State Supreme Courts Resource

4 Republicans, 3 Democrats

• Mass. Const. Pt. 1, art. XXVI: “No magistrate or court of law, shall demand excessive bail or sureties, impose excessive fines, or inflict cruel or unusual punishments. No provision of the Constitution, however, shall be construed as prohibiting the imposition of the punishment of death. The general court may, for the purpose of protecting the general welfare of the citizens, authorize the imposition of the punishment of death by the courts of law having jurisdiction of crimes subject to the punishment of death.”

• Massachusetts Civil Rights Act (Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 12, § 11H): attorney general may bring civil action against any person (whether or not acting under color of law) who interferes or attempts to interfere with the exercise of another’s rights secured by the US Constitution, state constitution, or state laws; establishes a right to “bias-free professional policing” and states that no law enforcement officer shall be immune from civil liability for any conduct under color of law that violates a person’s right to bias-free professional policing if said conduct results in the officer’s decertification.
• Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 12, § 11I: a person may prosecute a civil action if that person’s exercise of rights secured by the constitution or laws of the United States, or of rights secured by the constitution or laws of the commonwealth, has been interfered with or attempted to be interfered with.

• Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 127, § 39F: imposes restrictions on use of restrictive housing for inmates with less than 120 days left of imprisonment.

• “Massachusetts, in other words, essentially incorporates the qualified immunity doctrine of § 1983.” Greene v. Cabral, 323 F. Supp. 3d 96, 111 n.10 (D. Mass. 2018)

• Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 127, § 39: requires restrictive housing units to provide periodic mental and psychiatric examinations; access to showers three days/week, reading and writing materials unless clinically contraindicated, radio or television if confinement exceeds 30 days; the same access to disability accommodations as prisoners in general population; requires a mental health professional to make rounds in every restrictive housing unit; and requires a prisoner to be screened by a mental health professional before placement in restrictive housing [this is a non-exhaustive list of protections]
• Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 127, § 39A: prohibits restrictive housing for prisoners with serious mental illness; prohibits restrictive housing when it is clinically contraindicated with some exceptions; prohibits restrictive housing for pregnant inmates; imposes other limits on restrictive housing.
• Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 127, § 39D: establishes reporting requirements concerning the use of restrictive housing
• Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 127, § 39E: requires that prisoners held in restrictive housing for more than 60 days have access to vocational, educational and rehabilitative programs to the maximum extent possible consistent with the safety and security of the unit and shall receive good time for participation at the same rates as the general population.
• Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 127, § 39F: imposes restrictions on use of restrictive housing for inmates with less than 120 days left of imprisonment.