Massachusetts is trying to build a $50 million prison for women. HDR is the architecture firm that was hired to design the prison using our tax dollars. We are leading a week of action to demand a STOP to the new women’s prison project.
HDR, Inc. has built 275 jails and prisons across the United States and made billions off the suffering and oppression of communities caused by incarceration. HDR has shamefully ignored the voices of directly impacted women in MA who have repeatedly called for designing and building alternatives.
For months, HDR has been meeting with the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS), the Department of Correction (DOC), and the Department of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) to advance the new women’s prison project. The state is hiding what’s happening in these meetings and refuses to be transparent and accountable with the public about the plan for the new women’s prison - redacting almost all the notes from the meetings.
Directly impacted women have delayed the women’s prison project for 3 years so far. Incarcerated women, formerly incarcerated women, people with incarcerated loved ones, advocates, public health professionals, social workers, community organizers, clergy, and residents across the state oppose this project because a new women’s prison will cause generations of harm and trauma.
Join us in calling on HDR, EOPSS, DOC, and DCAMM to STOP the new women’s prison project NOW so we can SHIFT the focus to bringing women home from Framingham and investing in what women and communities need to thrive.
FRIDAY
Call and email your State Rep and Senator and tell them to Pass the Jail and Prison Construction Moratorium!
- Find your elected officials’ contact info here: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator
- Call and Email your State Rep and Senator. You can use this script or add and change to make it your own!
Hello,
My name is ______________ and I’m your constituent. I’m calling to let you know that the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security and DOC has been meeting with the architecture firm HDR bi-weekly to advance the $50 million women’s prison project but hiding what’s going on from the public. I’m not okay with my tax dollars being spent on prison construction when I know women will never be safe in the DOC. We need the legislature to pass the Prison Moratorium to pause the new women’s prison so we can focus on releasing women and investing in alternatives to incarceration. Please support S1979 and H1795 and work to get it passed as soon as possible. Thank you.
- Can you take a minute to invite someone else to participate in our week of action? Thank you so much for your support! bit.ly/HDRweekofaction
THURSDAY
Join us on Instagram live at 12:15pm (@justiceashealing) and stay tuned for action steps then! …in the meantime, catch up on any days you might have missed!
WEDNESDAY
We’re taking over HDR’s social media to let them know: #NoNewWomensPrison now or ever in Massachusetts!
- Comment on HDR’s posts on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/hdr
Some ideas - use any of them or write your own comment:
As an employee owned company, employees should use their power to stop designing jails and prisons! There is no innovation in incarceration, and no such thing as a safe prison. You’re profiting off of families’ separation and suffering. Instead you could work with formerly incarcerated women and design alternatives!”
Your client, the MA Department of Correction, is known for extreme medical neglect including physical and mental healthcare and rampant sexual abuse. There is no DOC prison you could design where women would be safe. Pull out of the contract now. https://plsma.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/PLS_A-Different-Way-Forward-2022_07_11.pdf”
My tax dollars are paying for your contract. We don’t want or need another women’s prison - women need more housing, healing spaces, elder care facilities, drug treatment centers, and daycares. Pull out of the women’s prison contract now.”
Your company has repeatedly ignored formerly incarcerated women and spied on community members who oppose your projects. Stop trying to design a new women’s prison in MA!”
- Comment on HDR’s posts on Instagram!
@HDR_Inc (https://www.instagram.com/HDR_Inc)
Some ideas - use any of them or write your own comment. You can use the hashtag #NoNewWomensPrison:
Build more ___________ not more prisons! Pull out of the contract to design the new women’s prison in MA!
Stop profiting off family separation and suffering! Build up communities not prisons!
There’s no such thing as a safe prison! Incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women oppose the new women’s prison project in MA!
If you design the women’s prison in MA, you’ll be responsible for generations of harm and incarcerating our daughters, granddaughters, and great granddaughters.
- Post these images on your Instagram and tag @HDR_Inc!
Use the hashtags #NoNewWomensPrison #architecture and #LifeAtHDR.
TUESDAY
Call and Email the government officials directly responsible for overseeing the new women’s prison project.
- Copy ALL of these emails: terrence.reidy@mass.gov, Jennifer.Roedel@state.ma.us, Mitzi.Peterson@doc.state.ma.us, Carol.Mici@doc.state.ma.us, emmanuel.andrade@state.ma.us, Jeffrey.Quick@doc.state.ma.us, elayne.campos@mass.gov
- Use this text to send your own email to EOPSS, DCAMM, and DOC leadership to stop the women’s prison project and release women - you can add or change the text to make it your own!
Hello,
I am a resident of Massachusetts and I know that EOPSS, DCAMM, and DOC have been meeting with HDR to advance the $50 million women’s prison project. Your offices have failed to be accountable and transparent with taxpayers about this process. I oppose new prison construction and expansion. I support releasing women and investing in alternatives that will allow women to heal and advance their lives. The Executive Branch must immediately focus on a plan to decarcerate women from MCI-Framingham including maximizing clemency, medical parole, parole, and allowing women to serve the remainder of their sentences in community settings. Women need physical and mental health care, consensual drug treatment, and reconnection with their children - not another DOC prison. The Healey administration must also address the abuse, double celling of elderly and sick women, and extreme medical neglect women in Framingham are enduring. There is no safe prison for women.
- Call key decision makers and leave a message!
Jennifer Rodel, EOPSS Chief of Staff
Dial main number (617) 727-7775 and use staff directory to be connected
Jeffrey Quick, DOC
(508)-422-3661
“Hello, my name is _____________________ and I oppose the new women’s prison project your office is overseeing. The state must create a plan to release women from Framingham and reinvest those resources into what women need to thrive. Incarcerated women are experiencing abuse, medical neglect, while elders and sick women are being double celled. There is no such thing as a safe prison. It’s possible to do something different here in Massachusetts than yet another prison and women deserve better.
MONDAY
Call and Email the HDR staff directly responsible for designing the new women’s prison in MA, and members of the HDR board.
Join us on ZOOM at NOON IF YOU WANT TO TAKE ACTION TOGETHER! Click here to join.
- Copy ALL of these emails: terry.littell@hdrinc.com, tommy.sinclair@hdrinc.com, Andrea.Monteiro@EthicalCorrections.com, matthew.skarr@hdrinc.com, Torrey.Sims@hdrinc.com, Eric.Keen@hdrinc.com, john.henderson@hdrinc.com, doug.wignall@hdrinc.com, Erin.Hunt@hdrinc.com, dick.bell@hdrinc.com, Helvisandvik@gmail.com
- Use this text to send your own email telling HDR to pull out of the women’s prison project and stop building jails and prisons - you can add or change the text to make it your own!
Hello,
I’m a resident of Massachusetts and I know that your company has the contract to design the new women’s prison. Your company has kept your plans hidden from the community and ignored the voices of directly impacted women who oppose this project, and residents like me who want our tax dollars invested in housing, healthcare, treatment, elder care, child care, and education - not more incarceration. There is no such thing as a safe or trauma-informed prison for women. Your work is for DOC and EOPSS who are responsible for subjecting incarcerated people to violence, abuse, deprivation, and extreme medical neglect. As a resident who cares about women and whose tax dollars are funding this project, I’m asking you to withdraw from this process immediately. Instead, you should work with directly impacted women to build what women need to thrive.
- Call the HDR project leads and leave them a message!
Terry Littell
Senior Project Manager
773-301-1374
Tommy Sinclair
Justice Principle
727-278-5205
“Hello, my name is _____________________ and I oppose the women’s prison project you were hired to design because __________________________________. Your company is profiting off the harm and suffering caused by incarceration while refusing to be transparent or accountable to the communities your project will impact the most. Use your power as a worker owner to pull HDR out of this contract immediately.”
- Post on social media that you took action with the hashtag #NoNewWomensPrison and share the link to encourage others to join us! bit.ly/HDRweekofaction
- If you get any responses - please email mhanora@justiceashealing.org - thank you so much!)
Check back every day this week for new actions!