CRIMINAL NEGLECT: THE CRISIS IN MASSACHUSETTS PRISONS (TV)
Summary
This public affairs special confronts the problems of overcrowding in Massachusetts correctional facilities. Hosted by Arthur R. Miller, this public forum, which includes prerecorded segments, examines possible options and solutions to the difficulties that plague the criminal justice system, and features interviews with prisoners, politicians, correctional experts, and concerned citizens. Highlights include the following: scenes of overcrowding at Deer Island and Norfolk County correctional houses, where prisoners are crammed seven to a cell; an investigation of alternative sentencing for nonviolent offenders, including probation, community service, house arrest, and the monitor system, whereby an electronic unit is used to track offenders; repeat offenders and the penal system's insufficient response to rehabilitation programs; the abolition of furloughs for first-degree murderers, including an examination of convicted murderer Willie Horton, who committed a series of violent crimes while out on furlough; and public controversy about where prisons should be built. Among those interviewed are Boston Penal Commissioner Robert Walsh, Norfolk County Sheriff Clifford Marshall, Suffolk County District Attorney Newman Flanagan, Quincy District Court Judge Lewis Whitman, and State Rep. Marie-Louise Kehoe. Commercials deleted. (This program received a 1989 Iris Award for excellence in local broadcasting.)
Details
- NETWORK: WCVB-TV
- DATE: June 22, 1988 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:50:29
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T89:0394
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries; Specials
- SUBJECT HEADING: NATPE Collection; Criminal justice, Administration of; Massachusetts - Correctional institutions; Prisons; Crime and criminals
- SERIES RUN: WCVB (Boston, MA) - TV, 1988
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Elizabeth Cheng … Executive Producer
- Debra Shapiro … Producer
- Myles Gordon … Associate Producer
- Bob Comiskey … Director
- Arthur R. Miller … Host
- Newman Flanagan
- Robert Walsh
- Willie Horton
- Clifford Marshall
- Lewis Whitman
- Marie-Louise Kehoe