Prisoners' Legal Services (Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services)

This project provides rapid prison visits by PLS attorneys or paralegals to calls and letters alerting the office to instances of staff-on-prisoner violence. Generally visits are made within 72 hours of receipt of the report of the incident. The responding staff member brings a camera to document visible injuries. The project is limited to the highest security prisons: Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, the segregation and disciplinary detention units at MCI-Cedar Junction at Walpole, and MCI-Framingham, Massachusetts' women's prison. The project is modeled on human rights violation documentation initiatives in other nations, especially in Latin America. The reports generated by these visits have several uses, such as providing a basis for evaluating incidents for litigation and providing background information on the "climate" in the state's highest security units.

PLS matches its staff attorneys and paralegals with specific prisons and jails. Advocacy staff develop contacts with prisoners in those institutions and visit them regularly to assess problems of special concern in each location and the general "climate" in those facilities. Liaison visits provide valuable background for both non-litigation advocacy and assessment of issues for possible litigation.