News stories this week have shown the spiraling crisis inside Massachusetts jails, prisons and detention centers. On Sunday, June 21, a prisoner at MCI Norfolk collapsed in the middle of kitchen duty. He was later diagnosed with COVID19. His fellow workers were placed in solitary confinement, as there’s simply no medical infrastructure to support a quarantine.
Yet in all of this, there is a single entity whose responsibility it is to oversee the health of people inside. And frankly, they’ve failed. Last month, immigrant rights organizers demanded an inspection at Bristol County. DPH listened. However, just as with MCI Norfolk, where DPH allowed the water to run brown for over a decade, DPH was inexplicably unable to find anything wrong at Bristol (we are told their inspection report is due out next week).
While we are sympathetic to the overwhelming demand put on the public health community during this pandemic, it is unconscionable to look at what is happening at places like MCI Framingham, MCI Shirley or Bristol County and say that this is acceptable, that is is the best we can do.
Prisoners at hotspots like MCI Framingham and MCI Shirley report guards showing up to work sick, administrators ordering staff to come in anyway. Prisoners are using the same flimsy masks for two weeks at a time. Infirmaries are full. A clause in the MCOFU collective bargaining agreement allows for guards to simply opt out of testing, with no requirements for containment. The virus didn’t come from prisoners. It came from staff, and it’s time DPH acknowledged this.
Building up People not Prisons is asking for help.
Call DPH Commissioner Dr. Monica Bharel at (617) 624-5200.
Hello, I’m contacting you about the COVID-19 humanitarian crisis in Massachusetts prisons, including the outbreak at Norfolk prison. I know that almost half of women inside Framingham contracted COVID19. I’m aware that guards are not being tested at multiple pirisons. Extensive, inhumane lockdowns and months without visits are punishment; not protection. Our incarcerated community has been forced to endure intense and lasting harm to their physical and mental health. The DOC’s response thus far has been a total moral and public health failure. Please
Commissioner Bharel, I’m concerned about the COVID-19 crisis in Massachusetts jails and prisons, including Bristol County Jail and Norfolk prison. I am asking you to do your utmost to protect our loved ones who are incarcerated. I’m aware the DPH reports don’t capture what our incarcerated community is forced to endure day after day. In order to protect the lives of those who are incarcerated, DPH immediately needs to:
1. Use your moral authority and public health power to urge Governor Baker and the Massachusetts Department of Correction to decarcerate in order to prevent further spread of COVID-19
2. Use statutory powers to implement rigorous, public, and transparent oversight of DOC, especially during the pandemic
3. Issue an injunction against any respiratory irritants, including pepper spray and tear gas, within prisons, jails, or detention centers
4. Ensure all prisoners are given new, clean mask replacements daily
The humanitarian crisis continues. Please use your voice and position of authority to pressure the DOC, Parole Board, and Governor Baker to immediately decarcerate jails and prisons starting with people who are 50 years old and older and all people with pre-existing conditions that make them more vulnerable to contracting and dying from COVID-19. Thank you.
Call DPH DOC Commissioner Carol Mici at (508) 422-3302.
Hello, I’m contacting you about the COVID-19 humanitarian crisis in Massachusetts prisons, including the outbreak at Norfolk prison. I know that almost half of women inside Framingham contracted COVID19. I’m aware that guards are not being tested at multiple pirisons. Extensive, inhumane lockdowns and months without visits are punishment; not protection. Our incarcerated community has been forced to endure intense and lasting harm to their physical and mental health. The DOC’s response thus far has been a total moral and public health failure. Please change course now. I am asking you to use your power as the Commissioner to approve all people’s medical parole who are 50 years and older and all people with underlying health conditions. Guards must be regularly tested, not just screened, in order to work at any DOC facility. Thank you.
Medical professionals / public health workers
We’re asking folks with medical/public health backgrounds to email DPH, using this template:
Commissioner Bharel,
I’m writing as a [public health professional/healthcare professional] to express deep concern about the COVID-19 crisis at MCI-Norfolk and Bristol County House of Correction. We know there have been recently confirmed COVID-19 cases in both places, and we urge DPH to do your utmost to protect our loved ones who are incarcerated. Forthcoming inspection reports that confirm the DOC narrative that “everything is fine” is outrageous, given what we know to be true from our loved ones inside. In order to protect the lives of those who are incarcerated, DPH immediately needs to:
1. Use your moral authority and public health power to urge Governor Baker and the Massachusetts Department of Correction to decarcerate in order to prevent further spread of COVID-19
2. Develop and implement rigorous, public, and transparent oversight of the DOC’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis
3. Issue an injunction against any respiratory irritants, including pepper spray and tear gas, within prisons, jails, or detention centers
4. Ensure all prisoners are given new, clean mask replacements daily
It is past time to use your voice and your public health authority to pressure the DOC, SJC, Parole Board, and Governor Baker to immediately decarcerate all people, starting with those 50 years old and older and all people with pre-existing conditions that make them more vulnerable to contracting and dying from COVID-19.
Sincerely,
There’s more: head over to tinyurl.com/MAweekofaction every week for more things you can do to help our people inside.
