 vaccine awareness campaign” for incarcerated people, and the DOC’s medical vendor, Wellpath, created an informational video clip explaining the efficacy of the vaccines.
“The Massachusetts Department of Correction continues to take unprecedented steps to prevent COVID-19 introduction or transmission in our facilities,” wrote DOC media coordinator Cara Savelli, in a statement. “DOC leadership, staff, and our contracted medical provider, Wellpath, are focused on reducing, to the greatest degree possible, the potential impact of this virus on inmates, staff and others within our walls.”
On September 13, state legislators joined marchers for a rally to gain support for the Prison Moratorium Bill, filed by Senator Jo Comerford and Representative Chynah Tyler. The bill would put a pause on the creation of new prisons, while currently, Massachusetts has a plan to spend up to $50 million on a new women’s prison. Administrator to the executive director of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, Sashi James, said that incarceration is not an effective way of treating social problems stemming from trauma. She would prefer to see resources such as mental health and substance abuse stations, for example, becoming available to people in need. She cited housing problems as a main factor in women ending up in the prison system.
“Every woman and girl is incarcerated [because of] a root cause that stems from trauma, long unaddressed,” said James. “We still are not addressing the root causes. If we don’t actually begin to invest in the root causes of incarceration, we’re never going to get to a space of ending incarceration of women and girls. We need to implement the tools [around] mental health, substance use, housing—we really need to give [to] the community that’s struggling the most, either before the pandemic, during the pandemic, or after the pandemic, and begin to invest in our community.”
The Senate passed the VOTES Act on October 6, granting protected ballot access for eligible incarcerated people. The DOC and House of Corrections will be required to take certain steps, including displaying “Know-your-voting-rights” signs, providing voters with ballot applications, appointing staff to oversee and manage the voting process, and ensuring voters have private voting options. The Democracy Behind Bars Coalition wrote that because people of color are disproportionately impacted by incarceration, the Senate’s vote is a “historic step in the fights for civil rights, racial justice, criminal legal reform, and democracy reform.”
“Voting gives us a say-so in policies that matter,” Kimya Foust, an organizer with Families for Justice as Healing said in a press lease. “When we can vote, we’re told that our thoughts and opinions matter.”
