WELCOME TO THE MURDER FACTORY
By Timothy J. Muise

Welcome to MCI Shirley Prison where low-level drug dealers are turned into murderers. Where minor felons are instilled with such anger and resentment that they are talking mayhem as they depart through the razor wire gates. Where unprofessionalism and abuse are the norm and the seeds of future killings are being sown one thousand at a whack. It is a place where it is hard to distinguish the real criminals. Do they wear gray scrubs? Do they wear paramilitary jump suits and badges, do they wear a shirt and tie, or do they wear Dolce + Gabbana skirts with Prada shoes? It is truly hard to tell.

Young men enter MCI Shirley (or ShirleyWorld, as it is largely known) thinking they may be able to get an education through college courses all the trades. These hopes are dashed upon the rocks of guard overtime, administrative nepotism, and complete lack of any semblance of order. The warden is dead, the deputy is dumb and the captain is blind. This barrel of monkeys chews upon taxpayer dollars while the young prisoner is further separated from the social norms the rehabilitative process was meant to instil. You can see the death in their eyes. It is scary.

This vast criminal conspiracy that is the department of corruption is as much a killer as Charles Manson or Adolf Hitler were. They see with perfect vision the folly of their ways but press on with malicious intent: premeditated job security equalling death in the Mattapan Corridor. Drunken guards abuse wives, bring in drugs and cell phones, take out their ire on weaker prisoners and all the while talk about pay rises, time off and pension plans. They are the thieves and murderers! May God have mercy on their souls! (As I will not.)

You pay $517,000,000 per year to diminish the safety of your streets. Criminal guards suck up $360,000,000 of that yearly budget while rehabilitative programs and education are allotted only 2% of that budget. An equation which is designed for failure. It assures repeat customers but that assurance comes at the cost of far too many lives. When will you, the taxpayer, become outraged? When will your ire replace the apathy that belays common sense? This is a state, a country, and a land that is founded on second chances. Big banks, big oil, and big pharma have forced out hand in failing two generations of children. Why should these kids have the sins of the father visited upon them? The time is now to grant them pardon.

If you were ever afforded the tragic opportunity to tread the pathways of MCI Shirley you would witness first hand the systemic failures. There are guards everywhere, sergeants, lieutenants, captains and multitudes of line staff, but each and every day some rehabilitative aspect of the prison is shut down due to understaffing. It is a lie. The DOC has 5500 employees for about 12,000 prisoners. That is a fact. The guard's union have injected so much propaganda that even Hitler would be proud of their achievements. The problem is that this fantasy ends up with dangerous men being released from prison, endangering your loved ones. The wallets of the layabout guards fatten while unsolved murders erode the fabric of society throughout the state. We have to change the equation.

The time has come to reorganise the prison budget. To use the vast taxpayer dollars to actually protect the safety of the public. You must terminate the excess of secretaries, deputies, assistants, aides, clerks, etc, and invest that revenue in expansion of the college degree program. Prisoners who earn that degree in prison do not come back: do not commit any more crimes. The recidivism rate for in-prison Boston University graduates is less than 1%. The statewide recidivism rate has hovered at about 47% for over a decade. Did you know UMass offered to come into the prisons and offer college courses for free? The DOC rejected them. Did you know that Fitchburg State had a "free" program at ShirleyWorld but the facility failed to support it? All true. Such folly. The reason for the folly is that there is no money in it for the DOC to have these programs. We cannot tolerate this attitude.

Prisoners need real job training. Prisoners need transitional housing in lower security prisons. Such prisons cost only a fraction of what it costs to run the higher security prisons as they need less staff. This is why the guards' union fights this at every turn. They do not run this show - YOU DO! Let's tell them who is boss! Please join forces with those who have a plan for real and effective public safety reform. The time is now for you to get involved.

I ask that you please contact the following to get involved or find out more.

Committee for Effective Public Safety.
PO Box 961401
Boston, MA 02196

Robert Dellelo
AFSC
2161 Mass. Ave
Cambridge, MA 02140

Timothy J Muise, #W66927
MCI Shirley
PO Box 1218
Shirley, MA 01464-1218
http://betweenthebars.org/blogs/101

Please help us to shut down the murder factories here in Massachusetts.

PLEASE GET INVOLVED!!!