War On Christmas in Massachusetts Prisons.
Christmas cards - sold as ''seasonal greeting card'' unavailable this year by Keefe Commissary Network.
Incarcerated people in Souza-Baranowski Correction Center were informed: ''fulfillment cancellation'' on Christmas card orders.
Prisoners who ordered Christmas cards did not receive their order during the first weeks of December. Those incarcerated people who ordered Christmas cards were told on their order receipts: ''Cancelled: No Item Substitute''.
The public does not realize that there is a short window from the time an inmate in prison orders ''Seasonal Holiday Cards'' after Thanksgiving. Only a week - maybe two weeks. And, prisoners must consider the week delay receiving their orders - then the time it takes for the institution to post the letter.
Orders made on the second week of December, for example, will not arrive and be delivered until the following week. This allows just a day or two to send the card - if received. And there are no guarantees.
In many prisons, religious organizations and groups provide Christmas cards. Not in liberal progressive Massachusetts. This deep blue state has for years frustrated and hindered this particular Christian holiday. Incarcerated individuals have in the past received ''Christmas gifts'' from local charities. No more.
In Souza-Baranowski, the Keefe Canteen Network, hands out a gift package in a brown paper bag. Usually, a pair of socks, shampoo, soap and stationary. As we approach mid-December, inmates have yet to receive this gift.
There is no movement from cellblocks to a facility Chapel. A Chaplain, and Imam, do make rounds. Rarely do Roman Catholic priests or Jewish Rabbis make rounds - I've never seen one make rounds in Souza-Baranowski. In medium security institutions where there's a Chapel, like the old MCI-Concord, in 2019, Cardinal O'Malley visited and held mass. MCI-Concord has since closed.
Prisoners in Massachusetts are languishing in secularism. Political will keep religion out of Commonwealth prisons. Certainly, prison authorities will object to this - but, the paucity of religious organizations and groups tell a decided truth: religion is not welcome in Massachusetts prisons.
That the Keefe Canteen Network, an approved vendor of the Massachusetts Department of Correction, could not - or would not deliver Christmas cards - from the period allowed after Thanksgiving to mid-December - speaks volumes.