prison Archives

ON THE WAY HOME

A New Beginning For Formerly Incarcerated Women “Stepping into this house made me feel better … She has a way of transforming pain into passion.” When Stacey Borden exited MCI-Framingham for the final time in 2010, she was done with more than three decades of jail stints and drug use

JEAN TROUNSTINE January 11, 2023

STILL WAITING

Tainted Drug Evidence Victims Still Waiting For Settlement Payments “We’ve got a system in place where it’s just, grab this money from mostly poor people, but don’t have mechanisms in place to really account for what’s taken.” It may be a new year, but tens of thousands of individuals wrongfully

ZACK HUFFMAN January 9, 2023

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: CHERYL AMIRAULT LEFAVE

“Everything that I came across for 40 years has been a battle.” It seemed that last week a decades-old controversial case was headed for a pardon vote. Outgoing Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker had recommended a pardon for Cheryl Amirault LeFave and her brother, Gerald, in the well-known and highly disputed

JEAN TROUNSTINE December 22, 2022

“POLARIZING FORCE”

Governor’s Council weighs controversial Parole Board renomination “You have an unbelievable amount of people who are against you.” Governor’s Councilor Christopher Iannella, a personal injury attorney, was grilling Massachusetts Parole Board member Colette Santa on August 3. Santa, first nominated by Gov. Charlie Baker for the board in 2017, is

JEAN TROUNSTINE August 8, 2022

HIGH DRAMA

Unruly, argumentative Governor’s Council inflames Parole Board Hearings There was high drama on display again at a Massachusetts Governor’s Council meeting at the State House last week. During two nomination hearings on June 15, councilors argued with each other, used their podiums to air their pet peeves, and insulted and

JEAN TROUNSTINE June 20, 2022

PHONE CHECK

Mass is still gouging the families of prisoners on phone fees. Will lawmakers finally change that? For the past 10 years, Beverly Ross has spent hundreds of dollars a month on a middle-school teacher’s salary to ensure that her son knows his father, who is incarcerated in a Massachusetts

ASHLEY PETTUS April 11, 2022

DAY-LONG HEARING ON CORRECTIONS SEES PLEAS FOR FREE CALLS AND AN END TO LIFE W/OUT PAROLE

150-plus Advocates testify about “broken” Mass criminal legal system

JEAN TROUNSTINE October 7, 2021

SPECIAL FEATURE: A YEAR OF DISASTER AT OLD COLONY

“People call saying, “I just can’t bear it.” “The walls are closing in on me; I can’t talk to my family; I’ve lost it.”

JEAN TROUNSTINE May 3, 2021

SPECIAL FEATURE: THE COMMITMENTS

Some who are civilly committed for addiction in Mass face abusive prison conditions. Still, some families say it’s better than the alternative

DAKOTA ANTELMAN February 11, 2021

REVOCATION NATION: REINCARCERATION FOR TECHNICAL PAROLE VIOLATIONS IN THE AGE OF COVID-19

Jonathan Best had been out of prison for two years when he ended a rocky relationship with his girlfriend. Like many men and women on parole—a form of early release, in which the remainder of one’s sentence is served in the community—he suffered from depression and anxiety. At the

JEAN TROUNSTINE September 15, 2020