Section 214 Correction Commission
(a) There shall be a special commission to study and examine opportunities for collaboration and consolidation among the department of correction, the county sheriffs, the parole board and the office of community corrections. For the purposes of this section, "facility" shall include a correctional facility, a house of correction and a jail.
(b) The commission shall develop a list of alternatives to the distribution of responsibilities and oversight of facilities and shall consider any positive and negative impacts of each alternative. In developing alternatives, the commission shall: (i) consider the long-term fiscal sustainability of the facilities and recognize the need to reduce the cost to taxpayers of maintaining and operating facilities below capacity; (ii) recognize the need to provide safe and humane facilities for incarcerated persons; (iii) preserve flexibility to respond in a cost-effective manner to changes in incarceration levels; (iv) recognize the importance of evidence-based rehabilitative programming for incarcerated persons; (v) recognize the value of community-integrated reentry support services; (vi) recognize the advantages of local facilities for pretrial confinement and short incarcerations; (vii) recognize the advantages of local facilities in supporting family and community connections; (viii) recognize the value of existing facilities and other investments; (ix) recognize the need for increasing regional collaboration; (x) recognize the unique roles of sheriffs in varying urban and rural regions; (xi) recognize the unique issues posed by incarcerating female and LGTBQ+ populations; (xii) recognize the importance of addressing the social determinants of health in reentry services; (xiii) recognize the role that community organizations play in reentry services; and (xiv) recognize the alternative needs that county sheriffs may address.
(c)(1) The commission shall consist of the 9 voting members and 11 nonvoting members.
(2) The 9 voting members shall include: 2 members appointed by the senate president, 1 of whom shall serve as co-chair; 1 member appointed by the minority leader of the senate; 1 member appointed by the minority leader of the house of representatives; 2 members appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives, 1 of whom shall serve as co-chair; 3 members appointed by the governor who shall have experience in management, public finance, correctional policies and procedures or reentry and rehabilitative programming; provided, however, that no voting member shall be a present employee of a facility. The voting members on the commission shall reflect the geographic diversity of the commonwealth.
(3) The 11 nonvoting members shall include: the commissioner of probation, or a designee; 3 members appointed by the Massachusetts Sheriffs' Association, Inc.; 3 members appointed by the governor, of whom 1 shall be a retired correction officer, 1 shall be a social worker or other licensed mental health professional and 1 shall be a retired judge of the commonwealth; and 4 members to be appointed by the attorney general, of whom 1 shall be an advocate for prisoners' rights, 1 shall be a formerly incarcerated person whose sentence was served in a state correctional facility, 1 shall be a formerly incarcerated person whose sentence was served in a county correctional facility and 1 shall have expertise or experience in healthcare for incarcerated persons.
(4) Five voting members shall constitute a quorum. The first meeting of the commission shall be convened not more than 30 days after 5 voting members have been appointed.
(d) The commission shall submit a written report of its findings with the clerks of the senate and house of representatives, the senate and house committees on ways and means and the joint committee on public safety and homeland security not later than September 30, 2026.