MIDDLESEX COUNTY
PRISON COORDINATING COMMITTEE NEWSLETTER
MCPCC
met on Nov. 14 2007 in West Newton. Tom Crowther, Mary Ann Donaldson, Toby
Frost, Marjorie Moerschner, Lynne Sullivan, Dorothy Weitzman, Carol Winton and Elizabeth
Woodbridge were present.
Tom
reported that we have received a generous and very welcome donation from the
First Church of Christ, Congregational, in Bedford.
Carol
has spoken to Dan Lee, the librarian at the Billerica House of Correction and
he is willing to meet with us and bring us up to date about the library's
needs.
Dorothy mentioned
the Prison Book Project in Quincy, which sends requested books to prisoners all
over the country.
Toby
and other members of the League of Women Voters Administration of Justice
Committee recently interviewed the Sheriffs of four eastern Massachusetts
counties about their respective correction facilities. They had a very good
interview with Sheriff DiPaola and were favorably impressed with what he is
doing at Billerica.
Toby and Tom reported on the panel discussion held by NAMI (Nat'l Alliance on Mental Illness) Nov. 13, on jail diversion for the mentally ill with Lois Pulliam as moderator.
We have in the past mentioned the Jail Diversion Program which has been operating in Framingham for some time. In this program a social worker rides with police when they are called to a disturbance, often domestic, and will divert someone who appears to have mental health issues to a treatment facility rather than to jail. Sarah Abbott is the Director/Clinical Responder in Framingham.
Waltham/Watertown now also has a Jail diversion Program. Its
Clinical Director is Joe Mageary of the Edinburg Center, a mental health
facility open 24 hours a day. It would be good to see this excellent program in
more towns and cities.
Also on Nov. 13 the Joint Committee on the Judiciary held hearings on two bills of interest to MCPCC. One, House Bill #1912, would allow the diversion of low-level drug offenders to treatment facilities under court supervision, rather than to jail.
The other, Senate Bill #884, is a bill to reform Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentencing to allow parole eligibility for those convicted of selling drugs in a school zone. (Most heavily populated cities are one big school zone.) Dorothy attended these hearings.
MCPCC is strongly in favor of these two bills. Mandatory sentencing reform especially is something we have wanted to see happen for many years.
Prison overcrowding, which has lessened somewhat after the population caps of a few years ago, is creeping up again. Jail Diversion Programs and the passage of the two bills mentioned above would be smart ways to combat overcrowding.
MCPCC
members made calls to Governor Patrick and key legislators urging them to
support CORI reform, something else we've hoped to see for a long time.
On
Nov. 17, at Boston College, NASW (Nat'l Assn of Social Workers) is holding a
conference on "Sexual Offending: Prevention and Management for Families,
Agencies and Communities." Several members of MCPCC will attend. Robin
Wilson, a professor of forensic practice at Humber Institute in Toronto, will
be one of the speakers.
And on Nov. 16 there is a conference at Andover-Newton on "Facilitating Re-entry of Sex Offenders through Circles of Support and Accountability", also with Robin Wilson. This is a busy week!
On a
somewhat lighter note we are collecting Christmas cards again this year
for the prisoners at Billerica and Cambridge Jail to send to their families.
Remember, each card should have an envelope. Tom will take the cards to
Chaplain Milton Thomas at Billerica on Dec. 3 and Mary Ann will take them to
Tom on Dec. 2.
Call 617 527-5613
if you would like to have cards picked up from your home or church. This should
be done by Dec. 2.
NEXT MEETING: Dec.
12 at 7 PM