Senate Restores Prison Mitigation Funding

Boston – Senator Richard J. Ross (R-Wrentham) voted today to override Governor Deval Patrick’s vetoes of $4.2 million in funding for cities and towns that host correctional facilities within their borders. The funding was initially passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives as part of the Fiscal Year 2013 Supplemental Budget and the Fiscal Year 2014 Budget.

“This funding is vital for host communities, including the Town of Norfolk, to properly and safely accommodate these facilities, while maintaining their own municipal budgets,” said Senator Ross. “Host cities and towns rely on prison mitigation funding to support the fundamental services they provide to the community. Withdrawing this funding, which had already been agreed to by both legislative branches, would have been irresponsible and would have had significantly harmful effects on host communities.”

Senator Ross continued his fervent advocacy in support of the prison mitigation funding by calling upon House and Senate leadership to expedite the vote to restore this critical funding to both the FY13 Supplemental Budget and the FY14 Budget. The funds were cut by Governor Patrick due to his belief that the level of revenue afforded for this purpose exceeded what he considered necessary.

Prison mitigation funding is essential for host communities to provide the level of services needed to accommodate the correction facilities. Emergency service response to the prisons entails a time consuming process of entering and departing the prisons involving extensive security measures required maintain safety in a dangerous environment. Without this crucial funding, cities and towns must bear the burden of hosting these facilities without assistance from the state.