MIDDLESEX COUNTY PRISON COORDINATING COMMITTEE NEWSLETTER

MCPCC met on Sept. 8, '04, in West Newton. Those present were Beverly Wilkins, Tom Crowther, Bill Bergquist and Marjorie Moerschner. Bill opened the meeting with a prayer.

We have voted to include Bill on the MCPCC board. Welcome, Bill!

Beverly brought in a copy of Dr. Michael Sperber' a new book, Cycles and Psyche, a psychiatric examination of Henry David Thoreau's self-diagnosed "insanity." Dr. Sperber, a psychiatric consultant at Billerica, has been our speaker several times; we hope he will come and talk to us again soon!

Carol Peters has started another Houses of Healing course at Billerica with 18 inmates in the class. We voted to provide money for books so that each man in the class may keep one.

Beverly talked to a woman whose son died recently at the Cambridge Jail and who has found comfort through Buddhist chanting. She would like to have such chanting allowed in the Middlesex facilities. It apparently does take place in Suffolk.

Bill and Tom will attend a conference September 20 at the U. of MA Medical School in Worcester, on the criminalization of the mentally ill and addicted. Michael Ashe, Sheriff of Hamden County, will be the keynote speaker. Rep. Ray Kahn will be a panelist.

Beverly would like to create a video highlighting some of the projects we have sponsored. This may include the Rev. Jamie Howard talking about her experiences leading Bible Study the Billerica House of Correction and Carol Peters telling about teaching a "Houses of Healing" course there.

Framingham has an innovative Jail Diversion program. Under this program, a social worker goes out on calls with the police to identify people with mental or addiction problems and to get them into treatment.

Judy Kovachek, Director of Human Services at Billerica, gives a course on sexual harassment as part of the rigorous training program for correction officers instituted by Sheriff DiPaola. The sheriff, incidentally, won nomination in the primary by a very large margin!

MCPCC has received a generous donation from the Edwards Church in Framingham. We very much appreciate this gift!

At our next meeting we hope to hear about the new Billerica facility which is already under construction.

NEXT MEETING: OCTOBER 13, 2004 at 7 PM

SECOND CHURCH IN NEWTON 60 HIGHLAND STREET, WEST NEWTON