Press Release  Massachusetts Department of Correction Launches Innovative Emerging Adult Program for Incarcerated Women to Support Successful Reentry

Framingham — Recently, the Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC) announced the launch of an innovative emerging adult program at MCI-Framingham designed to advance rehabilitation and promote successful community reentry by supporting incarcerated women with essential skill development and transformative mentoring. The new unit, located at the DOC’s only correctional facility for incarcerated women, offers dedicated community-oriented space that encourages self-sufficiency, enhances practical life skills, fosters the development of parenting skills, and strengthens bonds between incarcerated mothers and their children.

Incarcerated individuals participated in creating the program’s design, physical space, and framework. The community housed at MCI-Framingham aptly named the unit The P.E.A.C.E. Program, an acronym for Progressing Every Day and Changing in Every Way. With nearly

3,000 sq. ft. of dedicated physical space, the program promotes healthy learning and community building. Program participants will reside together in the specialized unit as a dedicated living, learning, and working community.

“The P.E.A.C.E. Program reflects our deep commitment to implementing innovative programs that promote positive life changes, transform individual outcomes, and support successful transition from incarceration to community,” said Governor Maura Healey. “This new unit is designed to empower program participants with meaningful skill development while strengthening essential family bonds and disrupting cycles of adversity that can lead to recidivism.”

“Massachusetts leads the nation in recidivism reduction, achieved through the implementation of evidence-based, results-driven programming that drives lasting change,” said Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll. “Investments in reintegration planning provides life-changing resources and transformative support that is the difference between surviving and thriving upon one’s return to family and community.”

The program serves incarcerated individuals between the ages of 18 and 29, providing developmentally appropriate structured and unstructured spaces and activities to learn practical life skills that support reentry. The program space, available seven days a week between 8:00 a.m. and 8:30 p.m., includes an art room, exercise space, a library, kitchen and living room, laundry, and a classroom.

The P.E.A.C.E. community nurtures self-sufficiency through the rehearsal of life skills, the development of parenting skills, and the strengthening of familial relationships. The program area includes structured family visitations with space to share meals and positively engage with their children.

Participants will also be mentored by other incarcerated individuals. Incarcerated mentors have an integral role in the community by supporting members and organizing team-building activities. Mentors are required to act as role models and will guide participants to become future mentors. Ultimately, the P.E.A.C.E. program will develop participants into mentors for the sustainability of the community.

As active members, the participants will make group decisions, be responsible for their actions, and provide support to the community, promoting healthy positive daily living in a safe and supportive environment.

The DOC modeled the P.E.A.C.E. Program after the Department’s successful B.R.A.V.E. Unit, a similar program for young, incarcerated fathers. Recognizing the need to support emerging adults living under its care, the DOC created the Building Responsible Adults through Validation and Education (B.R.A.V.E.) Unit at MCI-Concord in August 2021. This nationally recognized program provides education and builds support for successful fatherhood. With a capacity of 45 emerging adults, the participants live in community with 15 fathers who DOC engages as mentors. Together, the emerging adults, mostly between 18 and 26 years old, complete programming focused on life skills, including parenting, in a dedicated space with a unit-specific common space and a visitation room for visiting children to play. Following the conclusion of housing at MCI-Concord later this month, the B.R.A.V.E. Unit will transition to North Central Correctional Institution in Gardner.

“The DOC’s collaborative and results-driven approach to education, in-demand job skills training, and transformative mentorships has reduced recidivism to a historic low. The P.E.A.C.E. Program empowers participants to strengthen skills necessary for success within the program and in the community to which they will return,” said Secretary of Public Safety and Security Terrence Reidy. “I want to thank the DOC team for their continued efforts to meet and exceed their rehabilitative mission and to our partners, Roca and UTEC, for their collaboration on this new initiative.”

“Innovation, transformation, and rehabilitation are all incorporated into this program,” said DOC Interim Commissioner Shawn Jenkins. “We have seen the success of the B.R.A.V.E. Unit and worked hard to create a space where individuals housed at MCI-Framingham can grow as individuals and parents, and successfully reintegrate into the community upon release.”

In collaboration with program partners UTEC and ROCA, the P.E.A.C.E. program will welcome guest speakers from the community as well as the DOC to discuss essential topics such as education, parole, medical, and mental health.

“ROCA has had the privilege of partnering with the DOC and seeing this unit go from vision to fruition over the past year,” said Sunindiya Bhalla, Roca’s Executive Vice President of Women and 2Gen. “Young women experiencing incarceration are a vulnerable and marginalized group who so desperately need their own space that provides hope and opportunity. This unit does both and we look forward to being a part of this effort.”

“Coming into prison is the hardest adjustment I’ve ever faced in my life, and I’m sure that applies to every incarcerated individual here. All of us in the P.E.A.C.E. Program are aiming for a successful future. Some of us are workers in the cosmetology program, culinary arts or college students.” said Makayla Lowe, P.E.A.C.E. program participant. “I am looking forward to the P.E.A.C.E. Unit changing us and progressing us towards becoming the best versions of ourselves.”

MCI-Framingham is the DOC’s only facility for incarcerated women and currently has a population of 208. The center is the oldest operating women’s correctional institution in the United States. The state’s prison population is the lowest it has been in 35 years and leads the nation with the least incarcerated females.

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