A drive to rethink the purpose of incarceration
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The Boston Globe South Bay jail’s focus is changing from custody to care. End Facebook Pixel Code Waypoint CDN
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The tomato seedlings in the urban garden were sprouting. The basketball court was filled with men in blue, gray, and brown uniforms shooting hoops and doing push ups. Inside, at vocational classes, men learned the art of tailoring a suit while a group of women studied toward their GEDs.
In many ways, the South Bay House of Correction has become a microcosm of the country’s evolving attitudes toward drug abuse and drug-related crimes. The facility just off Interstate 93 in Boston is a different place compared with the early 1990s, when leaders in Washington passed a stringent crime bill that authorized stiff penalties for drug crimes and nearly doubled the country’s prison population.
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