About Us

CEPS is a coalition of advocates, program providers, parolees, formerly incarcerated men and women, friends and relatives of prisoners, and human rights activists have joined forces to promote and safeguard the human rights of all people across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and focus on parole, solitary confinement and medical release reform. 

Member Organizations

Solitary Confinement

Solitary confinement in Massachusetts is used too often, and without record. In Massachusetts, there is currently no system to see how many people are in solitary or for what reasons. The United Nations has defined solitary confinement as torture, with seriously dentrimental mental and physical effects. Keeping an incarcerated person in solitary costs three times as much as a regular inmate, and studies have shown that violence actually goes down with significant reductions in solitary confinement. Steps need to be taken to record information on this practice, and to curb the use of it as  much as possible.

Medical Release

Incarcerated people who have serious illnesses are not a threat to society anymore, and can not receive adequate treatment in prison. By holding gravely ill people in prisons, our society is spending unnecessary money while blocking the medical necessities of incarcerated people. 

Parole

Since 2010, there has been a major rollback of parole in Massachusetts. Since then, many board members were replaced with more conservative individuals who had a background in law enforcement. The state prisoner parole rate has dropped from 42% to 26% in 2011 and the county patrol rates have dropped from 40% in 2010 to 28% in 2011. This hurts Massachusetts, as it only costs about $5,000 annually to place someone on parole but $40,000 annually to incarcerate someone. Parole also decreases recidivism rates by easing incarcerated people back into society.