Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services
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More About MCLS

MCLS (Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, Inc.) is a not-for-profit legal services corporation, founded in 1972, that provides civil legal assistance to people who are incarcerated in Massachusetts state prisons (Department of Correction facilities) or in the county jails and houses of correction. The office is also known as Prisoners Legal Services.

MCLS assists with problems that prisoners have with the institutions where they are confined. The office does not do criminal defense work (trials or appeals). The office does not handle problems that prisoners have that are not between the prisoner and the institution. For example, MCLS does not provide assistance with child support, landlord-tenant, or divorce problems, although going to jail for even a short time often creates or complicates such problems.

MCLS has four priority areas of work:

guard brutality (beatings by staff)
segregation and isolation of mentally ill prisoners
health care
unconstitutional conditions of confinement

MCLS Staff

MCLS advocacy staff consists of eight lawyers and four paralegals.

The lawyers are Peter Berkowitz, Brad Brockmann, Peter Costanza, Lauren Petit, James Pingeon, Bonnie Tenneriello, Joel Thompson, and Leslie Walker. The Executive Director of MCLS is Leslie Walker.

The paralegals are Amelia Alex, Alphonse Kamanzi, Al Troisi, and Karim Wahid.

Support staff are Jeanne Woods and Millie Nieves.

MCLS accepts calls from Massachusetts prisoners and their family members on Monday afternoons from 1 to 4 P.M. (800) 882-1413 is a free line for non-prisoners anywhere in Massachusetts. Prisoners in county facilities should call collect on (617) 482-4124. Prisoners in DOC facilities can call on a speed-dial number, *9004#, which is pre-authorized on all state prisoner PIN cards.

All MCLS staff can be reached at email addresses which are in the form firstinitial+lastname@mcls.net.

MCLS is also known as Prisoners Legal Services.

Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services Board of Directors

Effective May 2007

President
Patricia Garin., Esq.
Stern, Shapiro, Weissberg & Garin
90 Canal Street
Boston, MA 02114
(617) 742-5800 Vice President
Ernest Winsor, Esq.
Massachusetts Law Reform Institute
99 Chauncy Street
Boston, MA 02111
(617) 357-0700, ext. 330
Clerk
Beth Eisenberg, Esq.
CPCS
44 Bromfield Street
Boston, MA 02108
617-988-8343 Treasurer
Joseph Zwicker, Esq.
Choate Hall & Stewart
Two International Place
Boston, MA 02110
(617) 248-5065
Wayne Alexander
MCI-Nofolk
P.O. Box 43
Norfolk, MA 02056 Alvin Carter
11 Alicia Road
Dorchester, MA 02124
617-697-9568(c)
Raymond Champagne
Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center
P.O. Box 8000
Shirley, MA 01464 Celestino Colon
Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center
P.O. Box 8000
Shirley, MA 01464
Dr. Matthew Dumont
31 Willow Street
Belmont, MA 02478
(617)-489-2126 Tony Gaskins
MCI-Cedar Junction
P.O. Box 100
South Walpole, MA 02071
Robert Grady
Old Colony Correctional Center
One Administration Road
Bridgewater, MA 02324 Carolyn Gunther
MCI-Framingham
P.O. Box 9007
Framingham, MA 01704-9007
Gail Hall
New England Research Institutes
9 Galen Street
Watertown, MA 02472
Phone: (617) 923-7747 x 269