Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts

In December 2025, Shacoby Kenny died by homicide at the hands of Suffolk County Sheriff's Department (SCSD) corrections officers. He was a young Black man being held pretrial because he could not afford bail.

Today, PLS Executive Director Dave Rini testified before the Boston City Council about our investigation into the use of force at SCSD. He spoke alongside advocates and directly impacted community members, including Mr. Kenny's mother.

In December 2025, Shacoby Kenny died by homicide at the hands of Suffolk County Sheriff's Department (SCSD) corrections officers. He was a young Black man being held pretrial because he could not afford bail.

The DOC's Institutional Fact Cards provide valuable data on MA's incarcerated population. MCI-Norfolk Lifers Group, Inc. & Project Youth examine and contextualize these statistics, offering insights that help look beyond the numbers & understand the challenges of incarceration.

More than 140 people died in Massachusetts prisons and jails between January 2022 and December 2025. Six people died by suicide in 2025 alone.

About 1/2 the prison deaths over those 4 years were categorized as "expected." Dr. Nicole Mushero, a geriatrician at Boston Medical Center who analyzed deaths from 2021 through 2023, concluded that nearly half of those people could have been eligible for medical parole. They died in custody instead.

More than 140 people died in Massachusetts prisons and jails between January 2022 and December 2025. Six people died by suicide in 2025 alone.

MA has one of the oldest prison populations in the country. Our medical parole law is meant to let people with advanced illness go home when they are no longer a public safety risk. Despite the re-arrest rate being virtually zero for people over 65, most petitions are denied.

Emerson Prison Initiative (EPI) provides a bachelor degree program for individuals incarcerated in MA. Starting in January, 15 men at Norfolk Prison will have the opportunity to earn a graduate certificate in a first-of-its-kind program offered by EPI.

A major shortcoming of the recently passed PROTECT Act is its exception for the state prison system’s partnership with ICE.

Massachusetts can't claim to protect immigrants while actively funneling people from prison into a deportation machine that ignores due process and violates their rights. Massachusetts must end its 287(g) agreement.

A major shortcoming of the recently passed PROTECT Act is its exception for the state prison system’s partnership with ICE.

“People are more willing to ban a hypothetical 287(g) with a hypothetical police department than a real one with the DOC,” said Leah Hastings, attorney at Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts.

Emil Encarnacion, 29, died last week in a behavioral assessment unit at MCI-Norfolk. It would be the fourth BAU suicide since April 2025 and the third in that unit. State law defines restrictive housing as 22 hours a day of isolation. BAUs hold people for 21.

On Monday, another person appears to have died by suicide in a Massachusetts DOC Behavioral Assessment Unit (BAU). Emil Encarnacion, 29, would be the fourth person to die by suicide in a BAU since April 2025.

People in BAUs can be held in their cells for up to 21 hours a day. An independent audit found that 3 of the 6 people who died by suicide in DOC custody in 2025 died in BAUs. PLS is co-counsel in a class-action lawsuit challenging conditions in these units.

Chokeholds, kneeling on necks, and handcuffs used as weapons are all prohibited by the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department (SCSD), but people held at its House of Correction describe staff using them without consequence.

In an open letter to the SCSD administration, we outlined these issues and made several recommendations, including immediate suspension of the officers involved in Kenny's death, pending the outcome of external probes.

Chokeholds, kneeling on necks, and handcuffs used as weapons are all prohibited by the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department (SCSD), but people held at its House of Correction describe staff using them without consequence.

Following the homicide of Shacoby Kenny in December 2025, PLS's Brutality Team began an investigation of SCSD's House of Correction. We found a culture of violence and impunity for staff that goes beyond any one incident or type of force.

On 9/9/71, incarcerated people at Attica rose up against brutal conditions, racial discrimination, political repression, inadequate medical care, & the denial of basic legal and human rights. They organized, elected representatives, drafted demands, and called for dignity, justice, & accountability.

PLS was founded in 1972, out of the prisoners' rights movement of the 1960s and the civil rights organizing that gave rise to it. Our existence is downstream of collective resistance by incarcerated people, and that should shape how we advocate.

On 9/9/71, incarcerated people at Attica rose up against brutal conditions, racial discrimination, political repression, inadequate medical care, & the denial of basic legal and human rights. They organized, elected representatives, drafted demands, and called for dignity, justice, & accountability.

Prisons are designed to isolate and neutralize movements for social change. At Attica, incarcerated organizers turned one into a place of study, solidarity, and resistance, connecting their immediate conditions to broader struggles against racism, colonialism, war, and economic exploitation.

On 9/9/71, incarcerated people at Attica rose up against brutal conditions, racial discrimination, political repression, inadequate medical care, & the denial of basic legal and human rights. They organized, elected representatives, drafted demands, and called for dignity, justice, & accountability.