Bill > H3422

This bill establishes a comprehensive moratorium on jail and prison construction in Massachusetts, preventing state and public agencies from engaging in several key activities related to correctional facilities. Specifically, the bill prohibits agencies from studying, planning, designing, acquiring, leasing, or constructing new correctional facilities or detention centers; expanding the capacity of existing facilities beyond their current design; converting existing facilities for detention purposes; or renovating facilities in ways that could increase bed capacity. The bill does allow for routine maintenance and improvements that ensure compliance with building, health, and fire codes, and that improve living conditions for incarcerated people, such as upgrading plumbing, heating systems, and programming spaces. The legislation includes a narrow exception for county sheriffs, who may transfer up to 30 beds from a closed facility to another correctional facility within the same county. The bill is designed as an emergency measure, with the stated purpose of immediately halting prison and jail expansion, and includes provisions for its own eventual repeal after five years. The legislation aims to address issues of mass incarceration and prison infrastructure by creating a temporary pause on correctional facility development and expansion.

Government Affairs

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/194/H3422