Prisoners' Legal Services (formerly MCLS) was established in 1972 to provide civil legal services to people in Massachusetts prisons and jails. The office focuses on four issues: health and mental health care, guard-on-prisoner violence, physical conditions of confinement, and segregation and isolation. Prisoners' Legal Services addresses these problems through administrative advocacy, legislative advocacy, and litigation. The office does not provide criminal defense services.

Prisoners' Legal Services
Eight Winter Street, 11th Floor
Boston, MA 02108

Phone: (617) 482-2773

Fax: (617) 451-6383

Prisoners' Legal Services accepts telephone requests for assistance on Monday afternoons from 1 to 4 P.M. Family and friends of prisoners can call toll-free from anywhere in Massachusetts on (800) 882-1413. County prisoners should call collect on (617) 482-4124. DOC prisoners can use the pre-authorized speed dial number *9004#. When Monday is a holiday, calling hours are on Tuesday.

PRISONERS' LEGAL SERVICES MISSION STATEMENT

Prisoners' Legal Services promotes the safe, humane and lawful treatment of Massachusetts prisoners through civil rights litigation, administrative advocacy, client counseling, and outreach to policy makers and the public.

Prisoners' Legal Services Priority Areas are:

• Health Care, including mental health care
• Brutality
• Extreme Conditions of Confinement
• Segregation

Adopted by the Prisoners' Legal Services Board of Directors September 2007.

SPECIAL NOTICE TO BRISTOL COUNTY PRISONERS

Souza, et al. v. Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson, Bristol Civil Action No. 02-00870

You may be a plaintiff in a class action law suit filed in 2002 in the Bristol Superior Court challenging certain fees charged by Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson. The Court has decided that this case covers all Bristol prisoners who paid any of the following fees under the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program:

• The $5.00 dollar per day "cost-of-care" fee;
• Fees for medical care;
• Fees for GED services or tests;
• Any haircut fee in excess of $1.50 per haircut.
  

On July 28, 2004, the Court ruled that these fees were unlawful and ordered the Sheriff to stop collecting them. On January 5, 2010, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts rejected the Sheriff's appeal of this order.

The Court has scheduled a hearing for July 12, 2010 to consider a procedure to pay back money that the Sheriff illegally seized from prisoners. If you think you paid any illegal fee and want to participate in this case, notify the lawyers for the class by writing to:

Prisoners' Legal Services / MCLS

8 Winter Street

Boston, MA 02108

When you write, please include your name, your birth date, social security number, and an address where you can be contacted upon your release. You will be informed of what additional steps you may need to take to collect your money. IF YOU MOVE AT ANY POINT, PLEASE LET CLASS COUNSEL KNOW YOUR NEW ADDRESS.

ATTENTION SUFFOLK COUNTY PRISONERS

Press Release, June 14, 2010

Contacts:

Attorney Howard Friedman (617) 742-4100 (Plaintiffs' Lawyer)

Attorney Ellen Caulo (617) 704-6681 (Suffolk County Sheriffs' Lawyer)

Court Grants Preliminary Approval to Suffolk County House of Correction Class Action Settlement

Boston, MA - U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert B. Collings granted preliminary approval Friday June 11 to the settlement of a class action on behalf of approximately 4,000 former inmates of Building 4 of the Suffolk County House of Correction. On behalf of all defendants, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle the case. Each participating class member will receive a share of the settlement, up to a cap of $3,500.

Building 4 at the Suffolk County House of Correction was built without toilets or sinks in the cells. Inmates who were housed in Building 4 had to seek permission to use the bathroom during lock-in periods. The lawsuit alleged that this system was not adequate and resulted in some inmates' using containers to void their bodily wastes. Defendants have denied any wrongdoing.

As a result of the Judge's ruling, the claims administrator will send notice of the settlement and a claim form to class members. The Court has scheduled a final hearing on the fiarness of the settlement to take place on October 20, 2010. If the Court grants final approval, money will be sent to those class members who submit claim forms.

The amount of money each class member will receive will depend both on the number of days he spent in building 4 and on the number of people who submit claim forms. The settlement fund will also pay for attorneys' fees amd tje cpsts pf the case and claims administration.

A person is a class member if he was held in building 4 any time from August 3, 2003, to February 7, 2008, when a new, semi-automated system of bathroom access was implemented. Class members will need to submit a claim form by September 9, 2010, to secure a share of the settlement. A copy of the claim form may be obtained by writing to the Tyler Claims Administrator, P.O. Box 2007, Chanhassen, MN 55317-2007.

The case is Tyler v. Suffolk County, Civil Action Number 06-11354-RBC.