Corrections commissioner disavows internal memo
Says proposed ban on guard disciplinary actions was unauthorized
By 
THE TOP OFFICIAL at the Department of Correction on Wednesday rescinded an internal memo issued earlier this week by one of her top deputies that would have initiated a moratorium on disciplinary actions against correctional officers and revoked any existing suspensions.
Carol Mici, the commissioner of the Department of Correction, sent a letter to her “extended leadership team” stating that the memo was unauthorized and “drafted and distributed without my knowledge or approval.” She stated emphatically that the agency’s disciplinary policy remains unchanged.
“As you know, the Department of Correction insists on the highest standards of professionalism, and the overwhelming majority of correction officers adhere to those standards every day,” Mici wrote. “We will continue to support these men and women who uphold our values even under difficult and dangerous circumstances, and we will continue to investigate and discipline conduct that does not comport with them.
The unauthorized internal memo was issued by Michael Grant, deputy commissioner of the Department of Correction, who was paid $152,469 in 2019. Grant’s memo, which appeared on the website of the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union on Tuesday, also was addressed to the “extended leadership team.”
Image from the corrections officers union’s website.
Image from the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union’s website of Grant’s memo.
The Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union has been raising concerns about the safety of prisons amid the coronavirus outbreak and is seeking passage of legislation that would encourage officers to stay home if they feel sick by not requiring them to take sick time.
“We need to ensure that these staff members are taken care of and more importantly protect them from contaminating our prisons and co-workers,” said Kevin Flanagan, legislative representative of the union in a memo dated Monday. “We can all agree that an outbreak inside our prisons or jails would be catastrophic.”
Michael Cox, head of policy for Black and Pink, a LGBTQ prisoner rights organization, said he was relieved to see Mici “correct the misleading and alarming statements” that appeared to give prison guards “a blank check on discipline” and allow the return to prison facilities of correctional officers who have been disciplined. “These are the people least qualified to be handling a public health crisis for incarcerated people,” he said.
Carol Rose, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said the memo from Grant was troubling, since it seemed as if the Department of Correction was limiting scrutiny of its own staff amid ongoing allegations of abuse and brutality by corrections officers at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center.
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins tweeted a copy of Grant’s proposed moratorium on disciplinary actions, calling it a “decline to prosecute list” for correction officers.
“As the rest of the world is looking at ways to get non-violent people OUT of jails and prisons, our @MACorrections is bulking up its staff with its disgraced, previously disciplined, & suspended guards,” Rollins tweeted.
“Locked-down facilities have incredibly high infection rates, especially jails due to the transitory nature of the population,” the group wrote in its letter to Baker. “Incarcerated people do not have adequate access to medical care, basic hygiene practices, and preventive health measures.”
During an afternoon briefing on the coronavirus, Baker said the call for releasing inmates was news to him. “You’re the first to bring this up,” he told a reporter. He also said he was not familiar with the memo issued by Grant.