Appeals Court Hears DOC Bid to Vacate Middlesex Judge’s Order Releasing Inmates Held in Segregation

The Massachusetts Appeals Court heard oral argument Jan. 14 on an appeal by the Department of Correction seeking to vacate a Middlesex Superior Court preliminary injunction that ordered the immediate release of incarcerated people the lower court identified as being held in segregation for more than 90 days.

Judge Marguerite Grant, sitting with Judges Robert Brennan and Robert Toon, presided over a Zoom portion of the sitting in which attorneys for the parties and one plaintiff argued the scope and factual basis of the superior court’s order. Each side had 15 minutes to argue.

The central question was whether the Middlesex court’s injunction — which ordered "immediate release of all inmates, including named plaintiffs," according to the lower-court endorsement — was supported by adequate factual findings and whether it applied beyond MCI Concord.

Attorney Timothy Hooley, representing the defendants/appellants and the Department of Correction (which he described as representing former Commissioner Meechee, Superintendent Dean Gray, and Deputy Superintendent Patrice Holliman), told the Appeals Court, "The answer to that question is a clear yes," arguing the superior court abused…