Advocates, incarcerated people and service providers urge five‑year pause on new jail and prison construction

Dozens of currently and formerly incarcerated people, community organizers, public‑health researchers and clergy urged the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight to advance bills that would pause new jail and prison construction for five years.

Supporters said the pause would give the Commonwealth time to pursue alternatives — housing, mental‑health and substance‑use treatment, pre‑release beds and other community investments — instead of spending an estimated $50,000,000 on a new women’s prison. That figure was cited repeatedly by multiple witnesses during the hearing.

Witnesses who testified from inside MCI Framingham and MCI Shirley described living conditions they said require repair but not a new lockup. “When we're building prisons today, we are building in prison for the future,” said one person…