UPDATE: The Governor’s Council hearing is on Wednesday, June 26th. Please continue to contact your councillors and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito

Dear MACDL Members, Colleagues and Friends,

Thanks to MACDL and other community groups, our Governor’s Councillors have been flooded with calls and emails in the past few days! During the hearing on Wednesday, many Councillors referred to their many constituents who have been voicing a demand for a more diverse, less law-enforcement oriented Parole Board.

Seventeen people testified in opposition to the nomination of career prosecutor Karen McCarthy, including our new MACDL President Victoria Kelleher.

The Parole Board has seven members and McCarthy would be the fifth one from law enforcement. She is being nominated to fill the spot left by another career prosecutor, Paul Treseler, now a judge.

The vote on the nomination is Wed. June 26 at noon. We think the vote will be extremely close. As best we can tell, it looks like a tie right now:

The councillors who have indicated they will vote NO on McCarthy’s nomination are: Robert Jubinville (District 2), Marilyn Petitto Devaney (District 3), Chris Iannella (District 4) and Eileen Duff (District 5). YEAH for these councillors!!! Please call and thank them!

At this point, the Yes votes to confirm Karen McCarthy are likely to be: Joseph Ferreira (District 1), Terry Kennedy (District 6), Jennie Cassie (District 7) and Mary Hurley (District 8). We need to change their minds!!

So far, the votes and emails from constituents have made a difference. It is CRITICAL that everyone try to make two more calls or emails before Wed. June 26: One call to your Councillor and one CALL OR EMAIL to LT. GOVERNOR KARYN POLITO! Karyn Polito will cast the deciding vote on Wed. if there is a tie. Her number and email are below!

WE ARE ASKING YOU TO KEEP UP THE PRESSURE, underscoring how important it is to have the vacancy filled by someone who believes in parole and second chances and who has education, training and expertise in mental illness, substance use, trauma and adolescent brain development. We need someone who understands the racial dimensions of incarceration and who recognizes the aspects of the law enforcement system that perpetuate the racial disparities in who is incarcerated and for how long. When parole boards are dominated by law enforcement, hearings are often an attempt to re-try the crime. Board members lack the expertise to ask more meaningful questions about recovery from mental illness and participation in sex offender and substance use treatment programs. However, given that 80% of the incarcerated population suffers from these ailments, we desperately need a more diversified Parole Board.

EVEN IF YOU HAVE ALREADY CALLED YOUR COUNCILLOR, PLEASE CALL AND EMAIL YOUR COUNCILLOR AGAIN. ALSO, CALL AND EMAIL KARYN POLITO. Some points you can make:

  • Urge Polito and your councillor to vote “no” on Karen McCarthy’s nomination.
  • Tell Polito and your councillor that we need an experienced social worker, another forensic or clinical psychologist or a psychiatrist on the Board who has experience working with persons with substance use disorders, mental illness, and trauma; and understands adolescent brain development.
  • Ask Polito and your councillor to confirm only those who have demonstrated a belief in redemption and value rehabilitation and transformation.
  • Tell Polito and your councillor that a diverse Board combats a purely punitive approach to parole and is a necessity for fairness.

Thanks,
Patty Garin

Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito

To call Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito:
(617) 725-4000 – say that you would like your call directed to Lt. Gov. Polito
Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

To email Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito:
https://www.mass.gov/forms/email-the-governors-office – ask that the email be directed to Lt. Gov. Polito

See the end of this post for your councillor’s contact information

ACTION ALERT: Governor Baker Has Nominated Yet Another Career Prosecutor to Sit on the Parole Board

CALL YOUR GOVERNOR’S COUNCILLOR NOW TO OPPOSE THIS NOMINATION

The governor has nominated Karen McCarthy, a prosecutor for the past 27 years at the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office, to fill a vacancy on the Parole Board. The Parole Board has seven members and McCarthy would be the fifth one from law enforcement.  She is being nominated to fill the spot left by another career prosecutor, Paul Treseler, now a judge.

TELL YOUR GOVERNOR’S COUNCILLOR: NO MORE LAW ENFORCEMENT.
Massachusetts legislators envisioned a diversified parole board when they required that persons appointed to the Board have an undergraduate degree and at least five years of experience and training in one or more of the following fields: “parole, probation, corrections, law, law enforcement, psychology, psychiatry, sociology [or] social work.” Our present Parole Board already has five members who have spent their careers in law enforcement (Chair Gloriann Moroney, former Suffolk ADA), corrections (Sheila Dupre and Colette Santa), parole (Tina Hurley) and law (Tonomey Coleman).

At present, there is only one person from human services on the Board, psychologist Charlene Bonner, who has been sitting in holdover status for a year because the governor has not re-appointed her.

When parole boards are dominated by law enforcement, hearings are often an attempt to re-try the crime. Board members lack the expertise to ask more meaningful questions about recovery from mental illness and participation in sex offender and substance use treatment programs. However, given that 80% of the incarcerated population suffers from these ailments, we desperately need people on the Parole Board who have dedicated their careers to substance use and mental health treatment, trauma informed practices and adolescent brain development.

CALL YOUR COUNCILLOR NOW: Nominations to the Parole Board must be approved by a majority vote of the eight-member Governor’s Council. We can make a difference. Act now!

  • Urge your councillor to vote “no” on Karen McCarthy’s nomination.
  • Tell your councillor that we need an experienced social worker, forensic or clinical psychologist or psychiatrist on the Board who has experience working with persons with substance use disorders, mental illness, and trauma; and understands adolescent brain development.
  • Ask your councillor to confirm only those who have demonstrated a belief in redemption and value rehabilitation and transformation.
  • Tell your councillor that a diverse Board combats a purely punitive approach to parole and is a necessity for fairness.

THE PAROLE BOARD’S JOB:
Parole is an important public safety tool that, when properly administered, eases re-entry problems, lowers recidivism, and results in significant cost-savings. As 70 community groups noted in a 2017 letter to Governor Baker and Chief Justice Gants, it has been understood for decades that formerly incarcerated people reoffend at significantly lower rates when they receive appropriate support and supervision on parole. In Massachusetts, however, due to our very low parole rates, most parole-eligible people complete or “wrap up” their sentences in prison and transition home with no help and no oversight.

It is the job of the Parole Board to understand and predict behavior.  Our system of parole only works when the Parole Board is made up of a well-rounded group of people who have the expertise necessary to properly evaluate candidates for parole. As the Parole Board gains more and more members with backgrounds in law enforcement, the parole rates drop correspondingly and precipitously. When parole rates drop, the rates of recidivism rise. A lack of diversification on the Parole Board not only leads to lower parole rates, but it also leads to less informed parole hearings and decisions. The vacancy on the Board must be filled by someone who believes in parole and second chances and who has education, training and expertise in mental illness, substance use, trauma and adolescent brain development.

PAROLE IS NOT WORKING IN MASSACHUSETTS:

  • We have extremely low parole rates, which means we have too many people incarcerated; many persons who are ready for parole are being passed over by this law-enforcement-leaning Board. See June 2018 letter to Governor signed by 45 community groups.
  • People on parole are being returned to prison for very low-level technical violations, instead of receiving appropriate treatment in the community, again leading to unnecessary incarceration.
  • The Parole Board is not ruling on Commutation Petitions and Requests to Terminate Parole. Some have been pending for over three years, again leading to unnecessary incarceration.
  • The Board takes up to a year to rule on parole-eligible lifers’ requests for parole.  This contributes to unnecessary incarceration and is evidence of a poorly run Board.
  • The Board’s failure to maximize parole supervision is extremely costly for taxpayers. According to DOC, the average annual cost of housing a state prisoner is $70,892, while the estimated cost of a year of parole supervision is less than $10,000. (The Board reported an annual cost of $5,000 in 2013.)

COME TO THE PUBLIC HEARING AT THE GOVERNOR’S COUNCIL on June 19th at 11am – Room 360 at the Statehouse. YOUR PRESENCE IS IMPORTANT.

But right now, WE NEED YOU TO MAKE CALLS BEFORE THE JUNE 19th HEARING. IF YOU CANNOT CALL, PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO YOUR COUNCILLOR.

Thank you!
The Steering Committee of the Coalition for Effective Public Safety

FIND YOUR DISTRICT: http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eledist/counc11idx.htm

MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR’S COUNCILLORS

HERE ARE THE PHONE NUMBERS/EMAIL ADDRESSES TO USE.

Joseph C. Ferreira – District 1
7 Thomas Drive
Somerset, MA 02726
GC: 617-725-4015, ext. 1
Fax: 508-230-2510
Email: jferreira@lynchlynch.com

Robert L. Jubinville – District 2
487 Adams Street
Milton, MA 02186
GC: 617-725-4015, ext. 2
Bus: 800-828-9010
Fax: 617-698-8004
Email: Jubinville@comcast.net

Marilyn M. Petitto Devaney – District 3
98 Westminster Avenue
Watertown, MA 02472
GC: 617-725-4015, ext. 3
Cell: 617-840-7689
Fax: 617-727-6610
Email: marilyn.p.devaney@gov.state.ma.us or marilynpetittodevaney@gmail.com

Christopher A. Iannella – District 4
263 Pond Street
Boston, MA 02130
GC: 617-725-4015, ext. 4
Bus: 617-227-1538
Fax: 617-742-1424
Email: caiannella@aol.com

Eileen R. Duff – District 5
8 Barberry Heights Road
Gloucester, MA 01930
GC: 617-725-4015, ext. 5
Bus: 978-927-8700
Fax: 617-727-6610
Email: eileenduff3@gmail.com

Terrence W. Kennedy – District 6
3 Stafford Road
Lynnfield, MA 01940
GC: 617-725-4015, ext. 6
Bus: 617-387-9809
Fax: 617-727-6610
Email: twkennedylaw@gmail.com

Jennie L. Caissie – District 7
53 Fort Hill Road
Oxford, MA 01540
GC: 617-725-4015, ext. 7
Bus: 508-765-0885
Fax: 508-765-0888
Email: jcaissie@caplettelaw.com

Mary E. Hurley – District 8
15 Fields Drive
East Longmeadow, MA  01028
GC: 617-725-4015, ext. 8
Bus: 413-785-5300
Fax: 413-733-3042
Email: mhurley@pellegriniseeley.com