Massachusetts appropriates $1M for alternative program or nonviolent offenders from Mass and Cass

Lawmakers are making a move to tackle the Mass and Cass problem by putting $1 million toward alternative treatment to get nonviolent offenders clean and out of the encampment at the center of the region’s opioid crisis.

“We’re extremely grateful that the Legislature has recognized the value of this program and the extreme urgency of addressing the complex problems at Mass and Cass,” said Suffolk District Attorney’s Office chief spokesman James Borghesani.

The $56.2 billion state budget, passed on the last day of July, is awaiting Gov. Maura Healey’s signature.

The million dollars is found on page 23 of the nearly 400-page state budget. This section outlines an appropriation just shy of $1.5 million toward “the implementation and administration of drug diversion programs for nonviolent young adult drug offenders,” with the bulk of the funds intended directly for a program run in Suffolk County.

“Not less than $1,000,000 shall be expended for the Services Over Sentences program to address the ongoing public health and safety crisis at the intersection and surrounding area of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard,” the bill states.

The Services Over Sentences, or SOS, program began in county and Boston municipal courts in 2021 and expanded in May of last year with $400,000 obtained from the DA’s office’s Asset Forfeiture fund — the proceeds of sales from assets obtained from suspected drug dealers and others during investigations — “with the goal of aiding individuals who reside in and frequent the Mass and Cass section of Boston,” a statement from the office announced at the time.

Borghesani said that the appropriation is all fresh funding in addition to that earlier funding.

The funding is the latest piece in a flurry of attention to Mass and Cass.

Two letters from local, state and federal lawmakers representing Boston called for a police sweep of the troubled area. Mayor Michelle Wu on Wednesday said that conditions there have reached “a new level of public safety alarm” over the past several weeks. And the heavy rains experienced in the Hub recently have some observers worried about runoff from Mass and Cass polluting the harbor.

The DA’s office partners with North Suffolk Community Services — which was called the North Suffolk Mental Health Association at the time — so “non-violent offenders with mental health or substance use disorders can volunteer to work with clinicians and recovery coaches on an intensive recovery program.”

In the roughly one year since the expansion, 73 nonviolent offenders from the Mass and Cass area have been referred to the program, according to the DA’s office. It was not immediately clear how many of those people opted for the program.

NSCS, formerly NSMHA, was founded in 1959 by the residents of East Boston and the Suffolk County cities of Chelsea, Winthrop, and Revere and, its website states, provides “a comprehensive array of treatment and recovery services” in support of the stability of individuals and families. The Center did not return inquiries submitted earlier this week.

Borghesani said that the office had unsuccessfully requested the $1 million in funding for last year’s budget, of which the program received a fraction of that, and repeated the request for the fiscal 2024 budget.

“The Suffolk delegation got behind it and pushed it in,” he said. “A lot of the credit goes to the entire Suffolk delegation, especially Sen. Nick Collins.”

Collins, who represents the area in the state Senate, said “It was a no-brainer to step that (initial funding up) and provide those resources for those battling substance use disorder, and that being their primary reason for engagement with the criminal justice system.”

He said that state Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, another representative for the region and the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, was essential to getting the funding in place on the house side.

“This is one piece of the puzzle, but an important piece, to ensure we have the resources in the right hands to divert people to treatment and give them a shot,” Collins said. “People need a year; we need to do everything we can do to give them a year to get sober and healthy, and that has to be available with a carrot and a stick.”

He said current policies show the situation at Mass and Cass “is not containable,” and said it’s time “to get beyond the political paralysis that have us distributing needles then found in parks all over the city … It has left us with an untenable situation for far too long.”