Minutes from 2/14/20 Meeting

Special Commission on Correctional Funding
State House, Room 428
Boston, MA 02133
February 14, 2020, 11am

Meeting Minutes

Commissioners Present:
Thomas Preston
Ben Forman
Emi Joy
Michael Day, State Representative, Co-Chair
Mike Ashe, Hampden County Sheriff (ret.)
Mike Widmer
Francesca Spina
Christina Crowley
James Morton
Edward Dolan
Kevin Keefe
Gerard Horgan
Tom Hodgson, Bristol County Sheriff
Kevin Coppinger, Essex County Sheriff
Will Brownsberger, State Senator, Co-Chair

Commissioners Absent:
Kate Cook
Timothy Whelan, State Representative (for beginning of meeting)
Gerard Horgan
Ryan Fattman, State Senator

State Representative Michael Day was introduced as the new Co-Chair of the Commission.

 The Commissioners voted to approve the minutes from January 10, 2020 and January 24, 2020.

Senator Brownsberger provided an update on the status of the RFP, which was in draft form but still required further legal review.

Stephen Amos and Mike Jackson of the National Institute of Corrections’ Jails Division provided an overview of NIC operations.

The Commission discussed how to proceed, given that NIC advised that staffing analysis was more complicated than the current statement of work allowed.

The Commission decided, at Sheriff Hodgson’s suggestion, that Bristol County could be the subject of a prototype staffing analysis by NIC  that would inform the commission’s further work. Sheriff Coppinger also offered his facilities as a subject for study.

NIC said they could provide a statement of work that could get someone on the ground in 6-8 weeks to do this work.

The Commission decided to meet again on March 6th at 11am.