Mass. lawmakers demand state prisons up searches after violent attack

A group of Massachusetts lawmakers is calling to tighten prison security actions following last month's violence at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center.

The legislators have requested, among other measures, that all state prisons increase the frequency of random searches and prosecutors swiftly pursue criminal cases against anyone accused of assaulting a correction officer.

Dozens of legislators met with Massachusetts Department of Correction officials Friday to discuss safety issues in the aftermath of an incident on Sept. 18. On that day, prisoners at Souza attacked and injured five corrections officers. One of the officers was hospitalized for several days with multiple stab wounds.

"It's clear that increased searches are warranted," state Rep. Jonathan Zlotnik, a member of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, said after the meeting. "The making of homemade weapons in prison continues to be a problem and certainly the first step toward making our whole prison safer for everybody is controlling contraband."

After the attack, the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union said in the past three months, more than 70 weapons were confiscated at the prison. They also reported that there were more than 30 assaults on correction officers during that same period.

The Department of Correction said the prisoners involved in the violence were moved to other facilities. Three prisoners, identified as Jose Crespo, Heriberto Rivera-Negron and Jeffrey Tapia, face a variety of charges, including armed assault to murder.

Earlier this month, dozens of lawmakers sent Gov. Maura Healey a letter calling for increased security measures, including more so-called "tactical response teams" to routinely search all state prisons. The letter said lawmakers are seeking "a commonsense approach" to address violence and contraband in Massachusetts' prisons.

The lawmakers say the Department of Correction needs to implement protections beyond those interim Commissioner Shawn Jenkins outlined shortly after the attack. In Jenkins' letter to the correction officers union he promised a "thorough security assessment and review" at the prison.

"We look forward to building upon this productive dialogue with our many stakeholders to advance our shared goal of ensuring our officers have resources and support while maintaining safe and rehabilitative environments across the correctional system,” Jenkins said in a statement Friday afternoon.

The use of tactical team officers after previous violence at Souza has been controversial. The state recently settled a lawsuit with two prisoners who alleged the officers abused men in retaliation for an attack on officers in 2020. A separate class action suit is pending, alleging that dozens of prisoners faced violent retaliation by correction officials after that same attack.

Zlotnik described Friday's meeting as a "first step," and said he is awaiting the results of the Department of Correction review. Although the lawmakers asked for more so-called "tactical response team" searches in state prisons, Zlotnik said he would be satisfied if there were more searches regardless of who conducts them.

"I think there's a lot more that we need to do," Zlotnik said. "Safety and security in the prison system is not something that one policy change or one meeting is going to address. I think it's a long-term effort."

More than 1,000 men are in custody at Souza, the state's only maximum security prison. The union said about 300 correction officers work at the prison during each shift.