Massachusetts § 39D - Restrictive housing; reporting and publication of information relating to prisoners held in restrictive housing

§ 39D. Restrictive housing; reporting and publication of information relating to prisoners held in restrictive housing

Section 39D. (a) The commissioner shall publish monthly and provide directly to the restrictive housing oversight committee the number of prisoners held in each restrictive housing unit within each state and county correctional facility.

(b) The commissioner shall publish a report quarterly and provide directly to the restrictive housing oversight committee, as to each restrictive housing unit within each state correctional facility, and annually, as to each restrictive housing unit within each county correctional facility: (i) the number of prisoners as to whom a finding of serious mental illness has been made and the number of such prisoners held for more than 30 days; (ii) the number of prisoners who have committed suicide or committed non-lethal acts of self-harm; (iii) the number of prisoners according to the reason for their restrictive housing; (iv) as to prisoners in disciplinary restrictive housing, a listing of prisoners with names redacted, including an anonymized identification number that shall be consistent across reports, age, race, gender and ethnicity, whether the prisoner has an open mental health case, the date of the prisoner's commitment to discipline, the length of the prisoner's term and a summary of the reason for the prisoner's commitment; (v) the number of placement reviews conducted pursuant to clause (iv) and (v) of subsection (a) of section 39B and the number of prisoners released from restrictive housing as a result of such placement reviews; (vi) the length of original assignment to and total time served in disciplinary restrictive housing for each prisoner released from disciplinary restrictive housing as a result of a placement review; (vii) the count of prisoners released to the community directly or within 30 days of release from restrictive housing; (viii) the known disabilities of every prisoner who was placed in restrictive housing during the previous 3 months; (ix) the number of mental health professionals who work directly with prisoners in restrictive housing; (x) the number of transfers to outside hospitals directly from restrictive housing; and (xi) such additional information as the commissioner may determine.

The information shall be published in a commonly available electronic, machine readable format.

(c) The administrators of county correctional facilities shall furnish to the commissioner all information that the commissioner deems necessary to support reporting pursuant to this section.