Next
Meeting May 26 at 7:30 PM
MCPCC did not have a meeting in April. Instead committee members_ visited the Billerica House of
Correction on April 7 for a tour of its recently completed facility.
After passing through the entry formalities we were bussed
to the new building where we were met by Deputy Superintendent and Director of Human
Services Sean McAdam. Director of Education Steven Ultrino, Captain Linda
Sweeney; Program Services, and Chaplain Milton Thomas joined us for a briefing
on the new facility's pod
system and the many programs, rehabilitative,
educational, and spiritual, that -the prison provides. The emphasis
is on reentry into society and the aim is to lower the high recidivism rate
which is costly in many ways including financial.
The feeling is that Billerica's efforts are making a
difference. Sean McAdam described a Northeastern U. research project on
recidivism which when completed should show the effect that careful preparation in prison for reentry
has on recidivism.
Following an excellent lunch prepared by students in the
Culinary Arts Program, Linda Sweeney led us on an extensive tour of the prison.
We visited one of the pods, with cells surrounding a large central space where
the men have their meals. It has proved more practical to take meals to the
pods. We saw the original "chow hall" which has been turned into a
multi-purpose meeting room and can be partitioned into smaller rooms. Religious
services are held there. We walked through the education center, saw the
computer classroom, and talked with a teacher preparing for an English lesson that would include
class discussion of a short story. We passed the visiting area, very quiet,
since visiting hours had not started, and we glimpsed the evaluation and
stabilization unit that is in, but not of, the Billerica HOC. It has its own
staff and is for men from various eastern Massachusetts prisons who are
experiencing severe emotional distress, including suicidal tendencies. We were
shown the well-equipped and immaculate Culinary Arts kitchen where staff meals
are prepared and we thanked the chef for our wonderful lunch.
The
new facility is light, bright and spacious, very unlike the old building. It's
still a prison though, as it has to be.
We thank Sheriff DiPaola for making this visit possible, and Deputy Sheriff McAdam for taking such good care of us. Thanks also to Steven Ultrino, Rev. Thomas and our considerate guide Linda Sweeney for adding their knowledge and enthusiasm to the briefing. We thank the entire prison staff for the great work they are doing.
NEXT MEETING: MAY
26 at 7:30 PM. Sheriff DiPaola will be our guest speaker! Please come and bring a friend!
PLACE: Second Church in Newton, 60 Highland Street, West
Newton