MEDIA ADVISORY
Media Contact:
Laura Wareck, [email protected]
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Legal Experts and Community Leaders to Oppose Costly ‘Three Strikes Bill’ that will Cost Taxpayers Millions
Press conference to highlight economic and overcrowding costs associated with ‘Three Strikes’ bill and to urge Mass lawmakers to get smart on crime
What: Harvard Law professor Charles Ogletree, the Reverend Eugene Rivers, former Massachusetts commissioner for the Department of Correction Kathleen Dennehy, Prisoners Legal Services’s executive director Leslie Walker and other community leaders will host a press conference to oppose a costly ‘Three Strikes’ bill that could cost the state’s taxpayers millions. Both the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate have passed versions of the bill that, if enacted, could severely tax the Commonwealth’s criminal justice system, which is already in a state of crisis.
Prisons in Massachusetts are swiftly moving into the ranks of the most overcrowded and expensive in the country. Commonwealth prisons are an average of 143 percent overcapacity, with numbers as high as 330 percent overcapacity at certain facilities. The ‘Three Strikes’ bill will generate a dramatic increase in prison sentences, impose disproportionate punishments and exacerbate the overcrowding crisis, thus costing Massachusetts taxpayers millions. For more information visit www.SmartonCrimeMA.org
Where: MA State House – Gardner Auditorium
When: Tuesday, January 24th 11 a.m.
Who: Confirmed Speakers:
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Kathleen Dennehy, former commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Correction |
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Barbara Dougan, Massachusetts Project Director of Families Against Mandatory Minimums |
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Charles Ogletree, director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School |
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Reverend Eugene Rivers, founder and president of the Ella J. Baker House |
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Carol Rose, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Massachusetts |
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Max Stern, partner and criminal defense lawyer, Stern Shapiro Weissberg & Garin LLP |
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Leslie Walker, executive director, Prisoners Legal Services |
