Latest news with #MassachusettsDepartmentofCorrection
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Yahoo
Migrant father pleads guilty to rape after teen daughter's pregnancy
A Haitian migrant pleaded guilty to a rape charge after a DNA test proved that he was the father of his teenage daughter's baby, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan's office said. The man, who MassLive is not identifying so as not to identify his daughter, pleaded guilty to aggravated rape of a child for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old female victim who was known to him. On Friday, July 11, Judge Kenneth Salinger sentenced the man to 12 to 15 years committed to the Massachusetts Department of Correction. Between September 2023 and May 2024, the man and his daughter were at Marlborough Holiday Inn operating as a migrant shelter in the city, according to meeting minutes for the city's Board of Health. On April 30, 2024, when a school resource officer at the Whitcomb School in Marlborough learned of the 14-year-old girl's pregnancy, she told the school that she had dated a 17-year-old boy and they had had sex. Her pregnancy was confirmed by personnel at a hospital, according to a police report filed in court. The girl was removed from the shelter as the investigation continued, Ryan's office said in a statement. An ultrasound during the investigation found that the time of conception was while the girl and the man were living together in Marlborough, Ryan's office said. After the baby's birth, buccal swabs were done on the girl, the baby and the father and sent to a laboratory. On Jan. 24, the lab determined that the man was not only the girl's father, 'it was also twenty-three trillion times more likely than not that he was the biological father of the victim's baby,' Ryan's office said. The man was arrested one week later and was held without bail before he was indicted on Feb. 19. More local crime stories Idaho man cyberstalked Mass. professor with online messages, emails, feds say Ex-Stoughton town employee sentenced to prison for tampering drinking water Bridgewater women to face charges after leaving dogs in hot car, police say Mass. man drunken drove, sped at over 100 mph prior to crash in N.H., police say Two women charged with animal cruelty after dogs die in hot car in Bridgewater Read the original article on MassLive.
Boston Globe
10-07-2025
- Boston Globe
International gang leader sentenced to additional 15 months in prison on trafficking charges, feds say
Noel Haro is leader of The Border Brothers, a gang heavily involved in drug, weapons, and human trafficking in Southern Arizona and Nogales, Mexico, according to a statement from Leah B. Foley, US Attorney for Massachusetts. Advertisement The gang also has an influential presence within the Arizona prison system, Foley's statement said. Haro originally was convicted in Arizona for drug distribution, conspiracy, and money laundering. He was serving his four life sentences there but was transferred to the Massachusetts Department of Correction to finish his term after he was 'deemed a security concern due to his alleged influence over other inmates and repeated introduction of cell phones and narcotics into Arizona facilities,' according to the statement. Haro was transferred to Souza Baranowski Correctional Center on Jan. 22, 2019, records show. By April 2019, Haro was under investigation for arranging drug deals while making telephone calls from the prison, Foley's office said. During those calls, Haro recruited friends and relatives to continue his drug trafficking business and transport narcotics from Arizona to Massachusetts on his behalf, prosecutors said. Advertisement 'Even behind bars, Noel Haro continued to direct the operations of an international drug trafficking network and peddle poison into our communities,' Foley's statement said. In April 2022, the DOC intercepted a letter Haro sent to a co-conspirator in Massachusetts. The envelope contained a 'Get out of Jail Free' card from the board game Monopoly. On the back of it was a handwritten code for discussing drug deals, prosecutors said. 'While locked up for life, Noel Haro thought he had nothing more to lose so he used his 'Get out of Jail Free' card to solicit help in trafficking deadly fentanyl and methamphetamine across the country,' Ted. E. Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston division, said in the statement. 'Today's lengthy prison sentence shows he could not have been more wrong.' Prosecutors allege that Haro also had his brother, Marcos Haro, mail narcotics on his behalf. Three packages that Marcos Haro mailed were intercepted by authorities. One package contained approximately 446.6 grams of 99 percent pure methamphetamine, and the other two each held an estimated 892.3 grams of 86 percent pure methamphetamine and approximately 1,320.2 grams of 95 percent pure methamphetamine, Foley's office said. Tonya Alanez can be reached at
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
Agreement reached in lawsuit over Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center assault
A settlement agreement has been reached between the Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC) and inmates at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley in connection with a violent assault in early 2020. The class action lawsuit sought reform after 150 Black and Latino people, including current and former inmates, said they were subjected to excessive force and racial discrimination by correctional officers at Souza-Baranowski. In resolving the case, it 'reflects the department's deep commitment to correctional policies guided by best practices, accountability, and collaboration," according to a statement from DOC. The department also agreed to pay over $6 million in varying amounts to the people represented in the lawsuit. The lawsuit was granted by U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman on Oct. 3, 2024. Based on claims of unconstitutional racial discrimination, Guzman certified a subclass of all Black and Latino individuals within this group. 'The resolution of this matter reflects the DOC's steadfast commitment to promoting the safety and security of everyone who lives and works within our state correctional facilities,' Public Safety and Security Secretary Terrence Reidy said in the statement. 'We remain dedicated to partnering with the DOC and its stakeholders to ensure a correctional environment that meets its complex operational demands while advancing rehabilitation in a way that is fair, just, and effective for all.' The lawsuit stemmed from an incident on Jan. 10, 2020, where several incarcerated people attacked correction officers, which ended in four officers being seriously hurt. This incident placed the facility into a secure status until Feb. 6, 2020. But following the incident, dozens of inmates said they were retaliated against by correction officers. Inmates said they were tased, punched, bitten by dogs and isolated in unprovoked attacks By settling, it marks the last step "in a series of actions the Department of Correction has taken in response to the incident, including a thorough review of existing policies and the implementation of key reforms,' DOC Commissioner Shawn Jenkins said in the statement. 'The DOC did not wait for settlement discussions to act,' Jenkins continued. 'We proactively amended use of force regulations, updated policies on K-9 deployment and disciplinary investigations, and implemented a body-worn camera policy to enhance transparency, accountability, and training across all DOC facilities.' DOC implemented the following policies and, pending the court's approval, agreed upon policy improvements: Implemented changes Implemented several changes to its Use of Force policy, including but not limited to, enhanced training on de-escalation and duty to intervene, clearer guidance on use of restraints, and revised activation protocols for the Special Operations Response Unit (SORU), which now requires the Commissioner's approval. Whenever the SORU team is activated, the Video Response Team is automatically activated to accompany and document the response. Strengthened requirements for reporting and investigating uses of force, including reviews of certain uses of force by an executive-level, multidisciplinary committee. Updated standards emphasize de-escalation techniques and adopt the use of a specially trained team to assist in any situation that may necessitate crisis intervention. The regulation also established a Professional Standards Unit, reporting directly to the Commissioner, to investigate staff misconduct allegations. Revised its K-9 policy limiting the use of Patrol K-9s only when needed to gain control during major disorder situations and only deployed with the Commissioner's approval. Narcotics and contraband detection K-9s remain in use for those purposes only. Implemented a Body-Worn Camera Program, requiring correction officers to activate cameras when responding or as witness to critical incidents and emergencies, such as assaults, suicide attempts, deaths, fires, escapes, or uses of force. Additionally, body-worn camera activation is necessary during an interaction between a correction officer and incarcerated individual that escalates or poses a safety and security risk. Pending approval Creating an anonymous tipline for employees to report staff misconduct. Requiring staff with sustained complaints of excessive force to be removed from the Special Operations Response Unit. They may not reapply for three years following the date of the incident. Photographing incarcerated individual injuries after a use of force, whether injuries are visible or not. Increased transparency by requiring Special Operations Response Unit members to wear highly visible name tags on their vests. Imposing progressive discipline on officers who fail to use body-worn cameras (BWC) as required by the BWC policy. Man found guilty of killing Mass. couple in drunken driving crash from 2021 Mass. couple to plead guilty to Ponzi scheme that netted more than $3.2 million Ex-Harvard Medical School morgue manager pleads guilty in stolen body parts case Former Mass. preschool teacher charged in connection with physically abusing students Mass. man faces slew of charges after multiple hit-and-run crashes Read the original article on MassLive.
Boston Globe
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
‘I was lost': Paving a better path for those leaving prison
'Life is moving 1,000 times faster in society than it was behind the prison wall,' Vazquez said. 'They do not prepare you.' Advertisement Reentering society after spending years, sometimes decades, in prison, is daunting. People have been isolated and may have lost connections with family and friends. They come out with little money and a criminal record that makes it difficult to find work. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Enter Email Sign Up In recent years, prison systems across the country have been trying to fill this gap, expanding their focus beyond punishment to rehabilitation in an attempt to better prepare incarcerated people for success in the outside world. Despite the state's progressive reputation, the Massachusetts Department of Correction hasn't been at the forefront of this movement, observers say, but that's starting to change. Massachusetts has long maintained a more traditional model of corrections, said Bruce Western, a professor at Columbia University in New York and president-elect of the Russell Sage Foundation, a social sciences research organization: 'Hold people, implement their punishment, and deprive them of liberty in safe conditions, then release people back into society without a great deal of support or planning.' Western, a former Harvard professor, Advertisement In Massachusetts, more than 3,600 people, disproportionately Black and Latino, were released from state prisons last year. And they have much more support than they used to. In the past two years, the state has distributed tablets to incarcerated people to take online classes and job skills training programs, launched coding classes, and started sending ex-offenders behind the wall to help those about to be released. It also developed a sustainable housing program for those released from DOC custody and opened a 'We're kind of the last stop on the social services train,' said Shawn Jenkins, who has been the DOC commissioner for nearly a year, citing the mental health and substance abuse issues many incarcerated people face. 'We're really given a tall task to kind of put all those pieces back together.' The state cut its incarceration rate by nearly half between 2012 and 2022, according to a People who've been in prison for a long time come out to 'a whole new world,' said Advertisement 'You have to ask for a roll of toilet paper,' he said. 'You spend decades having to ask for things and not necessarily be able to take control of your own being. ... That adversely affects you.' But at first, he said, 'I was lost.' He managed to get a minimum wage job at a car dealership in Braintree owned by his lawyer's brother's family. But he ended up homeless a little over a year later after his father died, and struggled to sign up for subsidized housing and food assistance. The reentry class he took in prison was 'garbage,' he said. Several men he served time with ended up living in their cars or in the woods. Another resorted to selling drugs. 'I see why people keep coming back,' said Allen, 51, 'because they make it so hard for guys to navigate through life.' The fight to have Allen's sentence commuted led to the formation of Massachusetts prides itself as a progressive state committed to equity and social justice, said William Dickerson, MCAN's co-executive director, but when it comes to incarceration, the state has long had a punitive 'law and order' approach. 'Our whole mentality has to change,' he said. Advertisement A major shift took place after state legislators passed landmark criminal justice reform measures in 2018, and reentry was the largest area of investment. Along with funding housing and residential services, reforms included delaying probation and parole fees, reducing wait times to seal criminal records, and increasing rehabilitative programming and post-release supervision. But the state's annual investment in reentry services peaked in fiscal year 2023 at $32.8 million, according to MassINC, and has been shrinking since, with $26.6 million designated for reentry in the governor's 2026 budget proposal — even as the 'When things get tight, these are the people that are normally overlooked,' he said. In late January, the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security held a reentry simulation at the State House — following 'We really have a very frustrating — and I would argue, broken — system,' state Senator Jamie Eldridge said beforehand. In 2022, the state increased its one-on-one support for those leaving prison, including hiring ex-offenders or their family members to become Advertisement Ultimately, though, outside help can only go so far. Ruben Pina achieved a lot in prison, including finishing high school and getting certified as an automotive technician, but he credits self-motivation, not the system, for his rehabilitation. 'I knew I had to come home a better man than I went in,' he said. Pina, 41, who was incarcerated for more than 11 years for assault with intent to murder, was matched with a credible messenger before his release in October. Their interactions were mostly conversations, though, he said, with little concrete guidance about navigating the outside world. Still, he managed to get on a good path. After moving in with his step-father, Pina found work as a delivery driver in south of Boston and enrolled in a commercial drivers' license course. The biggest challenge now, he said, is figuring out how to fit into his children's lives again. This story was produced by the Globe's team, which covers the racial wealth gap in Greater Boston. You can sign up for the newsletter . Katie Johnston can be reached at
