incarcerated women

Several dozen activists rallied in front of the State House last Friday, calling on Gov. Charlie Baker to sign into law legislation that would block the state from building new prisons for the next five years.

“Free her” was the resounding message of the broken hearts strung along the gate outside the State House on Feb. 14. Protestors had written the names of their incarcerated loved ones on the paper valentines.

Activists and elected officials marched the three miles from the Suffolk County House of Corrections to the Massachusetts State House Monday morning in support of a moratorium on construction of a new women’s prison in Norfolk.

The door to the house stood wide open. It’s a barn-red Victorian structure, wise with age and situated on a quiet street in Roxbury. A sun-bathed backyard was visible from the wraparound front porch. The ground floor was spacious yet cozy, and a cheerful bouquet of flowers sat on the spotless granite kitchen counter. In the backyard, a group of women from a local mosque clustered around Stacey Borden.