No New Prisons

To the Editors of The Crimson:

In response to your March 9 article on Phillips Brooks House opposition to Commissioner of Corrections Hall's prisons contruction bill:

Our daily work with prisoners and their families has shown us the tragic and irreversible effect the present prisons system has had on the prisoners' personal lives and on their abilities to adapt constructively to our larger society. In the light of the chronic misery that his system propagates, Commissioner Hall's argument for immediate prisons construction is an abominable shame. Recently disclosed Mass. Bar Statistics reveal that Hall's much-publicized "severe overcrowding" at MCI is due largely to his own system of prisoner classification. The prisoners he has crowded together there are new, young inmates, for whom the proposed construction is not even intended. Even within the deceptive immediacy of Commissioner Hall's own argument, the construction of four new lock-ups, whose five-year cost to the Commonwealth would range from $60-$80 million, cannot be substantiated.

Mass Camp's bill #2558 would call for a temporary moratorium on prisons construction, and the formation of a citizens' non-vested-interest group of lawyers, doctors, sociologists and criminologists to make a through inspection of the system as it stands. The bill would give the crucial time and data we need for finding the most optimal organization, location, and construction of community-based rehabilitation centers. Charles W. Haynes '77   Chairman, PBH Prisons Committee