‘Rubber Stamp’ Justice? in Mass, Prison Officials Almost Always Deny Prisoners’ Complaints of Abuse Behind Bars
To produce this story, the Globe partnered with Boston University’s Justice Media Computational Journalism co-Lab, a collaboration between the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences’ BU Spark! program, the College of Communication, and the BU Hub Cross-College Challenge. Contributing students were Jay Font, Della Lin, Melissa Lin, and Namu Sampath, with assistance from professors Osama Alshaykh and Brooke Williams.
By Melissa Ellin, Jake Neenan, and Allison Pirog, Photo: Boston Globe, Suzanne Kreiter
The American prison system is meant to serve as a means of rehabilitation for inmates, but unfortunately, it often falls short of this goal. In fact, many inmates in Massachusetts and across the United States experience physical and emotional abuse behind bars, and when they attempt to report these incidents to prison officials, their claims are often denied. This phenomenon, known as "rubber-stamp justice," is a significant problem that has been overlooked for too long.
Over a three-year period, the office sided with prisoners 32 times out of 206 allegations investigated by Internal Affairs. This high rate of denial raises serious questions about the transparency and accountability of the state's prison system, and has led to concerns about the safety and well-being of inmates.