On October 30th, NLG staff gathered in Brookline with sustainers and supporters of our Chapter for our annual fall event. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who was able to join us for an evening of camaraderie, food, drinks, and riveting conversation!
Northeastern University School of Law: “Free Her” Campaign Against New Prison for Women
11/17/2025
On Wednesday, November 5, leaders from the MA FreeHer campaign, led by Families for Justice as Healing and the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, came to speak with NUSL students about their work resisting a 350 million women’s prison project in MA and their concurrent efforts to free women through existing (clemency, parole, diversion) and … Read more>>
UMass Dartmouth: Community Care for SNAP Recipients
11/14/2025
Students at UMass Dartmouth worked to organize an emergency food drive in response to the Trump Administration’s decision to withhold funding for SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) at the beginning of November amidst the government shutdown.
Beginning on November 1st, it was unclear whether Massachusetts would be receiving all, some, or none of the nearly $240 Million/Month that our state needs … Read more>>
New England Law School: “Free Her” Campaign Against New Prison for Women
11/14/2025
New England Law | Boston recently welcomed volunteers from Families for Justice as Healing (FJAH), along with Fulbright Scholar and CORI initiative director Professor David Siegel and Professor Eliot Tracz, Clemency Advisor to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, for a panel discussion on prison abolition and criminal justice reform.
Families for Justice as Healing is a Roxbury-based, statewide organization led by … Read more>>
Muslim Commission
11/14/2025
On Oct. 29, 2025, Mark Stern testified at the State House on behalf of the NLG in support of a bill to create a first-in-the-nation Muslim commission. Mark joined legislators, educators, faith leaders, students, and advocates, all of whom called for stronger representation, protections, and recognition for Massachusetts Muslims.
The bill was previously filed by Sen. Jamie Eldridge and … Read more>>
What Does “Free Tibet” Actually Mean and Should Progressives Be Advocating It?
11/12/2025
Mark Stern
Tibet, known as Xizang, has a long history of being both part of China and semi-autonomous until 1959. For short periods of time it was entirely independent. Until 1959 Tibet was a theocratic state ruled by the Dalai Lamas, with its own unique government, religion, language, laws, and customs. Tibet was a theocratic state ruled by the Dalai … Read more>>
NLG Happy Hour, October 2025
11/12/2025
On October 16th, a number of NLG law students, legal workers, and lawyers gathered together to share appetizers and beverages with old and new fellow Guilders.… Read more>>
Upcoming Panel Events on Opposing a New Women’s Prison & on Ending Mass Incarceration
10/29/2025
NLG-Mass members and allies are invited to attend a series of panel discussions on the proposed building of a new prison for women and on mass incarceration and how to end it.
On Wednesday, November 5, from 11:45am – 1pm, the Northeastern School of Law Chapter of the NLG will host a panel on the new prison for women and the … Read more>>
Mass Defense Committee Report
10/15/2025
Recently, in a major escalation of the local criminalization of dissent, a group of Palestine solidarity marchers were hit with felony charges of inciting a riot/promotion of anarchy. During a march at the beginning of October near the Boston Commons, a group of Boston police officers swarmed a young marcher they suspected of vandalism. This rapid escalated a rally and … Read more>>
Landmark Settlement in Diggs v. Mici: Addressing Systematic Violence at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center
10/15/2025
Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts
In May, Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts (PLS) and co-counsel Hogan Lovells reached a proposed approximately $7 million settlement in Diggs v. Mici, a federal class action lawsuit challenging systematic violence and racial discrimination at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center (SBCC). It is likely that the Court will grant final approval to the settlement in the … Read more>>
Why Massachusetts Must Reject the $360 Million Prison Expansion at MCI-Framingham
10/15/2025
Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts
Governor Maura Healey’s administration recently announced a $360 million plan to renovate MCI-Framingham, framing it as an investment in rehabilitation and correctional innovation. While the stated intentions may sound progressive, this proposal represents a dangerous step backward for criminal justice reform in Massachusetts—and advocates are sounding the alarm.
What Incarcerated Women Actually FacePLS represents … Read more>>
As Time Goes By
10/15/2025
Carlo P. Belloli, MCI-Norfolk
And the days and weeks just fly
I sit in my room and I just cry
But the truth is the truth
And no matter how it seems
I’m lost in loneliness and indigo day dreams.
And it all just seems
So very unreal
Cause no one really knows exactly how I feel
But my hope … Read more>>
Life
10/15/2025
Howard B. Brown, Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center
Life is here to be wisely used,
Not wasted, nor heedlessly abused.
Life is here to be filled with love,
Given freely like the flight of a dove.
Life is here to be filled with joy,
Not discarded like a broken toy.
Life is here to be for helping others,
This we learn from … Read more>>
Synthetic Drugs in Prison
10/15/2025
Stanley Donald, MCI-Norfolk
In prison, you cannot call 911, but you can bang on the cell door until someone hears your cries for help. An inmate has overdosed on synthetic drugs that made him think the devil is chasing him, so he screams, “Help me, somebody help me!” Afraid to get involved, we stand by and watch the inmate swing … Read more>>
The Culture of Punishment Within Massachusetts Department of Correction
10/15/2025
William J. Duclos, MCI-Norfolk
The Norfolk Inmate Council (NIC) has made several appeals to the Department of Correction (DOC) and its administrators without success for a treatment model within the DOC for Substance Use Disorders in relation to K-2 addiction. However, this falls on deaf ears.
When a prisoner self admits their Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and seeks treatment and … Read more>>
House Bill 4125: An Act to Improve Food Safety & Quality In Department of Correction Facilities
10/15/2025
Danny Holland, MCI-Norfolk
The Food Service Policy, 103 DOC 760, requires that Food Service Directors follow dietitian approved menus and corresponding recipes. However, THEY DO NOT! The dietitian approves specific foods for the nutritional values – sodium and cholesterol, vitamins fats, etc. Food Services routinely substitute the approved foods with outdated, unhealthy bulk purchases, which usually contain up to 10 … Read more>>
Two Goons Appear Outside NLG Summer Retreat
08/22/2025
Unfortunately, we put the address of the recent NLG summer retreat in our announcements, and the address was for my home. As we were gathering, two goons appeared on the sidewalk at the entry to my driveway, young guys with their faces fully hidden with keffiyeh-ish scarves and sunglasses and covering their clothing with orange safety vests. They stopped people … Read more>>
Harvard NLG Student Chapter Statement
08/20/2025
Last Friday, the Trump Administration privately sent a letter to Harvard University with a series of racist, reactionary, and unconstitutional demands attacking civil liberties, academic freedom, human rights, and racial justice. The letter explicitly calls on Harvard to defund and dissolve the Harvard Law School chapter of the National Lawyers Guild—along with several student groups supporting Palestinian rights—and punish our … Read more>>
Independent Organizing Network Update
08/20/2025
Members of the Independent Organizing Network (“ION”), an initiative by the NLG-Massachusetts Chapter, have been hard at work the past several months researching and answering a key question facing the labor movement today:
• What happens if we lose the NLRA?
ION’s first volume of the Post-NLRA Project, Labor With or Without the NLRA, explores the potential implications of … Read more>>
Thank you NLG-MASS Legal Observers From the 2025 Community Encampment for Palestine
08/20/2025
For the more than 60 organizers and volunteers of the 2025 Community Encampment for Palestine, we want to extend our appreciation and thanks to the NLG-MA Legal Observers Chapter and especially the Legal Observers [LO] Samira Khadar, Taylor Kim, and one more LO. They provided constant and expert legal eyes and ears during the 2025 Community Encampment in Somerville on July … Read more>>
A Textbook Case: Antisemitism Commission’s K-12 Recommendations Protect Israel more than Massachusetts’ Jewish Communities
08/20/2025
Barb Dougan
As has been previously reported in Mass Dissent, the legislature created the Special Commission on Combatting Antisemitism by way of a budget amendment in 2024, bypassing the usual legislative process and preventing any opportunity for public comment. The SCCA is tasked with making recommendations for new state laws and policies addressing antisemitism. The NLG has been part … Read more>>
