Sen. DiDomenico advocates for bill providing IDs to citizens released from prison

Special to The Advocate

State Senator Sal DiDomenico recently spoke before the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security to advocate for his bill, S.1506, An Act relative to successful transition and re-entry to tomorrow for incarcerated persons. This legislation will provide identification cards to people who are incarcerated and will soon be reentering our communities. Many people who are released from incarceration do not have IDs, so they are immediately barred from accessing public and private services.

Senator DiDomenico spoke about the importance of passing S.1506: “The unfortunate truth is that we do not prepare people leaving prison for reentry into society, and one simple and effective way to change that is by giving them an ID. This bill will provide people leaving incarceration with the ability to prove their identity in our society, which is key to accessing housing, food, employment, and basic needs that allow a person to survive, and then to thrive.”

Without an ID card, some people can’t even enter rehabilitation homes or halfway houses, which poses a very clear and harmful challenge to someone who is reentering society. This problem is likely to increase recidivism because we make life so difficult at the very first step of the reentry process for these individuals, which is the opposite of how we should be treating our residents.

Senator DiDomenico sponsored this bill alongside State Representative Brandy Fluker Oakley, and he will continue to work with her and countless advocates to get this important bill over the finish line.