Massachusetts is fighting hard to build a new women's prison and time is running out to oppose them. Community responses let by Families for Justice as Healing (FJAH) have stopped two attempts to build this prison in the past two years, and we're in the middle of fighting a third attempt. We believe in our power to stop this prison, but it's time for a longer-term solution for the whole of Massachusetts. That's S.2030/H.1905 - An Act establishing a jail and prison construction moratorium.

By signing on to this letter you'll send a message to your legislators that the era of mass incarceration is coming to a close. This bill would stop many carceral projects in Massachusetts, including

• a new women's prison at an estimated cost of up to $50 million
• a regional lock-up or "keep safe" in Suffolk County for recently-arrested people
• two frequently-introduced plans: a new jail/House of Correction on Martha's Vineyard, where only 10 people are incarcerated, and a Middlesex County House of Correction "justice complex"

We believe that there are better ways to spend tens of millions of dollars than new cages for our children and grandchildren. We believe there are better ways to spend the $162,000 it costs the state to incarcerate a single woman in Framingham every year. We believe in investments in the most directly-impacted communities to address and prevent the poverty, substance use, and intimate partner violence that often precipitates or causes an arrest. And we believe we need people power to do it.

Please sign and share.

About the organizers:
Families for Justice as Healing and the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls are fighting to end the incarceration of women and girls. FJAH and the National Council focus explicitly about women and girls because when they do not, people exclude incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women, 80% of whom are mothers, from the conversation and focus on the very different needs of men. Visit our links to learn more about the incarceration of women in Massachusetts.

These amazing orgs are founded and lead by Black women in Boston/Massachusetts who are currently and formerly-incarcerated or directly-affected by incarceration. People Not Prisons is a coalition that supports their work.