CourtWatchMA

Community volunteers supporting neighbors + shifting power dynamics in #MA courts by exposing decisions of judges & prosecutors. @justicehealing @massbailfund

[CourtWatchMA @CourtWatchMA]

THREAD: tonight on @GreaterBoston, @Tori_Bedford broke that @MayorWu, BPD & @SheriffSuffolk set up central police booking *inside county jail.*

Wu says it's at South Bay & preceded the sweep.

It's actually at Nash—it's new & potentially illegal. #bospoli
https://t.co/9R5TuOgGeJ

[CourtWatchMA @CourtWatchMA]

From the @MassBailFund:

Shacoby Kenny was held on cash bail when he died in custody of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department (SCSD). Under Sheriff Tompkins’ watch, too many of our people have entered his facility and Never Made It Back Home! #bospoli

https://t.co/30mxGFFSC1

[CourtWatchMA @CourtWatchMA]

A detained man was killed by COs in Boston's South Bay jail last night. Other detainees who witnessed the incident on the unit saw them choke him and were not offered mental health support after. There must be an independent investigation. #bospoli https://t.co/YxReiCtuGF

[abolition enjoyer @NinosIndex]

here are two eyewitness accounts of how the cops killed a person in Boston's South Bay jail recently

https://t.co/HModxxY4JF

https://t.co/ibL5URuSq4

[CourtWatchMA @CourtWatchMA]

The South Bay jail has been a deadly and violent place for a long time.

This man was 32 years old and detained pretrial.

We still say #ShutDownSouthBay.

https://t.co/qNDwOLmSd8

[CourtWatchMA @CourtWatchMA]

A detained man was killed by COs in Boston's South Bay jail last night. Other detainees who witnessed the incident on the unit saw them choke him and were not offered mental health support after. There must be an independent investigation. #bospoli https://t.co/YxReiCtuGF

[Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice @HKS_PCJ]

“While … sheriff budgets receive new scrutiny due to high-profile ... misconduct, the Legislature & the public should be equally concerned with the underlying policy goals of this spending: human caging, disproportionately of Black & Hispanic people who are presumed innocent."

[CourtWatchMA @CourtWatchMA]

"Nevertheless, the arrest data help shed light on who is most impacted by the enforcement surges. For example, they show that more than half of those arrested in September had not been convicted of or charged with crimes." #mapoli #bospoli

https://t.co/rVjzysCrNG

[CourtWatchMA @CourtWatchMA]

So... #mapoli adopted really limited pretrial reforms 7-8 years ago & new analysis finds it basically only benefitted White people. This op-ed calls for a much more radical policy shift.

Jail doesn't make us safe. Jail impedes safety. We need holistic pretrial reform.

[CommonWealth Beacon @CWBeacon]

OPINION: On bail policy, Massachusetts must catch up

https://t.co/0oHKXrEYlt

[Harvard Kennedy School @Kennedy_School]

Massachusetts legislation designed to remove the “wealth barrier” for cash bail is working, but not for everyone: New HKS research found pretrial detention rates of white people declined by 40%, compared to just 3% for people of color https://t.co/5e3Y5uityp

[Aimee Cho @AimeeCho4]

BREAKING: Just saw DC Police + federal agents detain a man on the National Mall. He appeared to try to escape, then was quickly tackled to the ground by several agents + was screaming in Spanish “please, I’m not a criminal, I work here, I want to be with my family” @nbcwashington

[Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice @HKS_PCJ]

Studies on the harms of bail and the criminogenic effects of pretrial detention are numerous and well-supported. Rather than reprinting unsupported crime-and-punishment rhetoric, journalists and editorial pages should publicize policy rooted in evidence. https://t.co/DAFbsrsbvG

[Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice @HKS_PCJ]

And of course, the socioeconomic reality of wealth inequality in the U.S. means that cash bail systems disparately affect poor people and people of color, rooting inequity into pretrial detention decisions for people who are legally presumed innocent: https://t.co/E61qJVNeQ2

[Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice @HKS_PCJ]

The harms of cash bail and wealth-based detention cannot be overstated. Bail is a penalty borne by the poor. If jailed by bail, people may lose their jobs, grow disconnected from their families, have medication interrupted. Even a day in jail causes harm: https://t.co/pgflEMlMPP

[Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice @HKS_PCJ]

There is a wave of momentum across the country for bail reform, with legislative efforts across the country in dozens of jurisdictions. A report published by @bailproject in March 2025 provides useful analysis: https://t.co/Jx242nh5he

[Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice @HKS_PCJ]

Early looks at the impacts of the Illinois Pretrial Fairness Act, including by researchers for @safety_justice, finds significant benefits in the offing: https://t.co/A4ZnHa3GEo
https://t.co/MYwuGA0ALQ

[Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice @HKS_PCJ]

A report published with @HFGuggenheim and @CCJLoyola @don_stemen found that across four jurisdictions (Chicago, Harris County, Philly, and NJ), there was not significant change in the likelihood of new criminal activity after bail reforms were implemented. https://t.co/q5iaMMUTKm

[Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice @HKS_PCJ]

A June 2025 @WilsonCSJ_ study found improved public safety after Harris County, TX implemented misdemeanor bail reform: https://t.co/9bTWJ22uNj

That follows a prior @pennlaw Quattrone Center study supported by @Arnold_Ventures with similar results: https://t.co/g2xJia8eHL

[Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice @HKS_PCJ]

Studies of New York's bail reform by @dataforjustice (https://t.co/J5sO5KqzJo), @FWDus (https://t.co/7lYIK6WDy6), and @CUNYISLG (https://t.co/3K6tC6StL1) have consistently found decreases in recidivism for people facing misdemeanor charges and huge benefits for affected families.

[Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice @HKS_PCJ]

A synthesis of studies by the @BrennanCenter published in August 2024 similarly found no evidence for increases in crime or major public safety harms after bail reform across 33 jurisdictions: https://t.co/g6AXEfRi24

[Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice @HKS_PCJ]

A July 2023 research synthesis by @PrisonPolicy of 13 jurisdictions that implemented some form of bail reform also shows that all these jurisdictions saw decreases or negligible increases in crime or re-arrest rates after implementing reforms.
https://t.co/k5w0QO0imd

[Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice @HKS_PCJ]

First up, check out our Faculty Director Sandra Susan Smith's 2021 @HKS_Research landscape analysis of bail reform, cited in this 2022 episode of @LastWeekTonight with @iamjohnoliver on the absence of evidence that bail reform is linked to increased crime:
https://t.co/lc2jl1dSwx