Free Phone Calls for Incarcerated Individuals = Family Connection
by Donna Winant Many families have paid out great amounts of money for phone calls to keep in touch with incarcerated loved ones. This can cause financial hardships for many struggling to keep afloat. If families have to limit calls due to finances, they cannot receive assurance that their loved one is surviving their incarceration. This…
Disability Law Center Finds Continuing Systemic Rights Violations and Health and Safety Risks at Bridgewater State Hospital
Boston, MA – The Disability Law Center (DLC) has issued our January 2023 public report summarizing findings and recommendations arising out of intensive monitoring efforts at Bridgewater State Hospital (BSH) from July 2022 through December 2022. The report examines both continuing and new concerns discovered during this reporting period related to facility conditions and BSH policies…
NAMI Board Member and Family Advocate Adds His Voice at Judiciary Oversight Committee
Introduction My name is Tom Kavanaugh. I am a board member of my local NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) chapter, the facilitator of the Bridgewater State Hospital Families Group, and the father of a son with mental illness who is currently being held at the hospital. About the Patients If I may, I’d like…
Bridgewater State Hospital Must be Placed Under the Dept. of Mental Health – Not the Dept. of Correction
Representative Michael Day, who moderated the Massachusetts Joint Committee on the Judiciary oversight hearings on December 21 stated in the February 2022 issue of Commonwealth Magazine that the then recent Disability Law Center (DLC) report was “deeply disturbing.” Based on the January 2022 and July 2022 DLC reports, a barrage of damning news articles, meetings between the Criminal Justice…
A Lack of Chaplain Services at Bridgewater State Hospital
By Donna Winant For the past seven months there was no chaplain at Bridgewater State Hospital (BSH). Before that, there was a short-term chaplain. And previous to that, for months and months, there was no chaplain. Family members pushed and pushed and gave suggestions for temporary solutions. This was ignored until advocate voices became louder…
Reflections on Incarceration and Release
By M. I spent the last six and half years incarcerated. The first two years were spent at Bridgewater State Hospital (BSH). The later years at a county house of corrections. I always felt like I was living someone else’s life, that I was in this nightmare and I could not wake up. At first…
Bridgewater State Hospital in Hot Water Regarding Oversight
Advocates and families clash with pro-status quo government forces to transfer the hospital out of the hands of the Department of Corrections by Summer Maxwell – Repost from Student Dispatch Boston – Stories Around Boston – Nov. 2, 2022 *Editor’s note: This piece was written prior to the Massachusetts Elections. FFIMI hopes for positive action…
staying grounded…in the noise
Reflections after first 6 months in prison – by Ben W. I feel just a real sense of security, maybe, like a strength of self and of purpose, when I reconnect with and talk to my friends from before prison. I always forget this, though. It’s like, in this land of insanity, they can remind…
Another point of view – In response to tragic attack on Corrections Officer
By Laura Walsh, FFIMI Member Massachusetts prison weight rooms temporarily closed, advocates push for change after correction officer attacked This story of the brutal attack on Office Matt Tidman is truly heartbreaking and grievous. AND, I am here to share that there is a whole other side of the story of “inmates and having weights…
Worcester County Jail programming seeks to break cycle of generational incarceration
Spectrum News 1, by Sloane Perron, Worcester County, 8/12/22 WEST BOYLSTON, Mass. – When Marcel Santos-Padgett first came to the Worcester County Jail & House of Corrections in April, he was addicted to marijuana and alcohol. Realizing that he wanted to change his ways for both himself and for his family, Santos-Padgett voluntarily signed up…
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Family and Friends of Individuals with Mental Illness 