Massachusetts is keeping its promise to reform criminal justice, but racial inequality in the system has grown, according to newly released research.
Massachusetts significantly decreased incarceration rates and increased investment in rehabilitative programs after passing reforms in 2018 — but made less improvement for Black and Latino residents than white ones — according to a study published Wednesday morning by The Boston Foundation nonprofit group and MassINC, a nonpartisan research center.
State legislators and community organizers attended a discussion of the study's findings at The Boston Foundation headquarters this morning.
"We have made progress," MassINC research director Ben Forman said. "But we're not quite where we need to be."
The commonwealth cut its incarceration rate by almost half in 10 years, "with particularly steep declines" since enacting reforms — which aimed to decrease unnecessary prison and jail time and reduce the number of people who return to prison after release — in 2018, according to the study.
Decreasing incarceration didn't appear to drive up violent or non-violent property crimes in the state, researchers found.
Rep. Mary Keefe, D-Worcester, who co-chairs the Legislature’s Criminal Justice Reform Caucus, said Massachusetts should prioritize crime prevention over punishment.
"Imagine taking the money that we've spent on incarcerating individuals from these communities and see that money invested in prevention and strengthening community," Keefe said in an interview after the event. "Then we wouldn't have the issues that we continue to have."
Black and Latino incarceration rates have declined at a slower pace than the rate for white residents, according to the study. While each group saw a decline in prison time, the gap between the white incarceration rate and that of black and Latino residents has grown wider — and more inequitable.
Arnie Stewart, who oversees public defenders' offices as deputy chief counsel of the state Committee for Public Counsel Services, was a panelist and said it's necessary to examine the "root causes" of racial inequity beyond the data.
"Real change can only be realized by dismantling these racist systems that continue to foster inequities," Stewart said. "There's more work to be done."
Inmates across racial groups received nonmedical parole at similar rates since 2020 — making parole an area that "stands out" in racial equity, according to the analysis.
Massachusetts Commissioner of Probation Pamerson Ifill joined the panel and said these outcomes show the success of his office's yearslong effort to increase hiring diversity and train its employees to combat racial inequality.
The Massachusetts Probation Service has worked "to ensure we look like and reflect the communities we serve," Ifill said. "But at the heart of that is making sure that we have the skills and competence to understand the factors that drive people into the criminal justice system."
The study also pointed to the probation service's leadership in increasing transitional housing for inmates preparing to leave prison as a likely factor in decreasing re-incarceration.
But the Department of Correction still releases hundreds of inmates per year directly from maximum security prisons, according to the analysis.
Viengsamay Chaleunphong is the reentry manager at UTEC, a Massachusetts violence-prevention nonprofit, and was formerly incarcerated. He said alternative programs that place inmates in transitional housing and lower-security prisons before release — like the one he benefited from — can help people successfully reenter their communities after prison.
"I've only been home for five years, and look at this," Chaleunphong said, pointing to himself on the panel. "This is nuts."
The report suggested the corrections system should continue to invest in reentry programs and expand transitional housing for young adults leaving prison.
Keefe said this data analysis empowers lawmakers to enforce the reforms they create.
"It's one thing to pass a law," Keefe said. "I think continually we found ourselves in the role of having to be watchdogs."
