Chief: 'Angry' felons to be freed

Swamped prisons seek work-release programs By Laura Crimaldi Sunday, October 12, 2008 - Updated 5m ago Faced with exploding costs and a record-high inmate population, the state prison chief is warning that Massachusetts can’t afford its incarceration rate and must alter laws or deliver “angry and unprepared” felons back to society. “The message to policymakers is we have very limited resources to continue to incarcerate at the rate we’re doing so now,” Department of Correction Commissioner Harold W. Clarke said in an interview with the Herald. “As we speak, I believe we’re right about 144 percent of capacity in the DOC. All the sheriffs will tell you that they are also very crowded. Where are we going from here?” Clarke is pushing to better prepare inmates to return to society by setting up more work-release beds,... [read full story]