News
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“As of 2022, the latest year with available data, people 55 and over made up nearly 1 in 6 prisoners — a fourfold increase since 2000 — and their numbers are projected to keep rising.” America’s aging prison population is posing challenges for states, Amanda Hernández, Stateline, September 29, 2025. See also.
As Elections Near, Prisoners and Advocates Push for Voting Rights Behind Bars, Paul Singer, GBH, Sept. 5, 2025.
Prisoner-run Survey Suggests State-paid Attorneys Provided Inadequate Defense, Paul Singer, GBH News, August 6, 2025.
Case Dismissals Likely As Bar Advocate Pay Negotiations At Standstill, Brian Zayatz, The Shoestring: Independent News for Western Mass, July 26, 2025.
Lois Ahrens, Founder and Director of the Real Cost of Prisons Project, discusses the Governor’s $360 million project for the Framingham prison for women on WHMP radio on August 4, 2025,. See also, Ahern’s article: Healey’s secretive $360 million to ‘re-imagine’ Framingham prison for women in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, July 23, 2025.
Edward Wright has been freed from prison. The New England Innocence Project announced that on July 31, 2025, its client, Edward Wright, has been freed from prison after being wrongfully incarcerated for more than 41 years for a Springfield murder he did not commit. This decision was based on findings of police and prosecutorial misconduct; however Edward Wright’s fight for exonoration is not yet over, as the Commonwealth may still decide to retry the case.
The Battle Over the Newest Member of the Massachusetts Parole Board, Jean Trounstine, HorizonMass, July 31, 2025.
More Freedom, Less Violence: Some States Look to European Prisons, Shaila Dewan, New York Times, July 26, 2025.
Case dismissals likely as bar advocate pay negotiations at standstill, Brian Zayatz, The Shoestring, July 25, 2025.
Free Calls in Massachusetts Lead to Defunded Prison Programs, Prison Legal News, July, 2025, page 10.
Joint Committee on the Judiciary, Hearing #6: Sex Offenses and Domestic Violence, Chaired by Chairwoman Edwards, Hearing Details, June 17, 2025. Cynthia Goldberg, Community Organizer for CELWOP, testified at this hearing.
Joint Committee on the Judiciary, Criminal and Court Procedure Hearing Details, June 3, 2025. Testimony was heard on an Act to end Mass Incarceration H2052 S1178. See, for example: testimony from Prisoners’ Legal Services, League of Women Voters of MA, and Lois Ahrens, Director of the Real Cost of Prisons Project. (Note that Massachusetts has the highest percentage of people serving life without the possibility of parole in the United States.)
Edward Wright’s 1985 Springfield murder conviction has been overturned based on official misconduct, Including withheld evidence and false testimony. Read the decision. Read more about the case. See the video of the press conference held by the New England Innocence Project for more details and for the next steps to secure Mr. Wright’s release from prison.
WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
A Boston man spent decades behind bars for a murder he didn't commit; now he's helping others. WBZ/CBS Boston, February 27, 2025.
After having served almost 41 years of life without parole, all charges were dismissed against James Watson in 2020. Three years earlier, after serving 38 years, Watson’s co-defendant Frederick Clay was exonerated as well.
Will The Massachusetts Governor Help The Overburdened Parole Board?, Jean Trounstine, HorizonMass, March 5, 2025.
A Second Chance: A Federal Judge Decides Who Deserves It, Judge Frederic Block, The New Press, 2024. A sitting federal judge makes the case for revisiting overly punitive sentences.
