Restore Contact Visitation & Side-by-Side Family Visits Across Massachusetts

THIS PETITION IS FOR THE ENTIRE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

This is not about one prison, one incarcerated person, or one family. It is about every Massachusetts family and loved one who travels hours, spends money, takes time off work, arranges childcare, passes through security, follows every rule, and continues showing up just to have a few precious hours with someone they love.

For months, families have been fighting for meaningful visitation under 103 CMR 483. We researched the regulation, gathered concerns from families across the state, submitted written testimony, and showed up for the June 11, 2026 public hearing. The official record shows that 116 people attended and 30 people spoke. We explained what these restrictions actually look like inside visiting rooms: families sitting several feet apart, spouses unable to hold hands, parents unable to have normal physical contact with their children, and rules that can be interpreted differently depending on the facility or officer.

Then we waited for the state to listen. The regulation was eventually updated on August 28, 2026, but many of the central concerns families brought forward remain. We are not starting over; we are continuing the fight because the changes did not go far enough.

Our goal is straightforward: we want Massachusetts to establish a clear contact-visitation program where eligible incarcerated individuals can earn the opportunity to have side-by-side visits with their approved loved ones and reasonable physical contact. We are not asking the DOC to eliminate security, searches, screening, or reasonable rules. We are asking for an objective system based on factors such as institutional conduct, disciplinary history, security classification, length of compliance, programming, and other clearly defined criteria. If someone qualifies, they should have a pathway to contact visitation; if someone violates the rules, there should be consequences and a fair process for earning that privilege back.

This request is even more important as Massachusetts continues to deal with serious internal security and contraband problems within its correctional system. The DOC has publicly reported investigations, search warrants, arrests, and significant drug seizures, and recent allegations involving correctional staff have brought even more attention to the need for accountability inside correctional facilities. We are not accusing every correctional officer, nor are we claiming every piece of contraband comes through staff. We are saying that the DOC has real internal problems that must be addressed openly and where those problems actually occur. Those problems cannot be hidden from the public, and they cannot be shifted onto families who have done nothing wrong.

Families are already searched and screened before entering these facilities. We follow the rules because we want to see our loved ones. If there is an internal security failure, investigate it, fix it, and hold the responsible individual accountable. Do not make thousands of compliant families pay for problems they did not create.

The DOC's own visitation regulation recognizes the importance of maintaining family and community connections, particularly for children. Research also supports the importance of family contact during incarceration, finding connections between visitation and family connectedness, health during reentry, and, in some studies, reduced recidivism. We are not claiming that visitation alone solves every problem, but the evidence gives Massachusetts a legitimate reason to protect family relationships rather than unnecessarily weaken them.

We are asking for side-by-side seating, reasonable physical contact such as holding hands and appropriate embraces, meaningful interaction between parents and children, clear statewide rules, consistent enforcement, objective eligibility requirements, a transparent approval process, and a fair way to regain contact visitation after a legitimate violation. Most importantly, we want the DOC to address its actual security problems without making families and loved ones the collateral damage.

Incarceration already takes away birthdays, holidays, family dinners, school events, bedtime stories, everyday conversations, and the ordinary physical closeness that most families take for granted. For many people inside, visitation is one of the only ways they can continue being a spouse, parent, grandparent, sibling, or child. Those relationships matter during incarceration and they matter when people eventually return to their communities.

We have already participated in the process. We testified, submitted our concerns, waited for the state to respond, and watched the regulation change. Now we are asking for meaningful change that reaches the heart of the problem.

This petition is for the entire Commonwealth. It is for every family that continues to show up despite the distance, the cost, the restrictions, and the frustration. We are not asking for special treatment or less security. We are asking for reasonable security AND human connection.

Fix the DOC's internal problems. Do not make our families the punishment for them. Give eligible incarcerated individuals a meaningful pathway to contact visitation, restore side-by-side visits, and let families maintain the human connection that incarceration has already taken so much from.

SIGN THIS PETITION. SHARE IT. ADD YOUR VOICE.

We have spoken before. We are speaking again. And we will not back down.