PLS promotes the safe, humane and lawful treatment of MA prisoners through litigation, advocacy, and outreach.
Boston, MA
Joined December 2011
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The DOC's Institutional Fact Cards provide valuable data on MA's incarcerated population. MCI-Norfolk Lifers Group, Inc. & Project Youth examine and contextualize these statistics, offering insights that help look beyond the numbers & understand the challenges of incarceration.
Writings can be accessed at: realcostofprisons.org/writin…
More than 140 people died in Massachusetts prisons and jails between January 2022 and December 2025. Six people died by suicide in 2025 alone.
About half the deaths over those 4 years were categorized as "expected." Dr. Nicole Mushero, a geriatrician at BMC who analyzed deaths from 2021 through 2023, concluded that nearly half of those people could have been eligible for medical parole. They died in custody instead.
Full story: f.mtr.cool/scxtta0ddw
MA has one of the oldest prison populations in the country. Our medical parole law is meant to let people with advanced illness go home when they are no longer a public safety risk. Despite the re-arrest rate being virtually zero for people over 65, most petitions are denied.
People who are dying should be able to spend the time they have left with their families, not shackled to a bed. That is what this law was written to do. f.mtr.cool/l73vrpdo9w
We're hiring an attorney! Join the team at Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts and help advance justice for incarcerated people across the Commonwealth. Learn more and apply: plsma.org/hiring
Emerson Prison Initiative (EPI) provides a bachelor degree program for individuals incarcerated in MA. Starting in January, 15 men at Norfolk Prison will have the opportunity to earn a graduate certificate in a first-of-its-kind program offered by EPI. f.mtr.cool/i6lfk5fi9d
A major shortcoming of the recently passed PROTECT Act is its exception for the state prison system’s partnership with ICE.
Since 2007 the MA DOC has participated in the federal 287(g) program and, as part of its contract, regularly sends people exiting prisons directly into ICE custody.
Massachusetts can't claim to protect immigrants while actively funneling people from prison into a deportation machine that ignores due process and violates their rights. Massachusetts must end its 287(g) agreement. f.mtr.cool/cp2vcjtaxm
Emil Encarnacion, 29, died last week in a behavioral assessment unit at MCI-Norfolk. It would be the fourth BAU suicide since April 2025 and the third in that unit. State law defines restrictive housing as 22 hours a day of isolation. BAUs hold people for 21.
A proposed ICE detainer bill in MA would violate due process rights by keeping people locked up without legal authority. The MA supreme court ruled against this practice in 2017 for a reason -- it's unconstitutional. nbcboston.com/news/local/mas…
ICE detention isn't broken - it's working exactly as designed. PLS Staff Attorney Leah Hastings spoke with @WorldPeaceFdtn about the systemic abuses at Plymouth County, where even basic necessities are withheld to coerce deportation. worldpeacefoundation.org/blo…
Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts retweeted
Older people are locked up at a record rate in the US. Keep in mind that rates of medical problems are always *much* higher for older people.
Aging in prison is horrific. Is this how the government thinks aging populations should be treated? How does this make communities safer?
ALT Graph titled: Older people in state prisons are plagued with chronic health conditions
Yesterday, PLS' Race Equity in Corrections Initiative held a rally at the State House in support of legislation creating meaningful oversight of Massachusetts carceral facilities.
Learn more about the bill here: plsma.org/reicibill
