NO NEW WOMEN’S PRISON. Now or ever.
Join us for stand outs to stop the $50 million women’s prison in October, November, and December: https://tinyurl.com/designcanvass
Massachusetts is trying to build a $50 million women’s prison. Incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women oppose this project.
Families for Justice as Healing, The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls and our supporters are fighting to release women from incarceration and reinvest in what women and communities need to thrive.
To learn more about our work please join us for a Town Hall or other event: bit.ly/nonewprisonvolunteer
The #FreeHer movement is unstoppable!
TAKE ACTION:
- Demand HDR meet with directly impacted women
- Contact your own State Rep and Senator
- Email Governor Healey
✰ Demand HDR meet with Directly Impacted Women!
HDR is the architecture firm who has the contract to design the $50 million women’s prison in MA. They have ignored every attempt by directly impacted women and community members to share our concerns and vision of what different looks like. They are profiting off our suffering and trauma!
Let HDR know they should drop the DOC and work with directly impacted women to build up people not prisons!
Emails:
Script:
Dear HDR architects and designers,
My name is ___________________ and I’m a resident of ____________, MA (and/or I go to school or work at _____________________).
I oppose the state’s plan to design and build a $50 million women’s prison. I’m aware you have ignored the voices of women inside MCI-Framingham, their loved ones, and women who have survived incarceration at Framingham. None of us want prison construction.
I urge you to meet with directly impacted leaders and experts including Families for Justice as Healing and The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women as soon as possible.
Your client, the DOC, has a well documented history of dehumanization and abuse of women. Just recently another guard from Framingham was indicted for sexual assault. There is no such thing as a trauma-informed or safe prison for women. Work with directly impacted women to design what different looks like instead of yet another prison.
Sincerely,
✰Contact your own State Representative and Senator
Get your legislator’s info here: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator
Call/email script: “Hello, my name is _______ and I am your constituent. I am calling because I’m so disappointed the legislature did not pass the Prison Moratorium before the end of the formal session even though both chambers passed the bill unanimously last session. Our state is still working with the architecture firm HDR to design the $50 million women’s prison project even though incarcerated women and your constituents don’t want or need a new women’s prison. I hope you will do everything you can to find out what HDR is doing with our taxpayer dollars and pass legislation that will pause prison construction so we can focus on further reducing the prison population, implementing alternative approaches, and healing our communities. Thank you.”
✰ Email Governor Healey
Governor Healey oversees the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, the Department of Correction, and the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance who are all working with HDR to design the new women’s prison. Recently, she earmarked $1 million dollars in her FY25 Capital Investment Plan to continue the design process with HDR.
These agencies are involved in a secretive design process and are not being transparent or accountable with community members at all–despite the fact that our tax dollars are funding the contract with HDR.
Even though the Prison Moratorium didn’t pass, Governor Healey has the power to pause the prison decision process and instead focus on decarceration and alternative approaches!
Use this form to contact the Governor: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/email-the-governors-office
Script for the comment field (feel free to adjust):
I am urging you to pause the design process of the $50 million women’s prison being led by the architecture firm HDR. HDR has been meeting with the DOC, EOPSS, and DCAMM regularly and totally failed to be transparent or accountable about the process to the public. Women incarcerated in Framingham oppose prison construction. I am asking your administration to meet with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated leaders on this issue, including Families for Justice as Healing and The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. I would like your administration to focus on meaningful decarceration first before construction–including using your clemency powers and addressing the fact that DOC is refusing to release very sick and elderly women on medical parole. Massachusetts could be a model for the rest of the country by maximizing pathways to release and expanding alternatives to incarceration.