Public Meeting Notice  Restrictive Housing Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on The Conditions of Confinement Meeting

RESTRICTIVE HOUSING OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE’S CONDITIONS OF CONFINEMENT SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING

MEETING MINUTES

Date: November 20, 2020

Time: 10:00AM-12:00PM
Place: Virtual Meeting (WebEx)

Call To Order

The meeting was called to order at 10:07AM after a quorum was established.

November 12, 2020 Meeting Minutes Review/Approval

There was a motion to approve the minutes by Sean Medeiros and seconded by U/S Andrew Peck. All voted in favor and the minutes were approved unanimously.

Discussion of Information Request Responsive Docs and Communication with Counties

Bonnie Tenneriello and Jesse White (PLS) drafted suggestions when responding to the counties as to the scope of the committee’s work. Bonnie said there is no basis in the statute to categorize anything less than 2 hours as being RH but she stated that when you have folks in cell 22 hours a day that fits the definition. Tony Riccitelli stated that his impression is that we are dissatisfied with the information they sent, we need to ensure that they will understand what they need to send to us to satisfy the requirement. Bonnie explained that this language is only in response to the prefatory language at the beginning of their responsive documents. Tony stated that we are not clear about asking for specific additional documents with this letter. He said that the actual language of this document makes sense and addresses the broad claims of the introductory paragraph of what they sent. Justice Hines asked if we should apply discovery standards in our response. Bonnie said that the data reporting aspect of the statute grants this group (Restrictive Housing Oversight Committee) the authority to receive these documents and we need to push back as a result. John Melander (EOPSS) said that he has not had a chance to review the memo and agrees that we have the authority to request and those should be honored given our statute. Tony asked if it would be good to have a representative from the Sheriff’s departments attend our meetings virtually to have that conversation. Bonnie stated that the process should perhaps be to send the responses then schedule a call with the Sheriff’s departments. U/S Peck suggested starting with MSA (Massachusetts Sheriffs Association) and we could resolve most of this with some dialogue and a conversation with them. U/S Peck asked Bonnie and Jesse to re-draft the document given this discussion. Michaela will create a dashboard to track what the counties have provided versus what they have said they will provide.

Medical Isolation Standards Discussion & DMH Seclusion Regulations Discussion

Tony gave some context on his experiences using these regulations in assessments at prisons with inmates. Bonnie asked if he looks at these standards as to how our system looks at restrictive housing. Tony said this is just a different approach from a different agency (DMH) in addressing dangerous behavior and is hoping it may be helpful in looking at RH in a different way from another agency’s perspective.

Topics Not Reasonably Anticipated Within 48 Hours

Bonnie stated once we have the MSA conversation scheduled, we can schedule the next subcommittee meeting after that.

Public Comment

There was no public comment.

Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at 11:06am.

AGENDA

1. Call To Order

2. November 20, 2020 Meeting Minutes Review/Approval

3. Discussion of Information Request Responsive Docs and Communication with Counties

4. Topics Not Reasonably Anticipated Within 48 Hours

5. Public Comment

6. Adjourn