Email this page

Criminal Justice Program

The Criminal Justice Program of the New England Regional Office (NERO) was founded after the Attica (NY) Prison outbreak in 1971, in response to requests for assistance from prisoners at Walpole (MA) State Prison. The program's fundamental goals are:

(1) to organize a broad alliance to challenge human rights abuses and improve programs and service provision in the prisons;

(2) to educate the public, the media, the legislature, and those involved in the administration of justice to the financial, human, and social costs of the present punitive system;

(3) to promote alternative to incarceration; and

(4) to support prisoner initiatives to effect institutional and personal change; to assist them in communicating with the public regarding the realities of prison life; and to demonstrate to them that there are people who care about their treatment.

This year the program will

(a) work to increase the involvement of communities of color;

(b) expand its work with women, both prisoners and visitors;

(c) continue to improve its ability to respond to requests for help for prisoners and their families;

(d) develop and maintain contacts with policymakers, providing information ad testimony from program staff, prisoners, and their families;

(e) strengthen contacts with organizations in the region that are working on related issues; and

(f) continue to collaborate with the AFSC National Office and other regional offices engaged in criminal justice work.

Network and coalition memberships:

• Civil Liberties Union of MA
• National Campaign to Stop Control Unit Prisons (1997)
• W. MA Prison Issues Group
• Coalition of Prisoner Families and Friends
• MA Families Against Mandatory Minimums
• Prison Advocacy Coalition

^ Top of page