Clemency Tour Coming To Framingham July 4 Weekend

FRAMINGHAM, MA — A campaign pushing for criminal justice reform will come to Framingham over the July 4 weekend.

On July 3, a car caravan will visit the MCI-Framingham women's prison and demand clemency — where a government official reduces or eliminates a prison sentence — for elderly and infirmed prisoners.

The event is being organized by the local groups Families for Justice as Healing and Building Up People Not Prisons, but is part of a national effort by the group ClemencyWorks.

"The National Council began this tour in the New England states because these states have the lowest numbers of incarcerated women, with under 2,500 women incarcerated in all of New England," the group says.

Before the July 3 caravan in Framingham, activists will gather on July 2 at the state Capitol in Boston for a rally, followed by a march to the former Harriet Tubman House community center along Columbus Avenue.

A car caravan visited MCI-Framingham one year ago during the rise of coronavirus after dozens of women and staff at the prison contracted the virus.