Wednesday, June 22, 2011

NETWORK ALERT--Don't Miss This Important State House Hearing #H.B.1559 To Establish the MA CORRECTIONS COMMISSION (for DOC) (Thurs. 6/23-10:00am-2:00pm---RM A-2/State House)

THE NETWORK

JUST FOR U!

 

----------------------

Please pass this on.

 

 

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE:

STATE LEGISLATURE HEARING TO ESTABLISH THE MASSACHUSETTS CORRECTIONS COMMISSION

Thursday, June 23, 2011

10:00am – 2:00pm

MASSACHUSETTS STATE HOUSE – (((( ROOM A-2 ))))

 

 

 

WHO SHOULD ATTEND THIS HEARING...

EVERYONE:

Tax Payers, Survivors of Crimes, Former Prisoners, Families/Friends of Current + Former Prisoners---everyone!

------------------

 

WHY EVERYONE SHOULD ATTEND...

The Department of Corrections—DOC—impacts  the lives of every MA resident: 

tax increases, crime, community and family safety, unchecked mental/physical illness, CORI unemployment/despair, 

inter-generational imprisonment, prison employment practices, etc.

------------------

 

* IF HOUSE BILL #1559 PASSES AS IS

It creates a public transparent process to view and improve the operating policies and practices of the DOC.

It includes by-laws which require public reports and schedules, publicly noticed hearings, acceptance of public/community testimony, 

prison facility visits, health/human service provisions, basic program service delivery, improved re-entry process, etc. 

 ----------------------

 

* IF HOUSE BILL #1559 DOES NOT PASS AS IS

Then we continue to pay taxes for a system that year after year returns residents to our communities

who are more traumatized, more anti-social, and far more desperate than when they left.

(Over 300 inmates/month return to Suffolk County alone.)

 ---------------------------

 

Please read H#1559 language below and pass it on!!!

 

 

 

PLEASE NOTE:    16 BILL WILL BE HEARD THAT DAY, SO BE THERE BY 9:45am FOR A SEAT.

If you intend to testify, say bill #1559, be brief and succinct.

http://www.malegislature.gov/Events/EventDetail?eventId=184&eventDataSource=Hearings    <-- (list of bills)

 H 1559 Resolve establishing the Massachusetts Correction Commission 

This legislation restores the statutory requirement for the establishment of an independent advisory board for the Department of Correction.

(This is a refile of H. 2420 filed in the 2009-2010 Legislative Session.)

 

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 01693 FILED ON: 01/20/2011

HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 01559

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

PRESENTED BY:

Kay Khan

_______________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the passage of the accompanying bill:

Resolve establishing the Massachusetts Correction Commission.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

NAME:                                   DISTRICT/ADDRESS:

Kay Khan                               11th Middlesex

Byron Rushing                       9th Suffolk

Ruth B. Balser                        12th Middlesex

William N. Brownsberger     24th Middlesex

Timothy J. Toomey, Jr.         26th Middlesex

Jennifer E. Benson                37th Middlesex

Carl M. Sciortino, Jr.           34th Middlesex

Denise Provost                       27th Middlesex

 

HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 01559

By Ms. Kay Khan of Newton, petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 01559) of Denise Provost and others relative to establishing a Massachusetts correction commission (including members of the General Court) to study, review and report on activities of the Department of Correction. Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security.

          [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION - SEE HOUSE, NO. 2240 OF 2009-2010.]

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

In the Year Two Thousand Eleven

_______________

 

Resolve establishing the Massachusetts Correction Commission.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

 

1 SECTION 1. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, 1 the Governor shall

2 convene the Massachusetts Correction Commission to be known hereinafter as “the

3 commission.” The commission shall be assigned to the executive office of public safety for

4 administrative and fiscal accountability purposes, but it shall otherwise function independently of

5 the control and direction of the executive office of public safety. The commission shall consist

6 of the secretary of public safety or a designee; the commissioner of probation or a designee; the

7 chairman of the parole board or a designee; the commissioner of mental health or a designee; the

8 commissioner of mental retardation or a designee; the commissioner of public health or a

9 designee, ex officiis. The president of the senate shall appoint 2 members; the speaker house of

    representatives shall appoint 2 members. The governor shall appoint

10 6 members from the

11 following categories: a person to chair the commission who has experience in state government;

12 a district attorney; a public defender; a sheriff; an expert on prisoner re-entry; and a corrections

13 policy expert. The following organizations shall each make one appointment to the commission:

 

14 the Women’s Bar Association shall appoint an attorney with experience in women’s prison

15 issues; the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans shall appoint a health care expert; the

16 National Alliance for the Mentally Ill shall make one appointment; the Massachusetts Taxpayers

17 Foundation shall make one appointment; and Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services shall

18 make one appointment.

 

19 The terms of the members appointed shall be three years, except that of the first appointed

20 members seven shall be appointed for a term of two years, seven shall be appointed to a term of

21 three years, the chairperson shall be appointed for a term of three years. In the first year of

22 appointments, the governor, in consultation with the chairperson, shall determine which

23 members shall serve which terms.

 

24 No member of the commission shall be appointed to serve more than two consecutive three-year

25 terms. Upon the expiration of the term of an appointed member, the successor shall be appointed

26 in a like manner for three years. A member ex officio shall not be entitled to vote on any matter

27 before the committee.

 

28 Members of the commission shall receive no compensation but each member shall be reimbursed

29 by the commonwealth for necessary expenses incurred in the performance of his or her official

30 duties. The commission shall adopt bylaws to govern its own proceedings. Said bylaws shall be

     submitted for approval by the house and senate committees on post-audit and oversight,

31 the joint

32 committee on public safety and homeland security and the joint committee on the judiciary.

 

33 SECTION 2. The commission shall have the following duties:

 

34 (a) It shall study the medical services, including mental health and substance abuse treatment

35 services, and educational, vocational, employment and rehabilitation programs available to

36 prisoners;

 

37 (b) It shall report annually to the house and senate committees on ways and means and post -audit

38 and oversight, the joint committee on public safety and homeland security and the joint

39 committee on the judiciary on the allocation of resources, specifically fixed and operating costs

40 of any new and preexisting facilities, assets, or personnel utilized by the department of

41 correction. It shall make recommendations regarding how to allocate such resources in the most

42 efficient and useful manner for both the taxpayer and the offender. It shall recommend

43 innovative approaches to resolving present and future issues in criminal justice to promote public

44 safety by, but not limited to, modernizing existing facilities, developing alternative sentencing

45 methods to reduce prison overcrowding, reduce recidivism, and improve rehabilitation.

 

46 (c) It shall routinely monitor the financial status of the department of correction to assure that

47 the department is managing revenue, state, federal and grant monies used for the operation of the

48 department, and any applicable bond proceeds responsibly and in accordance with law and

49 established policy;

 

50 (d) Annually, each correctional institution of the commonwealth shall be visited by at least one

51 member of the commission. Every member of the commission shall visit at least one

52 correctional institution of the commonwealth annually;

 

    (e) It shall report on the general state of correctional facilities, the administration

53 of correctional

54 policy and practices, the living conditions of inmates therein, the general state of working

55 conditions for department of correction employees and, where appropriate, the impact of

56 department of correction policies and inmate living conditions upon rates of recidivism and over

57 classification;

 

58 (f) It shall provide public education on corrections and criminal justice issues;

59 (g) It may review any existing or proposed regulations promulgated or under consideration by

60 the department of correction;

 

61 (h) It shall issue public reports annually to the department of correction, the clerks of the house

62 of representatives and the senate, the house and senate committees on ways and means and post -

63 audit and oversight and the Joint Committee on the Judiciary;

 

64 (i) It shall advocate on behalf of any recommended reform that should be adopted by the

65 commonwealth;

 

66 (j) It shall advise the commissioner of the department of correction on policy development and

67 priorities for department of correction facilities as well as on the department’s compliance with

68 legislative and judicial mandates;

 

69 (k) It shall meet at least 6 times per year upon the call of the chairperson, and other meetings

70 may be called by the chairperson upon giving at least 7 days’ notice to all members and the

71 public. Emergency meetings may be held without any notice upon the request of a majority of

72 all voting members;

 

(l) All meetings of the commission shall be open to the public and announced

73 through public

74 notice at least 7 days prior to the meeting date. All inmates housed within department of

75 correction facilities shall be notified of said meetings at least 7 days prior to the meeting date.

76 The commission shall accept written testimony in the event any individual is unable to attend the

77 meeting.

 

78 (m) A majority of the voting membership of the commission shall constitute a quorum at any

79 meeting of the commission. An action of the commission is not binding unless the action is

80 taken pursuant to an affirmative vote of a majority of voting members present, but not fewer than

81 8 voting members of the commission must be present, and the vote must be recorded in the

82 minutes of the meeting;

 

83 (n) The chairperson shall cause to be made a complete record of all the proceedings of the

84 commission, which record shall be open for public inspection;

 

85 (o) It shall hold semi-annual public hearings. Notice of said public hearings shall be issued at

86 least one month prior to the date of the hearing and shall include information regarding the time

87 and place of the hearing. Notice of said hearing shall also be posted in a public location in all

88 department of correction facilities and distributed to all inmates of said facilities.

 

89 Accommodations shall be made for inmates in the department of correction facilities to testify

90 before the commission at said public hearings utilizing the most current technology. Written

91 testimony shall be accepted by the commission as well;

 

92 (p) It shall appoint an executive director or full time equivalent. The executive director or full

93 time equivalent shall have the authority to hire support staff as necessary.

 

SECTION 3. Pursuant to section 63 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, the

94 house and senate

95 committees on post-audit and oversight of the general court in cooperation with the joint

96 committee on public safety and homeland security and the joint committee on the judiciary shall

97 have authority to review regulations proposed or adopted by the department of correction. The

98 house and senate Committees on post-audit and oversight may hold public hearings concerning a

99 proposed or existing regulation and may submit to the department of correction comments

100 concerning the merit and appropriateness of the regulations to be promulgated and an opinion

101 whether the regulations are authorized by, and consistent with, these chapters. The department

102 of correction shall respond in writing within 10 days to the house and senate committees on post -

103 audit and oversight written questions relevant to the committee's review of a proposed or existing

104 regulation. The department of correction shall provide to the house and senate committees on

105 post-audit and oversight, without charge, copies of all public records in the department of

106 correction's custody relating to the regulation or action in question within 10 days of a request by

107 the house and senate committees on post-audit and oversight. The house and senate committees

108 on post-audit and oversight may issue reports with proposed changes to a proposed or existing

109 regulation and shall transmit this report to the department of correction. If the department of

110 correction does not adopt the proposed changes contained in the house and senate committees on

111 post-audit and oversight’s reports, the department of correction shall notify the committee in

112 writing of the reasons why it did not adopt the changes either at the time it adopts a proposed

113 regulation or within 21 days of receiving the committee's report on an existing regulation.

 

114 SECTION 4. There is hereby appropriated $200,000 from the executive office of public safety

115 for the establishment, operation, and management of said commission.

116

 

 --end--

 

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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

NETWORK ALERT--Don't Miss This State House Hearing #HO1559 To Establish the MA CORRECTIONS COMMISSION (Thurs. 6/23-10:00am-2:00pm---RM A-2)

WHO SHOULD ATTEND THIS HEARING...

 

EVERYONE:

Tax Payers, Survivors of Crimes, Former Prisoners, Families/Friends of Current + Former Prisoners---everyone!

 

WHY EVERYONE SHOULD ATTEND...

 

The Department of Corrections—DOC—impacts  the lives of every MA resident: 

tax increases, crime, community and family safety, unchecked mental/physical illness, CORI unemployment/dispair, 

inter-generational imprisonment, prison employment practices, etc.

 

 

* IF HOUSE BILL #1559 PASSES, AS IS… 

It creates a public transparent process to view and improve the operating policies and practices of the DOC.

It includes by-laws which require public reports and schedules, publicly noticed hearings, acceptance of public/community testimony, 

prison facility visits, health/human service provisions, basic program service delivery, improved re-entry process, etc. 

 

 

* IF HOUSE BILL #1559 DOES NOT PASS, AS IS…

Then we continue to pay taxes for a system that year after year returns residents to our communities

who are more traumatized, more anti-social, and far more desperate than when they left.

Suffolk County alone--over 300 per month.

 

Please read H#1559 language below and pass it on!!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 

 

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE: 

 

STATE LEGISLATURE HEARING TO ESTABLISH THE MASSACHUSETTS CORRECTIONS COMMISSION  

 

Thursday June 23, 2011

10:00am – 2:00 pm

MASSACHUSETTS STATE HOUSE – ((((ROOM A-2))))

 

 

PLEASE NOTE:     16 bills will be heard that day, so be there by 9:45am.  

 

If you intend to testify, please be brief, be succinct (don’t ramble on) and remember to state the bill  number. 

#HO1559 – COPY OF BILL BELOW.  PASS IT ON!!!

http://www.malegislature.gov/Events/EventDetail?eventId=184&eventDataSource=Hearings    <-- (list of bills)

 

H 1559 Resolve establishing the Massachusetts Correction Commission

 

This legislation restores the statutory requirement for the establishment of an independent advisory board for the Department of Correction.

(This is a refile of H. 2420 filed in the 2009-2010 Legislative Session.)

 

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 01693 FILED ON: 01/20/2011

HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 01559

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

PRESENTED BY:

Kay Khan

_______________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General

Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the passage of the accompanying bill:

Resolve establishing the Massachusetts Correction Commission.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

NAME:                                   DISTRICT/ADDRESS:

Kay Khan                               11th Middlesex

Byron Rushing                       9th Suffolk

Ruth B. Balser                        12th Middlesex

William N. Brownsberger     24th Middlesex

Timothy J. Toomey, Jr.         26th Middlesex

Jennifer E. Benson                37th Middlesex

Carl M. Sciortino, Jr.           34th Middlesex

Denise Provost                       27th Middlesex

 

HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 01559

By Ms. Kay Khan of Newton, petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 01559) of Denise

Provost and others relative to establishing a Massachusetts correction commission (including

members of the General Court) to study, review and report on activities of the Department of

Correction. Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security.

 

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION

SEE HOUSE, NO. 2240 OF 2009-2010.]

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

In the Year Two Thousand Eleven

_______________

 

Resolve establishing the Massachusetts Correction Commission.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority

of the same, as follows:

 

1 SECTION 1. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, 1 the Governor shall

2 convene the Massachusetts Correction Commission to be known hereinafter as “the

3 commission.” The commission shall be assigned to the executive office of public safety for

4 administrative and fiscal accountability purposes, but it shall otherwise function independently of

5 the control and direction of the executive office of public safety. The commission shall consist

6 of the secretary of public safety or a designee; the commissioner of probation or a designee; the

7 chairman of the parole board or a designee; the commissioner of mental health or a designee; the

8 commissioner of mental retardation or a designee; the commissioner of public health or a

9 designee, ex officiis. The president of the senate shall appoint 2 members; the speaker house of

    representatives shall appoint 2 members. The governor shall appoint

10 6 members from the

11 following categories: a person to chair the commission who has experience in state government;

12 a district attorney; a public defender; a sheriff; an expert on prisoner re-entry; and a corrections

13 policy expert. The following organizations shall each make one appointment to the commission:

 

14 the Women’s Bar Association shall appoint an attorney with experience in women’s prison

15 issues; the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans shall appoint a health care expert; the

16 National Alliance for the Mentally Ill shall make one appointment; the Massachusetts Taxpayers

17 Foundation shall make one appointment; and Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services shall

18 make one appointment.

 

19 The terms of the members appointed shall be three years, except that of the first appointed

20 members seven shall be appointed for a term of two years, seven shall be appointed to a term of

21 three years, the chairperson shall be appointed for a term of three years. In the first year of

22 appointments, the governor, in consultation with the chairperson, shall determine which

23 members shall serve which terms.

 

24 No member of the commission shall be appointed to serve more than two consecutive three-year

25 terms. Upon the expiration of the term of an appointed member, the successor shall be appointed

26 in a like manner for three years. A member ex officio shall not be entitled to vote on any matter

27 before the committee.

 

28 Members of the commission shall receive no compensation but each member shall be reimbursed

29 by the commonwealth for necessary expenses incurred in the performance of his or her official

30 duties. The commission shall adopt bylaws to govern its own proceedings. Said bylaws shall be

     submitted for approval by the house and senate committees on post-audit and oversight,

31 the joint

32 committee on public safety and homeland security and the joint committee on the judiciary.

 

33 SECTION 2. The commission shall have the following duties:

 

34 (a) It shall study the medical services, including mental health and substance abuse treatment

35 services, and educational, vocational, employment and rehabilitation programs available to

36 prisoners;

 

37 (b) It shall report annually to the house and senate committees on ways and means and post -audit

38 and oversight, the joint committee on public safety and homeland security and the joint

39 committee on the judiciary on the allocation of resources, specifically fixed and operating costs

40 of any new and preexisting facilities, assets, or personnel utilized by the department of

41 correction. It shall make recommendations regarding how to allocate such resources in the most

42 efficient and useful manner for both the taxpayer and the offender. It shall recommend

43 innovative approaches to resolving present and future issues in criminal justice to promote public

44 safety by, but not limited to, modernizing existing facilities, developing alternative sentencing

45 methods to reduce prison overcrowding, reduce recidivism, and improve rehabilitation.

 

46 (c) It shall routinely monitor the financial status of the department of correction to assure that

47 the department is managing revenue, state, federal and grant monies used for the operation of the

48 department, and any applicable bond proceeds responsibly and in accordance with law and

49 established policy;

 

50 (d) Annually, each correctional institution of the commonwealth shall be visited by at least one

51 member of the commission. Every member of the commission shall visit at least one

52 correctional institution of the commonwealth annually;

 

    (e) It shall report on the general state of correctional facilities, the administration

53 of correctional

54 policy and practices, the living conditions of inmates therein, the general state of working

55 conditions for department of correction employees and, where appropriate, the impact of

56 department of correction policies and inmate living conditions upon rates of recidivism and over

57 classification;

 

58 (f) It shall provide public education on corrections and criminal justice issues;

59 (g) It may review any existing or proposed regulations promulgated or under consideration by

60 the department of correction;

 

61 (h) It shall issue public reports annually to the department of correction, the clerks of the house

62 of representatives and the senate, the house and senate committees on ways and means and post -

63 audit and oversight and the Joint Committee on the Judiciary;

 

64 (i) It shall advocate on behalf of any recommended reform that should be adopted by the

65 commonwealth;

 

66 (j) It shall advise the commissioner of the department of correction on policy development and

67 priorities for department of correction facilities as well as on the department’s compliance with

68 legislative and judicial mandates;

 

69 (k) It shall meet at least 6 times per year upon the call of the chairperson, and other meetings

70 may be called by the chairperson upon giving at least 7 days’ notice to all members and the

71 public. Emergency meetings may be held without any notice upon the request of a majority of

72 all voting members;

 

(l) All meetings of the commission shall be open to the public and announced

73 through public

74 notice at least 7 days prior to the meeting date. All inmates housed within department of

75 correction facilities shall be notified of said meetings at least 7 days prior to the meeting date.

76 The commission shall accept written testimony in the event any individual is unable to attend the

77 meeting.

 

78 (m) A majority of the voting membership of the commission shall constitute a quorum at any

79 meeting of the commission. An action of the commission is not binding unless the action is

80 taken pursuant to an affirmative vote of a majority of voting members present, but not fewer than

81 8 voting members of the commission must be present, and the vote must be recorded in the

82 minutes of the meeting;

 

83 (n) The chairperson shall cause to be made a complete record of all the proceedings of the

84 commission, which record shall be open for public inspection;

 

85 (o) It shall hold semi-annual public hearings. Notice of said public hearings shall be issued at

86 least one month prior to the date of the hearing and shall include information regarding the time

87 and place of the hearing. Notice of said hearing shall also be posted in a public location in all

88 department of correction facilities and distributed to all inmates of said facilities.

 

89 Accommodations shall be made for inmates in the department of correction facilities to testify

90 before the commission at said public hearings utilizing the most current technology. Written

91 testimony shall be accepted by the commission as well;

 

92 (p) It shall appoint an executive director or full time equivalent. The executive director or full

93 time equivalent shall have the authority to hire support staff as necessary.

 

SECTION 3. Pursuant to section 63 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, the

94 house and senate

95 committees on post-audit and oversight of the general court in cooperation with the joint

96 committee on public safety and homeland security and the joint committee on the judiciary shall

97 have authority to review regulations proposed or adopted by the department of correction. The

98 house and senate Committees on post-audit and oversight may hold public hearings concerning a

99 proposed or existing regulation and may submit to the department of correction comments

100 concerning the merit and appropriateness of the regulations to be promulgated and an opinion

101 whether the regulations are authorized by, and consistent with, these chapters. The department

102 of correction shall respond in writing within 10 days to the house and senate committees on post -

103 audit and oversight written questions relevant to the committee's review of a proposed or existing

104 regulation. The department of correction shall provide to the house and senate committees on

105 post-audit and oversight, without charge, copies of all public records in the department of

106 correction's custody relating to the regulation or action in question within 10 days of a request by

107 the house and senate committees on post-audit and oversight. The house and senate committees

108 on post-audit and oversight may issue reports with proposed changes to a proposed or existing

109 regulation and shall transmit this report to the department of correction. If the department of

110 correction does not adopt the proposed changes contained in the house and senate committees on

111 post-audit and oversight’s reports, the department of correction shall notify the committee in

112 writing of the reasons why it did not adopt the changes either at the time it adopts a proposed

113 regulation or within 21 days of receiving the committee's report on an existing regulation.

 

114 SECTION 4. There is hereby appropriated $200,000 from the executive office of public safety

115 for the establishment, operation, and management of said commission.

116

 

 

 

 


The substance of this message, including any attachments, may be confidential, legally privileged and/or exempt from disclosure pursuant to Massachusetts law. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.