Massachusetts taxpayers could save up to $15 million by paroling about 2,000 prisoners serving minimum mandatory drug sentences after two-thirds of their maximum sentences, a state senator said yesterday. The Boston Globe says Sen. Cynthia Stone Creem, a Newton Democrat, is pushing a bill that would apply to about 650 “low-level” nonviolent drug offenders and traffickers.
Critics say the prisoners involved are disproportionately women and minorities. Leslie Walker of Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services said one-third of about 750 women incarcerated at MCI-Framingham are held on minimum mandatory drug sentences.
Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey plans to release a report next week detailing the criminal justice strategies of Gov. Mitt Romney.
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