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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts

@plsma.bsky.social
362 followers 248 following 373 posts

Prisoners' Legal Services promotes the safe, humane and lawful treatment of Massachusetts prisoners through litigation, advocacy, and outreach.

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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 13h
www.masslive.com/news/2026/10...
masslive.com
Another death in a Massachusetts prison BAU raises fresh questions about mental health reforms
If the death is officially ruled a suicide, it will be the fourth suicide in a BAU since April 2025 and the third specifically in the MCI-Norfolk BAU.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 13h
People in BAUs can be held in their cells for up to 21 hours a day. An independent audit found that 3 of the 6 people who died by suicide in DOC custody in 2025 died in BAUs. PLS is co-counsel in a class-action lawsuit challenging conditions in these units.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 13h
On Monday, another person appears to have died by suicide in a Massachusetts DOC Behavioral Assessment Unit (BAU). Emil Encarnacion, 29, would be the fourth person to die by suicide in a BAU since April 2025.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Shacoby Kenny's death at South Bay was ruled a homicide in July. No one has been charged & officers involved still work there. New reporting from BINJ documents what witnesses saw: binj.news/2026/10/05/s...
binj.news
South Bay Guards Killed Shacoby Kenny Last December. Why Are They Still Working?
Ten months after Shacoby Kenny’s death was ruled a homicide, state officials claim they cannot force Suffolk County’s sheriff to suspend the guards involved. An investigation into institutional inacti...
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
As we celebrate #ProBonoMonth, we want to recognize the contributions of @hoganlovells.bsky.social and Hemenway & Barnes. We're honored to work alongside attorneys who demonstrate the transformative impact of pro bono advocacy. Learn more about pro bono opportunities at plasma.org/get-involved
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Right now, incarcerated elders across MA are facing terminal illness, dementia, and end-of-life care behind bars, and they need advocates who know how to fight for their release. Join the medical parole team at PLS for a training to learn more: bostonbar.my.site.com/LightningMem...
bostonbar.my.site.com
Lightning Member Portal
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
CW: suicide. MA DOC says it no longer uses solitary confinemet. Its Behavioral Assessment Units hold people up to 21 hours a day, 1 hour under the legal definition. Zahkuan Bailey-Sweeting was 25 when he died by suicide in one due to a systemic cascade of failures. www.masslive.com/news/2026/09...
masslive.com
The last hours in Cell 24: How a young man’s suicide unfolded in a Mass. max-security prison
Newly obtained records, photos and eyewitness accounts raise questions about ignored pleas for mental health care before Zahkuan Bailey-Sweeting died at Souza-Baranowski.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
States keep responding to documented abuse in women's prisons by building new ones and calling them trauma-informed. Truthout looks at three, including the $360M project at MCI-Framingham. PLS opposes it. A new building doesn't change how staff treat the people inside. truthout.org/articles/inc...
truthout.org
Incarcerated Women Are Pushing for Decarceration, Not “Trauma-Informed” Prisons
Organizers discuss how they are fighting new women’s prisons in Vermont, Massachusetts, and Illinois.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
As many as 11 officers were involved in the homicide of Shacoby Kenny at the Suffolk County House of Correction. Nine months later, not one has been suspended. The Springfield Republican's editorial board says they should be on leave. So do we. www.masslive.com/opinion/2026...
masslive.com
Correctional officers, like police, must be put on leave if inmates die at their hands | The Republican Editorials
The Suffolk County sheriff did not follow that standard after 11 correctional officers were involved in the homicide of a Springfield man.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
We're hiring an attorney! Join the team at Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts and help advance justice for incarcerated people across the Commonwealth. Learn more and apply: plsma.org/hiring
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
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Officers tied to Shacoby Kenny death still working with prisoners at Boston jail, advocates say
Since Kenny’s death, his mother and other political leaders have called for the officers involved to be suspended while the investigation is pending.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
In an open letter to the SCSD administration, we outlined these issues and made several recommendations, including immediate suspension of the officers involved in Kenny's death, pending the outcome of external probes.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Certain officers' names appear repeatedly in allegations of misconduct and excessive force. Some of these officers were involved in Mr. Kenny's death and continued working in posts that put them in contact with incarcerated people.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Following the homicide of Shacoby Kenny in December 2025, PLS's Brutality Team began an investigation of SCSD's House of Correction. We found a culture of violence and impunity for staff that goes beyond any one incident or type of force.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Chokeholds, kneeling on necks, and handcuffs used as weapons are all prohibited by the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department (SCSD), but people held at its House of Correction describe staff using them without consequence.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Members of the Barnstable County Correctional Officers Union recently took a unanimous vote of no confidence in Sheriff Buckley, citing “deteriorating facility conditions, unsafe working conditions, and a hostile work environment under new Superintendent Ned McCormick.” www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...
wgbh.org
Barnstable sheriff, employees at odds over spending, time-off policy
Sheriff Donna Buckley's correctional officers union voted no confidence, citing unsafe conditions and a hostile workplace under a new superintendent. Buckley says the union is upset over new accountab...
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Reposted by Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts
Andrew Quemere @andrewqmr.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
NEW: After a judge overturned his murder convictions due to new scientific evidence, James Carver just wants to live a normal life. But prosecutors are fighting to put him back in prison. #Massachusetts #mapoli
massdump.ghost.io
James Carver just wants to live a normal life. Prosecutors want to put him back in prison.
A judge overturned his murder convictions due to new scientific evidence—but prosecutors say the ruling should be reversed
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Reposted by Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts
CourtWatchMA @courtwatchma.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
More press on the disturbing and urgent letter by @plsma.bsky.social documenting ongoing violence, including by officers involved in Shacoby's killing, by Sheriff's Department staff at South Bay. #bospoli #mapoli Read the open letter: plsma.org/suffolk-coun... www.boston.com/news/local-n...
boston.com
Legal advocacy group alleges pattern of force at South Bay after inmate’s death ruled homicide
The investigation also found that officers involved in the Shacoby Kenny's death continued working in contact positions.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Last night, PLS' Jim Pingeon was presented with Disability Law Center's Individual Impact Leadership Award. Jim has spent decades litigating significant cases involving solitary confinement, disability discrimination, conditions of confinement, and other difficult issues faced by people in custody.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The Sheriff's Department said the officers involved in Shacoby Kenny's death were moved away from incarcerated people. Our investigation found otherwise
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Legal advocacy group alleges pattern of force at South Bay after inmate’s death ruled homicide
The investigation also found that officers involved in the Shacoby Kenny's death continued working in contact positions.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Have you been incarcerated pre-trial because you could not afford bail? You may be eligible to participate in this research study. See the poster to learn more. PLS is not affiliated with this study.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
More than five decades later, Attica's demands remain urgent. Who is protected by the law? What happens when the state criminalizes poverty and dissent, then uses prisons to make people disappear?
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
PLS was founded in 1972, out of the prisoners' rights movement of the 1960s and the civil rights organizing that gave rise to it. Our existence is downstream of collective resistance by incarcerated people, and that should shape how we advocate.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
That current reached MA. In 1972, men at MCI-Walpole organized themselves into a labor union. When the guards walked out the following March, the union ran the prison for 12 weeks. Walpole had one of the highest murder rates of any prison in the country. During those twelve weeks, nobody was killed.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Prisons are designed to isolate and neutralize movements for social change. At Attica, incarcerated organizers turned one into a place of study, solidarity, and resistance, connecting their immediate conditions to broader struggles against racism, colonialism, war, and economic exploitation.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Four days later, the state retook the prison by force. Thirty-nine people were killed in the assault, hostages and incarcerated men alike, shot by state forces. No one was ever held accountable.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
On 9/9/71, incarcerated people at Attica rose up against brutal conditions, racial discrimination, political repression, inadequate medical care, & the denial of basic legal and human rights. They organized, elected representatives, drafted demands, and called for dignity, justice, & accountability.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
www.masslive.com/boston/2026/...
masslive.com
Officers tied to Shacoby Kenny death still working with prisoners at Boston jail, advocates say
Since Kenny’s death, his mother and other political leaders have called for the officers involved to be suspended while the investigation is pending.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
"It is unconscionable that officers currently being investigated for their involvement in the homicide of an incarcerated person continue to directly interact with incarcerated people, including on teams that regularly use force against as part of their official duties." - PLS' Dave Rini
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
We're calling for, among other measures, the officers involved to be suspended amid investigation, improved de-escalation strategies, and retraining on chokehold and kneeling policies.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
We found officers connected to Kenny's death still working in posts with direct contact with incarcerated people. We also found a pattern of force at South Bay the dept's own policy doesn't permit: chokeholds, cuffs used as weapons, pain compliance on restrained people.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
In Dec., Shacoby Kenny died after a use-of-force incident at Suffolk County House of Correction. In July, the Medical Examiner ruled it a homicide. This week, PLS shared findings from our investigation that began after his death. 🧵
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Reposted by Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts
CourtWatchMA @courtwatchma.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
What continues to happen day in and day out at South Bay is unconscionable. The continuing use of force by officers involved in a killing! The regular irregular brutality. #mapoli Read more about what @plsma.bsky.social has documented via @masslive.bsky.social: www.masslive.com/boston/2026/...
masslive.com
Officers tied to Shacoby Kenny death still working with prisoners at Boston jail, advocates say
Since Kenny’s death, his mother and other political leaders have called for the officers involved to be suspended while the investigation is pending.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
New report from Disability Law Center: Bridgewater State Hospital is a DOC-run prison, not a licensed hospital. MA is the only state letting its DOC run its forensic psychiatric hospital. Issues include ongoing illegal restraint, seclusion & forced medication: www.dlc-ma.org/2026/09/02/d...
dlc-ma.org
Disability Law Center Reiterates Call for Bridgewater State Hospital to Transfer to Department of Mental Health Control  – Disability Law Center
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
6 suicides in custody last year have forced long-overdue changes, including a new digital patient portal. But for-profit contractors are still incentivized to delay and limit care. A better way to submit a request doesn't change what happens after it's submitted. www.masslive.com/news/2026/08...
masslive.com
New health portal for Mass. prisoners is latest reform after deadly year at DOC
The Department of Correction has launched a digital patient portal for prisoners, part of broader reforms following six suicides in 2025.
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Reposted by Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts
Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Bolts reported in February that Massachusetts is only blue state where a state agency has a 287(g) contract with ICE. Massachusetts passed a new law this summer that bans 287g contracts in the state... but the law exempts the one agency anywhere in Massachusetts that actually had such an agency.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
The PROTECT Act bars MA law enforcement from entering new 287(g) agreements with ICE but leaves the one that already exists with the DOC. "People are more willing to ban a hypothetical 287(g) with a hypothetical police department than a real one with the DOC." boltsmag.org/massachusett...
boltsmag.org
Inside ICE’s Only Contract with a Blue State - Bolts
As part of a 287(g) contract between state officials and ICE, Massachusetts continues to release prisoners into deportation—even as state lawmakers look to ban other forms of ICE collaboration.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
In 1991, Dee Farmer handwrote a pro se complaint from a prison cell. 3 years later the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Farmer v. Brennan that officials can be liable for failing to protect people in custody. It's now cited in tens of thousands of cases. www.themarshallproject.org/2025/07/17/f...
themarshallproject.org
In Prison, She Changed Constitutional Law. Meet the Trans Woman Behind the Case.
Farmer v. Brennan is one of the most cited Supreme Court cases of all time. Few people know just how revolutionary Dee Farmer was.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
A judge has ordered the Plymouth County Sheriff to release health records from Massachusetts' only long-term immigration detention facility thanks to a suit by @aclum.bsky.social. Learn more:
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Judge orders Plymouth Co. sheriff to hand ICE detainee records to ACLU - The New Bedford Light
Federal law doesn’t override the state’s public records law, the judge ruled.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
A Harvard University medical student is collecting oral histories about medical care in prisons and jails during the 1970s–90s. If you were incarcerated, a healthcare worker, activist, or legal advocate in that era, they'd like to hear from you. PLS is not affiliated with the project.
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Reposted by Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts
CourtWatchMA @courtwatchma.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Nine months ago today, Shacoby Kenny was killed by corrections officers in Boston's South Bay jail. That's now affirmed by findings of the medical examiner. The Boston City Council now joins us, almost unanimously, to say: suspend the officers! #bospoli www.boston25news.com/news/local/b...
boston25news.com
Boston City Council approves resolution calling on sheriff to adopt new policy after inmate death
Boston City Councilors approved a resolution Wednesday to call on the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department to adopt a new policy that would require officers to be put on paid administrative leave follo...
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Incarcerated people and advocates have struggled for years against solitary confinement but correctional systems often undermine reform with impunity. PLS Attorney Bonnie Tenneriello gives a firsthand account of the fight for change in Boston Review. www.bostonreview.net/articles/pri...
bostonreview.net
Prison Reform’s Shell Game
Hard-won legislation meant to limit or end solitary confinement has run up against the power of correctional systems to neutralize change.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Rolando Figueredo died at 38, a year before his release. His family says he asked for antibiotics for months and got Tylenol, then ear drops. 
masslive.com
He entered prison with a 2-year sentence. His family says medical neglect turned it into a death sentence
The cresting pressure in Figueredo’s head, the family later learned from doctors at UMass Memorial Medical Center, was his brain and spinal cord starting to swell.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
MA caps prison and jail temps at 78 degrees, but only from Sept through June. In summer, there's no limit. We've never heard of a facility being sanctioned for failing to cool the people inside.
newbedfordlight.org
As Massachusetts prisons heat up, lawmakers sit on extreme heat regulations - The New Bedford Light
Inmates and guards at New Bedford’s Ash Street jail swelter in summer heat waves, with no end in sight.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
A state commission found racial disparities in MA prisons — in prison jobs, discipline, and program access. DOC doesn't collect enough data to fix it. We're backing S.1725 to change that.
bostonherald.com
Gaskin: Mass. must tackle racism inside prison system
If we are spending that much money to incarcerate people, we should also be serious about whether the system prepares them to return home successfully.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
A Globe op-ed, written from inside an MA prison, captures the hopelessness of a sentence with no path forward. That despair is what a system produces — and last year it contributed to a wave of suicides.
bostonglobe.com
When a life sentence is a death sentence - The Boston Globe
For those with few prospects of leaving prison, the sense of hopelessness and despair can be overwhelming. I know, because I’m one of them.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
In December, Shacoby Kenny was killed during an altercation with corrections officers at the South Bay House of Correction. This week, the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed that the cause of death was homicide.
bostonglobe.com
Medical examiner rules 2025 South Bay in-custody death a homicide - The Boston Globe
Shacoby Kenny, a 32-year-old with a history of mental health problems, died last year following a fight with corrections staff.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Chris Tansey, a teacher from Harwich, is walking from Provincetown to Plymouth to protest conditions for more than 500 detained immigrants at the Plymouth.
provincetownindependent.org
An 80-Mile Walk to Protest Conditions for Detainees - The Provincetown Independent
PROVINCETOWN — Chris Tansey, a teacher from Harwich, has two aims this summer: starting his new radio show on WOMR and walking from Provincetown to Plymouth to protest conditions for […]
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
For the Marshall Project, Destry McKinney wrote about how the metal mirrors that AL prisons use distort people's faces. When a glass one suddenly appeared, he truly saw himself for the first time in 26 years.
themarshallproject.org
The Magic of Having a Glass Mirror in Prison
The metal mirrors that Alabama prisons use distort our faces. When a glass one suddenly appeared, I truly saw myself for the first time in 26 years.
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Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts @plsma.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Four officers at Souza-Baranowski have been indicted for allegedly assaulting three incarcerated men after a 2024 attack on staff. The DOC says this does not reflect its standards and values. But it keeps happening, and it keeps happening at the same facility. www.masslive.com/centralmass/...
masslive.com
Mass. corrections officers accused of assaulting incarcerated men after attack on colleagues
The officers worked at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, where five of their colleagues were injured in an attack in September 2024.
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