Community volunteers supporting neighbors + shifting power dynamics in #MA courts by exposing decisions of judges & prosecutors. @justicehealing @massbailfund
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THREAD: tonight on @GreaterBoston, @Tori_Bedford broke that @MayorWu, BPD & @SheriffSuffolk set up central police booking *inside county jail.*
Wu says it's at South Bay & preceded the sweep.
It's actually at Nash—it's new & potentially illegal. #bospoli
piped.video/kb2RD_uCx3k?si=YRFQ…
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From the @MassBailFund:
Shacoby Kenny was held on cash bail when he died in custody of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department (SCSD). Under Sheriff Tompkins’ watch, too many of our people have entered his facility and Never Made It Back Home! #bospoli
bit.ly/ShutDownSouthBay
A detained man was killed by COs in Boston's South Bay jail last night. Other detainees who witnessed the incident on the unit saw them choke him and were not offered mental health support after. There must be an independent investigation. #bospoli boston25news.com/news/local/…
ALT When Kenny was detained, he became unresponsive, according to the sheriff’s office. He was immediately tended to by medical personnel and was given life-saving measures. EMS arrived at the scene, and he was transported to a hospital, where he later died. When Kenny was detained, he became unresponsive, according to the sheriff’s office. He was immediately tended to by medical personnel and was given life-saving measures. EMS arrived at the scene, and he was transported to a hospital, where he later died.
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CourtWatchMA retweeted
here are two eyewitness accounts of how the cops killed a person in Boston's South Bay jail recently
facebook.com/permalink.php?s…
facebook.com/watch/?v=121313…
The South Bay jail has been a deadly and violent place for a long time.
This man was 32 years old and detained pretrial.
We still say #ShutDownSouthBay.
linktr.ee/ShutDownSouthBay
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A detained man was killed by COs in Boston's South Bay jail last night. Other detainees who witnessed the incident on the unit saw them choke him and were not offered mental health support after. There must be an independent investigation. #bospoli boston25news.com/news/local/…
ALT When Kenny was detained, he became unresponsive, according to the sheriff’s office. He was immediately tended to by medical personnel and was given life-saving measures. EMS arrived at the scene, and he was transported to a hospital, where he later died. When Kenny was detained, he became unresponsive, according to the sheriff’s office. He was immediately tended to by medical personnel and was given life-saving measures. EMS arrived at the scene, and he was transported to a hospital, where he later died.
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The South Bay jail has been a deadly and violent place for a long time.
This man was 32 years old and detained pretrial.
We still say #ShutDownSouthBay.
linktr.ee/ShutDownSouthBay
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CourtWatchMA retweeted
“While … sheriff budgets receive new scrutiny due to high-profile ... misconduct, the Legislature & the public should be equally concerned with the underlying policy goals of this spending: human caging, disproportionately of Black & Hispanic people who are presumed innocent."
OPINION: On bail policy, Massachusetts must catch up
commonwealthbeacon.org/opini…
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"Nevertheless, the arrest data help shed light on who is most impacted by the enforcement surges. For example, they show that more than half of those arrested in September had not been convicted of or charged with crimes." #mapoli #bospoli
bostonglobe.com/2025/12/04/m…
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So... #mapoli adopted really limited pretrial reforms 7-8 years ago & new analysis finds it basically only benefitted White people. This op-ed calls for a much more radical policy shift.
Jail doesn't make us safe. Jail impedes safety. We need holistic pretrial reform.
OPINION: On bail policy, Massachusetts must catch up
commonwealthbeacon.org/opini…
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CourtWatchMA retweeted
Massachusetts legislation designed to remove the “wealth barrier” for cash bail is working, but not for everyone: New HKS research found pretrial detention rates of white people declined by 40%, compared to just 3% for people of color ken.sc/49HTw3h
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CourtWatchMA retweeted
BREAKING: Just saw DC Police + federal agents detain a man on the National Mall. He appeared to try to escape, then was quickly tackled to the ground by several agents + was screaming in Spanish “please, I’m not a criminal, I work here, I want to be with my family” @nbcwashington
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CourtWatchMA retweeted
Studies on the harms of bail and the criminogenic effects of pretrial detention are numerous and well-supported. Rather than reprinting unsupported crime-and-punishment rhetoric, journalists and editorial pages should publicize policy rooted in evidence.
Two findings from a new study in @QJEHarvard:
* Black defendants are 2.4 percentage points more likely than white to be detained while they await their court hearings.
* The average bail for black defendants is $7,281 higher than for white defendants.
bit.ly/2up1cmq
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CourtWatchMA retweeted
And of course, the socioeconomic reality of wealth inequality in the U.S. means that cash bail systems disparately affect poor people and people of color, rooting inequity into pretrial detention decisions for people who are legally presumed innocent:
80% of people in local jails are legally innocent – most languish behind bars because they're too poor to afford bail
And data shows that just a few days of pretrial detention can have detrimental effects on their employment, housing, financial stability, and family well-being
ALT Graph showing what people lose when they are detained. Of the 191 participants in a survey, 8% lost housing, 18% lost money/other property, 18% lost job, 36% amassed debt, and 40% missed work
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CourtWatchMA retweeted
The harms of cash bail and wealth-based detention cannot be overstated. Bail is a penalty borne by the poor. If jailed by bail, people may lose their jobs, grow disconnected from their families, have medication interrupted. Even a day in jail causes harm:
Put plainly: There is no amount of time a person can be detained without escalating short and long-term risks to themselves & their communities.
Learn more about the harms of pretrial detention 👇
prisonpolicy.org/blog/2024/0…
ALT Graphic with text: A SINGLE DAY IN JAIL CAUSES IMMEDIATE, LONG-LASTING HARM. Courts justify pretrial detention as a way to enforce "public safety," but evidence shows: It does not deter crime. It does not ensure justice. It does not encourage court attendance.
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CourtWatchMA retweeted
There is a wave of momentum across the country for bail reform, with legislative efforts across the country in dozens of jurisdictions. A report published by @bailproject in March 2025 provides useful analysis: bailproject.org/press/new-re…
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CourtWatchMA retweeted
Early looks at the impacts of the Illinois Pretrial Fairness Act, including by researchers for @safety_justice, finds significant benefits in the offing: safetyandjusticechallenge.or…
In case you missed it: our detailed findings on the first year of Illinois' Pretrial Fairness Act were posted yesterday. Read all about how the end of cash bail is working in practice: pfa-1yr.loyolaccj.org/
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CourtWatchMA retweeted
A report published with @HFGuggenheim and @CCJLoyola @don_stemen found that across four jurisdictions (Chicago, Harris County, Philly, and NJ), there was not significant change in the likelihood of new criminal activity after bail reforms were implemented. loyolaccj.org/blog/bail-refo…
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CourtWatchMA retweeted
A June 2025 @WilsonCSJ_ study found improved public safety after Harris County, TX implemented misdemeanor bail reform: wcsj.law.duke.edu/news/endin…
That follows a prior @pennlaw Quattrone Center study supported by @Arnold_Ventures with similar results: arnoldventures.org/newsroom/…
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CourtWatchMA retweeted
Studies of New York's bail reform by @dataforjustice (datacollaborativeforjustice.…), @FWDus (fwd.us/news/new-york-bail-re…), and @CUNYISLG (islg.cuny.edu/case-study-bai…) have consistently found decreases in recidivism for people facing misdemeanor charges and huge benefits for affected families.
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CourtWatchMA retweeted
A synthesis of studies by the @BrennanCenter published in August 2024 similarly found no evidence for increases in crime or major public safety harms after bail reform across 33 jurisdictions:
Our latest report shows that there is no reason to believe that bail reform causes increased crime.
bit.ly/4dkG58o
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CourtWatchMA retweeted
A July 2023 research synthesis by @PrisonPolicy of 13 jurisdictions that implemented some form of bail reform also shows that all these jurisdictions saw decreases or negligible increases in crime or re-arrest rates after implementing reforms.
Tough-on-crime lawmakers, DAs, police departments, and the cash bail industry often claim pretrial reform puts public safety at risk. Data from every county, city, or state that has measured the effects of pretrial reform prove otherwise.
prisonpolicy.org/blog/2023/0…
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CourtWatchMA retweeted
First up, check out our Faculty Director Sandra Susan Smith's 2021 @HKS_Research landscape analysis of bail reform, cited in this 2022 episode of @LastWeekTonight with @iamjohnoliver on the absence of evidence that bail reform is linked to increased crime:
Head to the 19:18 minute mark of last night's episode of @LastWeekTonight to hear a mention of Sandra Susan Smith's (@sandrassmith5) research on bail reform. @HarvardMWC @Kennedy_School
Read the underlying @HKS_Research working paper here:
hks.harvard.edu/publications…
ALT Screenshot of John Oliver on Last Week Tonight discussed research by Sandra Susan Smith and Isabella Jorgensen "The Current State of Bail Reform in the United States: Results of a Landscape Analysis of Bail Reforms Across All 50 States." Top finding: "...none of the studies ... found that bail reforms lead to a meaningful increase in crime."
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