Amendment #670 to H4400

Creation of a Classification Commission

Mr. Vargas of Haverhill moves to amend the bill by adding the following section:

“SECTION X. Not withstanding any general or special law to the contrary, there shall be a Classification Commission created to review and report on the classification policies and practices in the department of correction.  The Commission shall consist of the secretary of the executive office of public safety and security or a designee; the commissioner of the department of correction or a designee; the deputy commissioner of the department of correction who oversees classification or a designee; and six members 1 of whom shall be the director of the Harvard Law School’s Prisoners’ Legal Assistance Program or a designee, 1 of whom shall be a director of the Northeastern Law School’s Prisoners’ Rights Clinic, 1 of whom shall be the director of Prisoners’ Legal Services or a designee, 1 of whom from a university or a not-for-profit who has demonstrated experience in evidence based best practices regarding classification, 1 of whom is a former prisoner and .

The committee shall gather information regarding classification practices including but not limited to the number of prisoners who, on a date chosen by the committee score 12 or more points on the current classification instrument and where they are housed (maximum, medium, minimum or pre-release facility), the number and housing assignment of prisoners whose have scores of between 6-11 points and where they are housed and prisoners who score 4 or less points and where they are housed; the number of mandatory and discretionary overrides to higher custody and lower custody and the per cent of the total population the overrides comprise; the waiting time to move to lower custody for prisoners whose point-based score indicates they could be housed in a less secure prison. The committee will also compile data on the number of prisoners released from each prison to the community annually and the cost of housing prisoners at each security level.

The committee will issue an annual report to the House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means and the joint Judiciary and Public Safety Committees which will be public.".

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #670 to H4400

Creation of a Classification Commission