15-04-2025
Advocates push for incarcerated individuals' rights at State House
BOSTON (WWLP) – A group of advocates for incarcerated individuals held a lobby day on Tuesday, pushing for reforms that will improve quality of life behind bars.
The event focused on teaching lawmakers about three specific pieces of legislation, dealing with increasing medical and elder parole, improving options for family and community visits, and making education and job training more robust for incarcerated people.
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The organizers said the majority of pushback on this legislation comes from concerns about cost, but even if funding does not increase, the state needs to reevaluate how it distributes funds to prisons and jails.
'We are spending a massive amount in this state on incarcerated people, and that money is not in service of people's wellbeing right now, right? It could be better spent,' said Mallory Hanora, Executive Director of Families for Justice as Healing.
Volunteers at the event spent time practicing their pitch for lawmaker support. One representative, who is sponsoring the medical and elder parole bill, spoke to the urgency of passing reforms.
'Life without parole sentencing is a death sentence,' said Somerville Representative Erica Uyterhoeven. 'It is warehousing, it is not rehabilitative. There are people in just lines of hospital beds decaying there.'
Representative Uyterhoeven, noting the conditions that she has seen, encouraged volunteers to share their personal stories with lawmakers to urge them to sign onto bills and make change. All three bills passed favorably out of committee last session, which gives them a higher chance of passing this session.
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