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maura healey
Stop Gov. Healey’s $360 Million Prison Plan
Local organizations are imploring the Massachusetts governor to “truly invest in building up people, not prisons, and improve safety and well-being for all of us.”
Aug 07, 2025
On the last day of June, the Healey-Driscoll administration shocked community leaders, stakeholders, and residents across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with their announcement of their $360 million proposal to build upon the MCI-Framingham prison site. This came as a surprise to many politicians and constituents alike, as the administration had been nearly radio silent about any developments concerning the MCI-Framingham project since November 2024.
The Healey-Driscoll administration has failed to be transparent with Massachusetts constituents regarding this plan. Information requests made by constituents and organizations about the status of this plan were ignored. This is especially concerning given the fact that many of these inquirers have been deeply involved in the Free Her Campaign—a movement and policy platform focused on criminal justice reform in the state.
Organizations such as Families for Justice as Healing and the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls (the National Council) have been leaders of this campaign since its inception and argue that this proposal only takes away from legitimate efforts that prevent incarceration. In their statement addressing the governor’s proposal, the organizations implored the Gov. Maura Healey to “truly invest in building up people, not prisons, and improve safety and well-being for all of us.”
Talks of designing a new women’s prison at the MCI-Framingham site have been going on since 2019, with the original price tag being around $50 million dollars. However, with a new cost that is nearly eight times more expensive than before, communities and organizations around the state are rallying together to fight against this proposal.
As opponents of warfare and violence, we must understand how the very institutions that perpetuate war abroad on behalf of the United States also wage war against her citizens at home.
Although there has been significant pushback against new prisons in the state, the Healey-Driscoll administration has spun the construction of a renovated MCI-Framingham site as innovative given that it will be “trauma-informed” and able to provide mental health resources to its inhabitants. Opponents of prison expansion including currently and formerly incarcerated individuals argue that there is no such thing as “trauma-informed” prisons, and they only further the cycle of trauma and abuse that led a majority of the women in MCI-Framingham to incarceration in the first place. They argue that what many of the women need is clemency, and to be brought home to gain access to the medical and mental health resources that they need to survive.
The architect of the proposal is HDR—an architecture and engineering consultancy firm that has helped build over 275 prisons and jails in the U.S. and was the architect in designing previous Massachusetts projects such as the Middleton House of Correction.
HDR is a large military defense contractor for the U.S., and has received over $2.02 billion to date for its special services in military infrastructure design. In exchange for a Department of Defense contract worth over $360,000, HDR helped design a shooting range under the project name “NEGBA FIRING RANGE.” Given the title, this shooting range was either in or near Israel’s Negba settlement. Located in the Naqab desert, the Negba settlement is only one piece in Israel’s greater effort to expand military infrastructure in the very desert which many Palestinian Bedouins call home. These communities suffer the environmental and material consequences for Israel’s militarization of the region.
As opponents of warfare and violence, we must understand how the very institutions that perpetuate war abroad on behalf of the United States also wage war against her citizens at home. Although seemingly separate, U.S. foreign policy and the internal carceral system are inherently tied together by consulting firms such as HDR, which carry out the will of the state at the expense of U.S. citizens in both civil and economic terms.
With this understanding, women affected by the proliferation of these policies continue to push back. On May 13, incarcerated women from MCI-Framingham delivered powerful testimony in favor of The Jail and Prison Construction Moratorium, an act that imposes a five-year pause on any new prison or jail construction in the Commonwealth. This is just one of four bills currently in the state legislature supported by Massachusetts Peace Action and the Free Her Campaign alike.
In the upcoming weeks and months, the National Council and Families for Justice As Healing will be holding several events such as phone banking sessions and canvassing events to further inform Massachusetts residents of this proposal, and demonstrate public support against it.
To get involved in the campaign and learn more about the supported bills, visit the National Council’s website for more information around actions you can take to stop Healey’s plan.
This piece was originally published on the Massachusetts Peace Action website.
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Federal Judge Orders Release of Massachusetts Teen in ICE Detention
"It's not OK that students across the state are fearful of going to school or sports practice, and that parents have to question whether their children will come home at the end of the day," said Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey.
Jun 05, 2025
After staging a school walkout and paying tribute to their detained classmate earlier this week, high school students gathered in Chelmsford, Massachusetts on Thursday to demand the release of Marcelo Gomes da Silva from an immigration detention facility—and were overjoyed when they learned a judge had ordered the 18-year-old to be released on bond.
Community members chanted Gomes da Silva's name after learning he would be released.
They also displayed signed reading, "ICE Out of Schools," referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that detained Gomes da Silva earlier this week.
Gomes da Silva's hometown of Milford erupted in fury at the news of his arrest, which occurred when he was stopped on his way to volleyball practice. Authorities have said they were looking for Gomes da Silva's father, who owns the car the student was driving and who Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin claimed "has a habit of reckless driving."
The student's team dedicated a match to Gomes da Silva on Tuesday night, and supporters wore white to the game to honor him.
Gomes da Silva appeared via video at the immigration court on Thursday from an ICE facility in nearby Burlington.
"If you're detained here at the Burlington ICE facility, you do not see the light of day," his attorney, Robin Nice, said at the hearing. "You don't know what time it is. There's no TV. He asked for a Bible. He was not given a Bible. It is complete isolation."
Nice said the 18-year-old has been sleeping on a cement floor since being taken to the facility.
Gomes da Silva has been in the U.S. since he was 7 years old, having entered the country from his home country of Brazil on a visitor visa. He was later issued a student visa that has since lapsed, his lawyer told reporters.
The government sought permission from a federal judge on Wednesday to move Gomes da Silva to an out-of-state detention facility, which the judge rejected.
Gomes da Silva's immigration case is proceeding following his release on $2,000 bail.
The immigration judge set "a placeholder hearing date for a couple of weeks from Thursday," The Associated Press reported.
"We're optimistic that he'll have a future in the United States," said Nice.
Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey expressed relief at the news that Gomes da Silva was being released.
"Marcelo never should have been arrested or detained, and it certainly did not make us safer," said Healey. "It's not OK that students across the state are fearful of going to school or sports practice, and that parents have to question whether their children will come home at the end of the day. In Massachusetts, we are going to keep speaking out for what's right and supporting one another in our communities."
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Fury in Massachusetts Town After ICE Arrest of High School Student
"Putting high school students in shackles does not make anyone safer."
Jun 02, 2025
The arrest of 18-year-old Marcelo Gomes Da Silva by federal immigration agents sparked outrage in the town of Milford, Massachusetts over the weekend, with community members rallying on Sunday to demand the high school student's immediate release after he was detained while on his way to volleyball practice.
Gomes was born in Brazil but has been in the U.S. since he was 6 years old and has two younger siblings, both of whom are American citizens. According to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement database, Gomes is being held in a Burlington, Massachusetts detention facility.
His arrest cast a dark shadow over Milford High School's commencement ceremony on Sunday, with principal Joshua Otlin saying during his address, "We cannot and will not pretend that all is well at Milford High School this morning."
"It is not," he added.
The Boston Globe reported that shortly before noon on Sunday, "demonstrators—from parents with young children to retired teachers—began to gather in front of Milford Town Hall."
"Many were Milford residents, outraged that a teenager who'd grown up in their town had been detained," the Globe reported. "Others were supporters and advocates from surrounding communities. Teachers, administrators, and athletic staff from Milford schools joined the rally. Soon, rows of demonstrators stretched for a block on both sides of the street adjacent to Town Hall. Shortly before 1 pm, the numbers swelled as students, some still donning their scarlet red graduation robes, descended upon Town Hall from commencement."
Democratic State Rep. Becca Rausch, one of the lawmakers who attended Sunday's rally, ripped ICE's conduct and said that "putting high school students in shackles does not make anyone safer."
"The Trump administration continues to create fear in our communities, and it's making us all less safe."
The arrest came amid a recent flurry of ICE arrests in Massachusetts and across the country. On Monday, U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) is set to convene a press conference and roundtable to discuss "an uptick in ICE activity across the Massachusetts 7th Congressional District and the Commonwealth, including a series of harrowing incidents in East Boston, Chelsea, Everett, and other predominantly immigrant communities."
In a statement Sunday, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said she was "disturbed and outraged by reports that a Milford High School student was arrested by ICE on his way to volleyball practice yesterday."
"Yet again, local officials and law enforcement have been left in the dark with no heads up and no answers to their questions. I'm demanding that ICE provide immediate information about why he was arrested, where he is, and how his due process is being protected," said Healey. "My heart goes out to the Milford community on what was supposed to be a celebratory graduation day. The Trump administration continues to create fear in our communities, and it's making us all less safe."
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