Tag Archives: MA DOC

Plea for advocacy: COVID oversight needed

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Sunday, 11/29/20 8am

It’s my 3rd day in 24 hour, solitary confinement. All I can think to myself is, where are our advocates?  Since being moved to the hole after my cellmate tested positive for COVID-19, I’ve sat in my cell in total isolation wondering, how does any of this make sense?

This year prison life has been extraordinarily more difficult than usual. Like everyone else in the free world, the people in prison are dealing with the added uncertainty and stresses associated with the pandemic. Prison has become more oppressive, restrictive and depressing and the need for advocates and prison oversight is needed more than ever.

Starting this past March, as preventative measures, the prison stopped our family members from visiting us, all religious services were canceled, educational programs were closed, and strict lockdown procedures were implemented. These restrictions have significantly added to the normal stresses, helplessness and other difficulties associated with prison life. Further, whether it has made the incarcerated any safer is very much in question.

On Friday my cellmate tested positive for COVID and was moved to a quarantine housing unit. He’s now amongst the 20% of the population who have tested positive. And as for me, even though I tested negative and have no symptoms, I was removed from the cellblock where I was housed and moved to the Restrictive Housing Unit (the new name for “the hole”) to be quarantined for 2 weeks. It should be noted, the cellblock where I was previously housed was already on lockdown status; however, my celly and I were allowed out of our cell, with 14 other men, for 1 hour a day to use the phones to call our families, use the microwaves, clean our cells, exorcise, and take showers.  We also had access to what the prison calls, “The Fresh Air Program,” where we were allowed to go outside to the prison yard for 2-3 hours a week.

What’s most confusing is, instead of performing contact tracing or being quarantined with the other 14 men who were exposed, the prison administration has chosen, in a nonsensical, knee jerk reaction, to force me (as well as the other men who’s cellmates test positive) to be moved to “the hole” under 24 hour solitary confinement in segregation. We are not allowed any recreation time out of our cells, time to exorcise, or any fresh air in the yard. It is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in total isolation in a cell with limited sunlight and no social interaction. More worrisome is that it’s widely known amongst prisoners — and all the experts and the courts have agreed — that there are devastating, long term physical and psychological affects as a result of prolonged solitary confinement. So, while the men in this prison are desperately trying to stay healthy both physically and mentally, in a place where social distancing is impossible, with the added stresses and uncertainties of prison life during a pandemic, and while being completely isolated from our support systems, MCI-Concord’s response is to place us in solitary confinement with no recreation, no exorcise or fresh air.

We need help. We need advocates. Not only from the prison reform groups, but also the courts, the legislature, and the mental health community. The prisons are being decimated by this virus. Incarcerated  people would rather suffer in silence then report symptoms for fear of being sent to the discipline unit for quarantine. Although they are now allowed to have their property, initially they were not. Cells in solitary typically do not have electricity because people have started fires. Imagine being sick and unable to at least settle in with a book or something to watch on TV. Prison officials don’t know what to do. Correctional Staff are unsure and frustrated as well. Social distancing is logistically impossible in prison.  It is during desperate times such as these that advocates and prison oversight is needed most. The men in prison are vulnerable. Like many these days, we’re scared, unsure, worried about our families, and battling the feelings of helplessness and depression. It is time for intervention. Please help.

March 2016

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Hello to everyone,

Well, as I am continuously encouraged by my family to express my thoughts and feelings in this blog, I felt compelled to share what has recently happened and how my days have drastically changed…

Two weeks ago I received some devastating news from the prison’s administration. Apparently, the administration had decided to remove me from the NEADS Service Dog Program.

Imagine my surprise when just the day before I was told by the program’s liaison that the NEADS Trainer had decided that since I was one of the senior handlers and I had done so well with Dancer, she wanted to bring me an 8 week-old puppy to train. I was ecstatic. With Dancer’s recent graduation just a couple of weeks earlier, I was eager to get started training a new puppy right away. Further, getting a new puppy is an honor that is usually only granted to the most dedicated and skilled handlers. The fact that the NEADS Trainer had chosen to give me a new puppy was a great distinction. Imagine my surprise when, alternatively, the very next day the prison’s administration decided to remove me from the program.

A bittersweet moment between Brian and Dancer at graduation. A dog senses when her trainer is hurting. Brian pets Dancer's head to soothe her but who is comforting who? March 1, 2016

A bittersweet moment between Brian and Dancer at graduation. A dog senses when her trainer is hurting. Brian pets Dancer’s head to soothe her but who is comforting who?
March 1, 2016

I was heartbroken. I can’t even put into words how terrible I felt. Everything that gave my life meaning behind these walls was just taken from me. Being in prison for twenty years as an innocent man is difficult enough; removing me from the NEADS Program was like yanking a life preserver from a drowning man.

Needless to say, my days have changed drastically. I was moved from the dog unit to a more restrictive unit. I now seldom, if ever, come into contact with the dogs I’ve grown to love. Now, rather than spending my days training and working with dogs, I spend up to 17 hours a day locked in a two-man cell. I went from helping disabled people, to a mundane and meaningless existence.

The two years I spent in the NEADS Program meant a lot to me. It gave my days purpose while allowing me to give back to my community. I am grateful that I was able to train three service dogs that were placed with disabled children. I know that those dogs changed the lives of those children. I am proud of that. There is a saying in prison: “Nothing that is good lasts.” Knowing that, I cherished every day that I had with the dogs. And I was thankful for the opportunity.

I still have much to be thankful for. And I am. I have an amazing support system. I have many friends and family that love and support me. I have an amazing legal team fighting every day to bring me home. And I have hope for a future outside of prison. It’s a lot. It’s more than most. I will stay strong and I will stay optimistic. I will not let this terrible place change who I am in my heart. But I cannot hide the truth: I am devastated and heartbroken. But, I am strong. I’ll get through this. And I always remember… every day that I survive in this place brings me One Day Closer.

PLEASE NOTE: We, Brian’s family and friends, believe Brian’s sudden removal from the NEADS Program was retaliation by the prison’s administrators and a direct result of Brian cooperating with the reporter from “Boston Magazine.” Prior to Brian’s interview, he was warned not to do the interview. Specifically, during an interrogation about the interview he was told that his position in the NEADS Program could be at risk. Prison administration at MCI-Concord attempted to stop the interview; however, the reporter went over the administrator’s head and had that decision overruled by the Department of Correction’s Central office. Then, just two weeks after the article was released online, the MCI-Concord prison administration arbitrarily and punitively removed Brian from the NEADS Service Dog Program. Prison administrators have refused to provide any explanation to Brian, written or otherwise other than it was an “administrative decision.”

                Brian has met or exceeded all NEADS program expectations. At the prison he has and continues to be disciplinary report free. He has received positive work, housing, and program evaluations. This action was punitive and clearly retaliatory.

                After being removed from the program he was asked by the NEADS liaison to attend the meet and greet/graduation ceremony on March 1st.  It was the first graduation in nearly a year. Although he did not want to attend and be further upset by the situation, Brian attended as the only handler from the program graduating a dog. He did not mention this incident when he spoke at the ceremony. He did not correct Dancer’s new owner who wished him continued success with his next dog. He barely kept himself together but he did it. He carried himself with maturity and spoke with integrity. He represented the NEADS Program responsibly. He did the right thing.

                In our support of Brian, we are contacting Thomas Turco, Undersecretary of Criminal Justice at the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security-the agency that oversees the Department of Correction. We are asking him, “If it is the mission of the Department of Correction to protect public safety through providing inmates with programming, why then did the administration at MCI-Concord arbitrarily remove Brian Peixoto from a program where he was training service dogs for disabled people in our communities?”

                Support for Brian’s innocence grows every day and for that we are grateful. Folks have always asked what they can do to help to support Brian. We ask that you contact Undersecretary Turco directly as we are (above.) Massachusetts residents can reach out to local state legislators via email and request that they contact Mr. Turco. Our hope is that an inquiry from the Undersecretary will prompt officials at MCI Concord to reconsider their decision to remove Brian, and also that he will be reinstated and allowed to return to training service dogs.

                While we are always One Day Closer, we are asking that you assist in our efforts to make it so that Brian spends these days doing what he is great at and what he plans to do with his life once free – training service dogs for people with special needs.

                Thank you for your continued support.