House Minority
Leader Bradley H. Jones, Jr. (R-North Reading) has appointed State Representative David K. Muradian, Jr. (R-Grafton) to serve as his designee on a
special legislative commission charged with exploring potential opportunities for
collaboration and consolidation among the Department of Correction, county
sheriffs, the Massachusetts Parole Board, and the Office of Community
Corrections, which serves as the Massachusetts Probation Service’s intermediate
sanction department.
Created as an outside section of the Fiscal Year 2025 state budget, the 20-member Special Commission on Correctional Consolidation and Collaboration will study the distribution of responsibilities and oversight of the state’s correctional facilities, houses of correction and jails, while taking into consideration possible alternatives to ensure the long-term fiscal sustainability of these facilities and finding ways to reduce taxpayer costs, particularly for those facilities that are operating below capacity.
As part of its undertaking, the commission will consider evidence-based rehabilitative programming for incarcerated persons and the value of community-integrated reentry support services, along with the role that community organizations play in reentry services. It will also weigh the advantages of using local facilities for pretrial confinement and short incarcerations, as well as for supporting family and community connections.
“The special commission has a unique opportunity to review the Commonwealth’s existing correctional system model and to consider ways to improve on it,” said Representative Jones. “I am confident that David will work closely with his fellow commission members to develop a proposal that will ensure that the system runs more efficiently and effectively, while also improving prisoner rehabilitation outcomes and delivering savings for taxpayers.”
Co-chaired by Senator William Brownsberger (D-Belmont) and Representative Daniel J. Hunt (D-Boston, the commission consists of nine voting members, including Representative Muradian, and 11 non-voting members. The voting members include six legislators and three gubernatorial appointees with experience in management, public finance, correctional policies and procedures or reentry and rehabilitative programming.
Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald, Hampden County Sheriff Nicholas Cocchi, and Hampshire County Sheriff Patrick Cahillane are among the 11 non-voting members serving on the commission, which will also include the commissioner of probation or their designee, and three members appointed by Governor Maura Healey, including one retired correction officer, one social worker or other licensed mental health professional, and one retired Massachusetts judge. Another four non-voting members will be appointed by Attorney General Andrea Campbell, including one prisoners’ rights advocate, one formerly incarcerated person whose sentence was served in a state correctional facility, one formerly incarcerated person whose sentence was served in a county correctional facility, and one member with expertise or experience in healthcare for incarcerated persons.
The commission will submit a report of its findings and recommendations by September 30, 2026.
First elected to the House of Representatives in 2014, Representative Muradian represents the Ninth Worcester District communities of Grafton, Northbridge and Upton.
