Executive Order  No. 77: Establishing a Joint Correctional Planning Commission, defining its powers and duties

WHEREAS, sixty-four percent of inmates of Massachusetts Correctional Institution are returned to prisons after their release; and

WHEREAS, this rate of recidivism constitutes a danger and a substantial economic burden to the citizens of the Commonwealth and a tragic waste of potentially productive lives; and

WHEREAS, the effectiveness of the Massachusetts correctional process is significantly diminished by the present proliferation of separate public and private agencies engaged in correctional activities; and

WHEREAS, our correctional process can be substantially strengthened through a review and evaluation of the functions of existing correctional agencies; current and potential means of fostering closer communication, coordination, and joint programming among such agencies; and administrative and legislative proposals calculated to make the correctional process operate more effectively; and

WHEREAS, public understanding and support for correctional reform must be fostered;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Francis W. Sargent, Governor of the Commonwealth, by virtue of the authority vested in me as supreme executive magistrate, do hereby order as follows:

1. There shall be established a Joint Correctional Planning Commission which shall consist of not more than thirty members who shall serve at the pleasure of the Governor. The chairman of the Commission shall be designated by the Governor from among the members of the Commission. The Commission shall serve as an adjunct of and work closely with the Governor's Committee on Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice (Governor's Public Safety Committee).

2. The Commission shall:

a. identify priority areas within the existing correctional process where improved performance is essential and develop administrative, programmatic, and legislative recommendations designed to achieve the required improvements, giving particular emphasis to the development of community-based programming and to the needs of major cities such as Boston, Worcester, Springfield, New Bedford, Cambridge, and Lynn where the incidence of serious crime is concentrated,

b. act to develop and strengthen communication, co- ordination, and joint programming among agencies now involved in the correctional process,

c. analyze and evaluate the structure and content of existing correctional activities in the Commonwealth and develop and specify a proposed integrated Massachusetts correctional process,

d. establish an evaluative research capability to evaluate programs designed to improve the Massachusetts correctional process, giving particular emphasis to interagency programming,

e. contribute to the comprehensive criminal justice planning efforts of the Governor's Committee on Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice, and

f. seek to develop public understanding and support for efforts to integrate and improve correctional activities within the Commonwealth.

3. The Commission shall commence its activities no later than October 15, 1970 and shall complete its work no later than October 15, 1972. The Commission shall file legislative recommendations with the Governor January 15, 1971 and January 15, 1972. No later than July 1, 1971, the Commission shall file with the Governor and the Secretary of Human Services a report recommending a plan for organizing correctional agencies and activities within and in relation to the new Executive Office of Human Services (1969 Acts of the General Court, Chapter 704). The Commission shall file interim and final reports of its activities with the Governor's Committee on Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice.

Given at the Executive Chamber in Boston this thirtieth day of September in the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seventy and of the Independence of the United States of America, one hundred and ninety-fifth.

Francis W. Sargent

Acting Governor

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

John F. X. Davoren

Secretary of the Commonwealth