In an interview with WGBH News, Northeastern Distinguished Law Professor Daniel Medwed discusses the dilapidated condition of Massachusetts’ only women’s prison and the possibility a new one will be built. Medwed points out the factors that make women’s prisons distinct and highlights activists’ desire that the state invests in communities instead of prisons.
A lot of activists have pushed back based on the idea that building a prison—in effect, investing in cages—is not necessarily in line with the contemporary conversation, the movement toward decarceration, toward grappling with the problem of mass incarceration. And that instead these funds should be allocated to communities. In essence, that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, that if we can stop problems at the front end by addressing issues like homelessness, poverty, lack of economic opportunity, that might be a better use of our limited resources.
Daniel Medwed, WGBH
Read or listen to the full interview here.
(Photo by: risingthermals)
