Tainted Drug Evidence Victims Still Waiting For Settlement Payments “We’ve got a system in place where it’s just, grab this money from mostly poor people, but don’t have mechanisms in place to really account for what’s taken.” It may be a new year, but tens of thousands of individuals wrongfully convicted on drug charges in […]
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: CHERYL AMIRAULT LEFAVE
“Everything that I came across for 40 years has been a battle.” It seemed that last week a decades-old controversial case was headed for a pardon vote. Outgoing Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker had recommended a pardon for Cheryl Amirault LeFave and her brother, Gerald, in the well-known and highly disputed Fells Acre Day Care case. […]
“POLARIZING FORCE”
Governor’s Council weighs controversial Parole Board renomination “You have an unbelievable amount of people who are against you.” Governor’s Councilor Christopher Iannella, a personal injury attorney, was grilling Massachusetts Parole Board member Colette Santa on August 3. Santa, first nominated by Gov. Charlie Baker for the board in 2017, is now up for a second […]
HIGH DRAMA
Unruly, argumentative Governor’s Council inflames Parole Board Hearings There was high drama on display again at a Massachusetts Governor’s Council meeting at the State House last week. During two nomination hearings on June 15, councilors argued with each other, used their podiums to air their pet peeves, and insulted and cut off witnesses. Such antics […]
PHONE CHECK
Mass is still gouging the families of prisoners on phone fees. Will lawmakers finally change that? For the past 10 years, Beverly Ross has spent hundreds of dollars a month on a middle-school teacher’s salary to ensure that her son knows his father, who is incarcerated in a Massachusetts prison. “My husband has been […]