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By State Representative Christine Barber and Tisch Scholar Nithya Badrinath

Massachusetts is at a crossroads: will the state build a new women’s prison and continue to invest in the cycle of incarceration, or go another way to support communities? The Commonwealth has one women’s prison, in Framingham, a facility built in 1877 that is incredibly outdated and is becoming more uninhabitable each day. This presents an opportunity to rethink how we address criminal justice, particularly for those who suffer from addiction, acute mental illness, or are victims of trafficking. We have a unique moment to invest in communities, in mental health supports and substance use programs, education that is transferable, and safe housing for women and families to address the root causes of criminalization and stop the flow of incarceration.

The state’s Department of Correction (DOC) under Governor Baker is continuing on the course of creating more prisons. While ignoring over a year of concerns and protests from advocates and state legislators, DOC appears to be moving forward with a plan to upgrade a facility in Norfolk to create a new site for a women’s prison. This approximately $50 million dollar project is moving swiftly through the planning stage, with the Baker Administration recently selecting the firm HDR Architecture to design the updated facility. Massachusetts has one of the lowest rates of incarceration in the country and the current population at Framingham has dropped to under 200 women; yet the DOC is continuing to invest in prisons for future generations.

Black and Brown women are disproportionately incarcerated compared to their white counterparts. A recent report highlighting disparities in the Massachusetts criminal justice system details that Black people are imprisoned at a rate 7.9 times that of white people and Latinx people at 4.9 times that of white people. As the Commonwealth continues to address systemic inequities, we must consider alternatives in the criminal justice system.

As Co-Chair for the Task Force on Justice-Involved Women, I have been listening to and working with formerly incarcerated women to understand the needs and supports for women and their families. The Task Force supports policies to divert women from the criminal justice system, advocates for changes to discriminatory sentencing laws and increased community support programs, and seeks to move away from systems of punishment by instead providing opportunities for support and recovery.

Mental health services and supports are a clear opportunity for intervention where prisons are not able to support the needs of women and their families. Women who are in prisons and jails have higher rates of mental health and substance use disorders than men, and women are often incarcerated after exposure to trauma. In December 2018, the Massachusetts DOC reported that 74% of women had open mental health cases, 15% had a serious mental illness, and 56% were on psychotropic medication. Mental health needs including accurate diagnoses, treatment including medication management for all conditions including substance use disorders, therapy and beyond should be a top priority.

Prison is not an environment conducive to treating a person’s mental health issues. In November 2020, the Massachusetts DOC was found to have violated the constitutional rights of incarcerated people by forcing restrictive housing stays and providing inadequate supervision and mental health care. According to a report from January about prison-based therapy, jails and prisons are not suitable sites for effective trauma-based interventions. Mental health issues are often only exacerbated in prison, when women are isolated, not provided with adequate care to support their mental health, and separated from their families.

In addition, the majority of women who are incarcerated are mothers and primary caretakers; the national percentage is approximately 80%. It is critical for children to be with their mothers, especially in early development years. Family separation affects the mental health of both mothers and children, who face significant emotional burdens and are at risk for developing behavioral issues, thus increasing their likelihood of continuing the cycle by ending up incarcerated themselves. To ensure that women and their families receive the care that they need, it is imperative that we invest in mental health care and community-based gender-responsive alternatives to prisons.

As we continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and reckon with systemic racial injustice, we cannot continue to ignore the harm the era of mass incarceration has inflicted on our communities. Our decisions now about how to move forward will impact communities for years to come. Undoing the damage for communities in Massachusetts means focusing on achieving justice that is transformative––justice that does not seek to punish, but rather promote the healing and wellbeing of individuals and their communities––by providing each and every person with the resources they need to thrive.

Christine Barber is a State Representative for the 34th Middlesex District.

Nithya Badrinath, Tufts University ‘22, is a Tisch Scholar working in Rep. Barber’s office.