Western Massachusetts

Massachusetts opens a new supermax prison to torture politically concious prisoners.

This new prison is part of the trend of overclassifying prisoners. Inmates who are in low and medium security prisons are being moved into maximum security cells even though they have done nothing to deserve this security increase. This is important to the prisoners because maximum security prisons involve at least 22 hour solitary confinement and many other restrictions on the prisoners. These cells are filled with the most politically active prisoners: those who protest against the constant and brutal repression behind the bars.

In the other maximum security facility in Massachusetts at Walpole over 90% of the prisoners are Puerto Rican. This kind of systematic lock up is tremendously disproportionate to the number of Puerto Ricans in the prisons not to mention the general population in the state. One of the reasons for these outrageous numbers is the policy of locking up suspected gang members. This status is decided by the guards who use criteria like who a prisoners is seen talking to and whether or not the prisoner has a tatoo.

Currently the state of Massachusetts criminal injustice department claims to have 3082 extra prisoners for whom they do not have adequate facilities. The vast majority of these prisoners are in medium security prisons (over 75%) while only 9% are in maximum security.(1) But in spite of this the state has built a maximum security prison.

Commissioner of incorrections Maloney says that many of these medium security prisoners should be reclassified because the guards are not safe.(1) But over the past year 34 prisoners were killed in Massachusetts prisons, many at the hands of guards, others while guards stood by and watched. Seven people hung themselves, a strong statement about the conditions in Massachusetts prisons. It is not the guards who are unsafe, it is the prisoners. And a number of these deaths took place in the maximum security prison at Walpole: clearly these prisons do nothing to protect the prisoners from the pigs.

Three years ago 299 prisoners were shipped to Texas in the middle of the night in a huge publicity stunt to force through a bond bill to fund the building of this new prison and the expansion of other prisons in the state of Massachusetts, adding a total of 3000 new beds. These prisoners have suffered even worse treatment in Texas than in Massachusetts while they live without contact with family or friends. But none of these inmates are being returned to Massachusetts now that this new prison in Shirley is open.(2)

This new 1000 bed prison will cost close to $1 billion after all the bonds are paid back. Even the state House admitted that this prison construction is a capacity driven business that will never solve the overcrowding problem. In a report reviewing the recent prison construction the House Post-Audit and Oversight Bureau wrote "Long-term solutions that reduce the numbers of inmates coming into the system must be developed'' citing studies showing that mandatory drug sentencing is one cause of the explosion in the prison population nationwide. At least 20 percent of the Massachusetts prison population is incarcerated for drug-related offenses.(2)

One Massachusetts DOC official told the Boston Globe that the new prison will offer educational and vocational programs. These programs have been entirely cut off at the other maximum security prison at Walpole so this statement sounds like an attempt to sound good in the media since there is no good reason to offer these programs at one prison but not at others in the state.

Even if such programs are offered at Shirley they will not change the nature of the supermax prison which is the ultimate tool of social control in a society which uses prisons to control oppressed nations, youth and anyone who speaks out against the dominant order of imperialism.

In order to fund the expanding cost of housing prisoners in higher and higher security facilities many prisons in Massachusetts have recently begun charging inmates for the basics of living. The Plymouth County Correctional Facility is now charging all new prisons a $30 processing fee. It's estimated that the fee will generate 60-65 thousand dollars a year.(3)

Norfolk County Sheriff has been charging prisoners a $30 fee for a year, generating $34,000 in revenue. The families of Bristol County inmates pay an extra toll for each collect call the inmates place. State inmates also pay an average of 15 percent more for toiletries and snacks.(3)

This trend in Massachusetts is similar to what's going on in other states. In Florida inmates are paying for their meals. In Pennsylvania some are being forced to pay for their own room and board. In Texas and in Massachusetts prisoners are required to pay a fee every time they visit the infirmary.(3)

In Massachusetts the prison population has skyrocketed from 7,500 in 1976 to over 24,000 in 1998. This reflects the trend throughout the united snakes. Meanwhile the crime rate has been totally unaffected. Prisons in this country are used to control and oppress segments of the population that the government sees as dangerous.

The criminal injustice system is part of the united snakes' war on its internal colonies. This is not a war that will be won by the people if we sit by quietly or just beg the government for a few concessions. Only by tearing down the imperialist system which builds and uses the criminal injustice system can we win this war.

Notes:
1. NPR, October 6, 1998.
2. Boston Globe, Sep. 30, 1998. P.B1.
3. Boston Globe, September 23, 1998.

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