Jobs Not Jails

The Legislature will meet this Saturday and Sunday, marking the last formal sessions of the 2015-2016 session. These bills passed the Senate and are pending in the House so calls to your state representatives asking them to ask Speaker DeLeo to schedule these bills for a vote duri...

Time sensitive: we need YOU to take action on the state budget to ensure successful reentry for folks returning from jails and prisons. Act now!

UPDATE: It passed the Senate at $500,000 instead of $2 million. Not all that we wanted, but a first step. We'll put another alert in early June when the House and Senate have to rectify their budgets with one another. Senate Budget Amendment S761 is in limbo right now, and we need to make it move. The amendment would allocate $2 million to fund jobs and job training for formerly incarcerated people and court involved youth. The Senate bundled amendments into 3 piles: Yes, No and Held. The good news is it didn't go to the No pile; it's in the held pile. Please contact your Senators and Senate Leadership and also have your members call to let them know how important this amendment is for formerly incarcerated people and court involved youth to have access to jobs and job training.

Call on your Senator to support $ for job training for folks returning from incarceration as well as finding jobs for court-involved youth. #JobsNotJails

Join the Jobs Not Jails coalition as we take the Statehouse by storm to push to raise the felony larceny threshold. Massachusetts has the 3rd lowest felony threshold. That must change for #cjreform to happen.

We passed the RMV bill! Now here are the nuts and bolts of how to reinstate your license.

Unable to attend the May 7 Jobs Not Jails community gathering? Read up on what we did, and how you can get involved. #JobsNotJails

The Massachusetts legislative session ends July 31, 2016. There's still time to enact criminal justice reform this session. If you are convicted of larceny of items over $250, it is a felony here in Massachusetts. The present $250 threshold is unjust because it captures many low level offenses and makes felons of countless people. Any felony carries a heavy stigma, creates barriers to jobs, and contributes to reliance on public assistance. There also is a 10 year waiting period to seal criminal records for low level offenses because they are classified as felonies. Increasing the threshold to $1500 would help many young people and numerous others who are trapped in poverty and unemployment for what were actually low level offenses. Massachusetts is an outlier with an outdated $250 threshold enacted in 1987. Every state in the U.S. has a higher amount except New Jersey ($200) and Virginia ($200). It's time to raise the felony threshold.

We need your help to stop the courts from putting criminal records online which will have the effect of gutting the benefits of sealing CORI records. We are also asking them to halt the current practice of putting housing records online. Comments are due Wednesday, May 4.

Join us May 7th to take stock of our accomplishments and how to create even more #cjreform!

Governor signs bill to repeal fines and suspensions of driver's licenses for ex-prisoners; Jobs NOT Jails Coalition recognized

A bill to update the Felony Larceny Threshold has been passed out of committee and is now in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Let's get this bill passed by contacting the legislators in charge to let them know that we need this change!

The RMV collateral sanctions bill is now in Conference Committee to hash out the details between the House and Senate versions. We support the Senate version. Let's make sure our representatives know that!

PLEASE CALL, WRITE LETTERS TO AND ARRANGE MEETINGS WITH YOUR LEGISLATORS: Ask them to support the Senate Version of the Bill to Repeal the Driver’s License Suspension Law (Senate 2021)!

Yesterday (1/6/16), the House voted unanimously to pass our bill to End Collateral Sanctions at the RMV, but there is still work to be done.

On September 24, 2015, the Massachusetts Senate voted unanimously to pass our bill, An Act Relative to Motor Vehicle Suspension, now known as S2021. Now, the Massachusetts House must act to pass it's sister, H3039. The vote will be tomorrow, January 6th at 1 p.m.

State House Day of Action Sentencing Commission Hearing Wednesday November 18, 2015 10:30 a.m. Room # tba

November 21 @ 9:00 am - 4:30 pm Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall

Monday, November 2, 2015 2PM – 4PM Great Hall, State House

Sunday, November 1, 2 - 3pm Theodore Parker Church 1859 Centre Street West Roxbury, MA 02132

Friday, September 25, 2015 9:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Suffolk County House of Correction 20 Bradston Street, Boston

Jobs NOT Jails Public Forum in Worcester

The Justice Reinvestment Act (S.64/H.1429) will be heard by the Massachusetts Legislature on October 14th and we want your legislators to know how important it is to you to end mass incarceration and change our criminal justice system by re-investing in our communities through job and educational opportunity. The Justice Reinvestment Act will only get passed with your help!

Learn more about the actions being taken for the Summer of Solidarity.

Check out this video at the Quincy Court House of volunteers speaking out for the Summer of Solidarity.

As a part of Jobs Not Jails' Summer of Solidarity, we will be marching from the Forest Hills T stop at 1:00 pm to the nearby courthouse to show our support for those incarcerated in the U.S.

Jobs NOT Jails Justice Reinvestment Act - Joint Judiciary Committee Hearing

The Jobs Not Jails Movement Needs YOU! Join us for a training on Saturday, June 27th at 1:00-4:00 p.m. Freedom House, Dorchester

Now that the Bill has assigned Bill numbers, we wanted everyone to have an up-to-date version of the fact sheet.

Justice Reinvestment Act Public Hearing

New England Regional Conversation to Discuss National Collaboration on Criminal Justice Issues

April 14th will be a busy day - we hope to see you at one or all of these events!

Rosenberg sees opioid crisis as path to sentencing reform

April 14th will be a busy day - we hope to see you at one or both of these events!

Come learn about the bills related to mass incarceration and prison reform that we hope will become law in the next two years and how you can help make our criminal justice system more fair and effective.

Come learn about the bills related to mass incarceration and prison reform that might become law in the next two years and how you can help make our criminal justice system more fair and effective.

This month we have an exciting series of events occurring across the state.

This month we have an exciting series of events occurring across the state.

Massachusetts State Senators are holding listening sessions across the state to hear from constituents and bring "Beacon Hill to you".

Come to the Youth Jobs Coalition and Jobs Not Jails for the Youth Jobs Rally on Thursday, February 19 at 11:00am!

In the afternoon of January 31, 2015, Jobs Not Jails gathered in Freedom House in Roxbury to create a vision statement, get a legislative update on their Justice Reinvestment bill and talk with We Are The Ones, which is a group that has emerged out of the recent Black Lives Matter movement.

1/31/15

An Act to Increase Neighborhood Safety and Opportunity

Tuesday, January 13, 7-9pm at First Unitarian Society in Newton 1326 Washington Street, Newton MA 02465

Continuing from the September 2014 meeting, Jobs Not Jails continued to envision a decarcerated future in Massachusetts.

Freedom House 5 Crawford Street Dorchester, MA 02121 2-4 p.m.

Freedom House 5 Crawford Street Dorchester, MA 02121

Celebrate 10 years of working to end Mass Incarceration while building leaders in our communities!

Come and plan our next steps!

Read FAMM's Voter Guide

Call Us with Your Parole Board Experiences!

Come and Learn a Great Tool for Community Organizing!

Not One More Deportation! Rally When: Wednesday, June 11th from 2:00PM Where: Worcester City Hall, 455 Main St, Worcester, MA Join us in solidarity

In Solidarity: Low Wage Worker Day of Action #wageaction Thursday June 12 4-6 p.m.

Ending the Drug War at the RMV

See the State House "wrapped" with Jobs NOT Jails petitions bearing 46,643 signatures!

Today volunteers from the Jobs NOT Jails Coalition will wrap 150 yards of "safety orange" fabric around the State House, with 46,643 Jobs NOT Jails petition signatures attached. We'll also deliver copies of Michelle Alexander's 'The New Jim Crow' to every legislator.

Check out these photos of the rally by our friends at center for Community Change

Will you be there? Let us know!

Don't miss an event near you!

Check out this busy calendar for an event near you!

First Church of Jamaica Plain 6 Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 7:00pm

Listen here and share it!

Friday, March 7 on WCUW 91.3 FM in Worcester and online at wcuw.org.

Springfield folks did a great job getting coverage of Jobs Not Jails yesterday!

There are many ways you can help build the movement!

Find a Coalition Meeting Near You!

SPRINGFIELD — Local groups plan to voice their support Tuesday for a statewide coalition pushing to redirect prison spending toward job creation, training and support for Massachusetts' lowest-income communities.

Lots to do this coming March!

Find out where the new candidates for Governor of Massachusetts stand on criminal justice policy issues - and show them how important this is to us!

Governor Patrick is going to be addressing issues related to mass incarceration and public opinion: Next Thursday, February 20, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. at UMass Boston’s Campus Center. This will be a tightly controlled event, with little or no opportunity for public comment - but we need to demonstrate that when our political leaders address issues of Mass Incarceration, PEOPLE SHOW UP! Please see below for further information.

We are pleased to announce a new on-line tool for everyone interested in the Jobs NOT Jails Campaign: www.jobsnotjails.org