Gov. Baker to sign justice reform bill today at 3 pm

By Katie Lannan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, APRIL 13, 2018….Gov. Charlie Baker plans to sign a wide-ranging criminal justice reform bill into law Friday afternoon, advocates said.

“I have great news for you. Governor Baker plans to sign our bill, as is, at 3 p.m. today,” Cherish Casey of the Essex County Community Organization said at a State House press conference.

Casey’s declaration triggered applause and cheers from those in attendance.

The press conference was originally called to urge Baker to sign the bill but took on a celebratory mood as its backers thanked the lawmakers and others who got the long-awaited bill to the governor’s desk…..

As the press conference was unfolding, Baker was holding a meeting of his cabinet Friday morning at the State House.

Baker’s office confirmed he will sign the bill, at 3 p.m. in room 157 at the State House, and said he will also “discuss additional reforms that the administration plans to propose.”

Advertisements

Send holiday REFORM greetings

EMIT doesn’t ask for money [we are all-volunteer] during the holidays. Instead, all year round, we ask for a thin slice of your time to add to the chorus in the wave of justice & corrections systems reform in Massachusetts.

With the CSG report due out imminently, take a minute to contact Gov. Charlie Baker and/or Speaker Robert DeLeo and encourage them to adopt  justice reinvestment — which means investing in jobs, education, job training and support for small business startups in urban communities hardest hit by mass incarceration.

The theory is to roll over money saved by fewer people behind bars and use it productively to start a new life for formerly incarcerated people.

See more info here in this Globe story from yesterday on the outdated state of our justice and corrections systems.  Here’s Speaker DeLeo’s and Gov. Baker’s contact info. My sample email follows- feel free to copy and paste and edit in your correspondence.

Robert.DeLeo@mahouse.gov781-289-8965.

Gov Baker : 617.725.4005Email form link here.

Dear Speaker DeLeo:

During this time of hope and celebration, I urge you to think of the 10,000 people in free public housing in our state’s prisons and jails. 

We are not the worst offender in the Union for lack of justice, however, there are MANY more reforms possible than covered by the CSG. I urge you to go further and rollover the money saved by incarcerating fewer people, getting rid of the bail system that favors the rich and guilty, and reinvesting it in urban communities hardest hit by incarceration. Please do everything in your power to adopt justice re-investment in the coming legislative session.

THANKS AND Happy Holidays from the EMIT team.

‘Secret’ Sept. 9 MA primary election will decide critical candidates

Here is a synopsis of Mass. gubernatorial candidates position on criminal justice reform. Source: the highly regarded Mass INC, an advocate for the middle class. The “no stated positions” say quite a bit between the lines. Make sure and vote on Sept. 9 or file an absentee ballot.

On the Campaign Trail

Below you will find a review of the policy positions for each candidate running for governor and attorney general in November. This review focused on the main areas of recommendations for reform identified in a 2013 report from the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Reform Coalition – sentencing reform, programming & treatment, reentry & supervision, and uniform data collection & evaluation.