Building Up People Not Prisons.

The Building Up People Not Prisons Coalition is led by Families for Justice as Healing. Our coalition represents incarcerated people, formerly incarcerated people, women, and our families from the most incarcerated neighborhoods in Massachusetts, and allies from across the Commonwealth. We oppose all new construction of jails and prisons. We oppose any increase in spending on incarceration. We are organizing to implement decarceration police, the Department of Corrections, and the Sheriff’s Department. Instead, shift the resources into Black and Brown communities.  We are united in our demand, that Governor Baker grant clemency and release as many

Massachusetts has one of the lowest rates of incarcerating women in the country. 

Despite having one of the lowest incarceration rates for women in the country, we spend much more than states with much higher incarceration rates.

Our numbers are so low that with sound decarceration policy and strategic investments in what women and families need, we can end the incarceration of women and girls in Massachusetts.