Boston City Council Hearing on Suffolk County In-Custody Deaths – October 26, 2026

On October 26, 2026, at 2:18 PM, the Boston City Council Committee on Public Safety and Criminal Justice, chaired by Councilor Henry Santana, held a hearing on Docket #0870, an order to examine the circumstances surrounding in-custody deaths at the Suffolk County House of Correction and systemic factors contributing to mortality in custody. The hearing was live-streamed and broadcast, with public testimony taken at the end. No minutes were available for this meeting. The Suffolk County Sheriff's Department and the Boston Police Department did not send representatives, and no currently detained individuals testified, which multiple councilors and community members condemned as disrespectful and a barrier to accountability.

Opening Statements

• Chair Santana opened by saying a single death in custody, one act of guard brutality, or one person denied food, water, or health care is unacceptable, and framed oversight of correctional facilities as a core council responsibility.
• Councilor Culpepper, lead sponsor, said he filed the hearing order in April 2026 because more than 20 people have died in Suffolk County correctional facilities over the past five years. He highlighted the December 7, 2025 death of Shacobi Kenny, which the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled a homicide caused by cardiac arrest during physical restraint by correctional officers. He also cited a Prisoners' Legal Services letter documenting allegations of excessive force, including prohibited chokeholds, and said he was disappointed by the Sheriff's Department's lack of cooperation and its failure to facilitate testimony from people in custody.
• Councilor Mejia said the city pays $150 per person per day to hold people before they see a judge, and argued the council must exercise oversight over conditions for detained people and staff. Councilor Murphy, Councilor Flynn, Councilor Fitzgerald, Councilor Louijeune, and Councilor Weber also expressed support for the hearing, with several noting that most people in jail are held pretrial, that people retain their humanity and rights while incarcerated, and that Shacobi Kenny was a young man in pretrial detention on $2,500 bail.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Arian Morrison, a Roxbury resident, read testimony from Kelsey DeBayo, who described abuse at South Bay from 2020 to 2022, including SERT team members bending her wrists, verbal abuse, witnessed beatings of other incarcerated women, and a permanent wrist injury. DeBayo called for correctional officers to receive education in psychology or sociology and for changes to hiring and training.
• Nibal Rabia, a Boston resident, read a statement from Abbey Own Sharp describing the trauma of visiting a brother at South Bay as a child, including hostile treatment of family visitors, and later read her own statement calling for an end to central booking and contracts with the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department.
• Linnea Barron read testimony from Ava Najafi, who described witnessing an elderly woman bruised after an apparent assault by officers, being sexually harassed and physically attacked by an officer, seeing a pregnant woman slammed to the ground, and witnessing an officer have sex with her cellmate. Najafi demanded independent investigations, accountability, proper medical and mental health care, and protection from retaliation.
• An unidentified formerly incarcerated speaker described abuse at South Bay and Nashua Street, questioned why correctional officers do not wear body cameras, and said medical neglect led to five surgeries and more than 40 days in a hospital.
• Melanie Griffiths testified on behalf of her son, who is currently incarcerated. She said he wrote that he had never been more afraid than inside South Bay and Nashua Street, and she reported that on the day of the hearing his cell was searched while he was returning from court and he was placed in segregation, which she described as intimidation.
• Shacobi Kenny's mother, Drusilla Brown, gave emotional testimony as a panelist and public voice. She said her 32-year-old son was murdered by correctional officers, that he had hopes and dreams, and that his last words were 'pray for me.' She demanded justice, accountability, and independent oversight, and criticized the sheriff's department for failing to appear or to remove officers involved in her son's death.
• Later public commenters included Elizabeth Rucker, who said she has helped greet people leaving South Bay for five years and has personally bailed nearly 100 people; Alan Tanner, who described witnessing excessive use of force during an altercation at a facility; Wes Ward, who demanded independent investigation, removal of involved officers, release of unredacted video, special prosecution, municipal oversight with subpoena power, and decriminalization of survival offenses; Emma Roth, who criticized councilors for inattention and said the hearing felt like a farce; and Elaine Calthis, who summarized testimony from about 10 incarcerated people describing poor quality of life, punitive culture, verbal and physical abuse, and the need for transparency.
• Additional public commenters included Timothy Bilodeau, Jaden Ojia Baru, Tatiana Rodriguez, Cecilia Don, Jocelyn Vasquez, and Romelda Pereira. Several called for ending central booking, dissolving the BPD contract with the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department, firing officers involved in Mr. Kenny's death, starting civil rights investigations, and reducing the flow of people into jail.
• Tatiana Rodriguez cited payroll figures for Lieutenant Andres Lopez, an officer involved in Shacobi Kenny's death, reporting 2025 earnings of $222,759 including about $106,000 in overtime. Cecilia Don cited a different set of figures, reporting total earnings of $183,000 including $83,000 in overtime through October 17, 2026. The two public commenters offered conflicting calculations, but both argued that excessive overtime threatens officer performance and safety.

Panel Testimony and Council Dialogue

• Drusilla Brown said the officers involved in her son's death remain employed and in contact with incarcerated people, and that there has been no real accountability despite the homicide ruling. She called the sheriff's department an island that cannot police itself and demanded transparency and oversight.
• Jasmine Borges, director of organizing for the Massachusetts Bail Fund, said she survived 12 years of incarceration at MCI Framingham and described the carceral system as violent. She said the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department budget was upwards of $130 million in 2025, and that the correctional officers involved in Mr. Kenny's death collectively make upwards of $900,000 in taxpayer-funded salaries. She reported that a records request to all 14 Massachusetts sheriff's departments produced responses from only eight. She said 47 people died in Massachusetts jails from 2021 to 2025, including 25 who were awaiting trial and 22 who were sentenced, and listed many of the names of those who died in Suffolk County. She demanded transparency, termination of the officers involved, an end to central booking, no future SCSD contracts, an end to sweeps and the encampment ban, and investment in housing, harm reduction, and voluntary treatment.
• Katie Naples Mitchell, Justice Policy Counsel for the ACLU of Massachusetts, said people in Suffolk County jails are city constituents, many retain voting rights, most are held pretrial, and more than 50% of the jail population is Black. She said 67% of people in Suffolk County detention are held pretrial, compared to 62% across county jails, and that more than 25,000 people cycled through Massachusetts county jails in 2025. She cited more than 1,500 pre-arraignment admissions under the central booking agreement between January 1 and July 31, 2026. She described medical neglect, delayed responses to mental health requests, violence, a culture of impunity, and a 'blue wall of silence.' She discussed a detainee who requested mental health support days after Mr. Kenny's death and was told to 'try to be patient.' She also recounted a Sheriff's Department employee vehicle with a license plate frame reading 'Suffolk County House of Corruption, class of 85.' She recommended that the council make ordinance violations summons-only, reduce arrests for certain low-level misdemeanors, attach accountability requirements to the central booking agreement, and use its power of the purse.
• David Reaney, executive director of Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts, said his organization interviewed about 30 people after Mr. Kenny's death. He documented allegations of chokeholds, kneeling on necks and upper backs, punching people while gripping handcuffs or keys, and wrist bending that caused fractures. He said these practices violated the sheriff's department's own use of force policy. He stated that officers reported to be involved in Mr. Kenny's death continued to have contact with incarcerated people and participate in use of force incidents despite public statements that they were in non-contact posts. He asked the council to press for a public accounting of officer assignments and to insist on discipline and accountability.
• Mallory Hanora, co-director of Families for Justice as Healing, said her organization warned about South Bay in a letter seven years ago, including a demand to remove officers with histories of violence, and was told its concerns were baseless. She said women moved from MCI Framingham to South Bay in 2019 have experienced sexual exploitation, verbal abuse, and dehumanization. She argued that jail is not housing, treatment, or mental health care, and called for South Bay to be shut down. She also condemned the absence of the sheriff's department and the lack of response to families.
• Giovanni Matabuchi, executive director of the Massachusetts Bail Fund, said he was insulted that the Sheriff's Department and BPD were absent. He said the bail fund posts 50% of its bails in Suffolk County, up to 700 people per year. He criticized city policies including sweeps, the tent ban ordinance, jail court, central booking, and Project Evolve, describing them as practices that criminalize unhoused people and people who use drugs. He said his organization is abolitionist and called on the council to direct BPD to end warrant sweeps and arrests for low-level survival offenses and to invest in housing and voluntary treatment.
• Cassie Hurd, director of the Material Aid and Advocacy Program, described supporting unhoused people and people who use drugs. She condemned the encampment ban, addiction-first practices, the coordinated response team, central booking, the closure of an engagement center, and cuts to harm reduction services. She read an account from a community member who said he was taken by BPD, held without access to his medications, humiliated by correctional officers, and traumatized. She said the council must hold SCSD accountable and stop participating in harm.
• During council questions, Councilor Culpepper asked about eliminating cash bail. Katie Naples Mitchell said New Jersey and Illinois provide cautionary examples because eliminating cash bail without addressing other sources of detention can leave racial disparities intact or create new detention pathways. She recommended making ordinance violations summons-only and making lower-level misdemeanors with a maximum penalty of 100 days or less non-arrestable, citing more than 18,000 such arrests in a single year in fiscal year 2019.
• Councilor Mejia asked whether an independent oversight body exists. Panelists said there is no current outside entity comparable to a police oversight commission, though the Attorney General's office could investigate. Councilor Mejia asked for a dashboard and an oversight commission and committed to amplifying the demands.
• Councilor Louijeune asked who investigates use of force violations. Panelists explained that the Suffolk County District Attorney's office is the statutorily required investigator for in-custody deaths, but had a conflict because it was prosecuting witnesses, and the Attorney General's criminal division became involved later. They said internal investigations are handled by the jail's Special Investigations Division, which is not independent.
• Councilor Weber asked whether South Bay is an outlier. Panelists said abuse and neglect pervade county jails, but South Bay has a distinct culture and has been described by people inside as worse than even a state supermax facility. Jasmine Borges called South Bay 'our Rikers Island.'
• Councilor Culpepper asked about the CERT team. Katie Naples Mitchell said CERT responds to incidents, transports people to segregation, and staffs segregation units, where many abuse allegations occur and where there are no cameras. She said she had provided written questions to the sheriff's department that remain unanswered.

Key Outcomes

• No formal votes were taken. The hearing was informational, but councilors committed to follow-up work.
• Councilor Culpepper said he would form a working group with panelists and other councilors and proposed meeting bi-weekly to develop reforms.
• Panelists and public commenters identified concrete next steps, including using subpoena power, requiring public records production, creating an independent oversight body, ending central booking, terminating officers involved in Shacobi Kenny's death, and changing Boston Police arrest practices.
• Councilor Culpepper said a possible follow-up hearing was being planned around Monday, December 7, 2026, one year after Mr. Kenny's death, to allow incarcerated people to testify, though he said it was not confirmed.
• The meeting adjourned shortly after 5:30 PM.