Prisoners would have greater opportunities for early release, even if they received a mandatory minimum sentence, under legislation resulting from the cooperation between all three branches of government on criminal justice reform.

The broad outlines of the criminal justice reform bill that Gov. Charlie Baker plans to file were announced at an early morning press conference on Tuesday attended by House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Senate President Stan Rosenberg, Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Ralph Gants and other prominent government officials.

Rahsaan Hall, director of the Racial Justice Program for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, agreed with the speaker and Senate president that the legislation is a positive step, but said granting prisoners a means to earn good time is not a substitute for giving judges discretion to issue lesser sentences.

"I think that's a small step in the right direction. But I think there are a lot of people who end up in the criminal justice system serving lengthier sentences because of guilty pleas that are leveraged by the use of a mandatory minimum," Hall said. He said, "Taking time off and having access to programming is important, and getting good time for that is important. But I think that we have to recognize how everybody's not going to get into those programs or going to avail themselves of those programs. Just because they don't do that though does not mean that they still deserve to serve a lengthy mandatory sentence."

The governor said more than half of people who are released from houses of correction and state prisons "wind up back in the court system at some point after their release," and he said reducing that recidivism rate was the focus of the effort.

"Prison is, as it should be, a punishment, but the people of Massachusetts are better served when more individuals exit the system as law-abiding and productive members of society," Baker said.

The governor suggested he sees value in current statutes that require a minimum period of incarceration for those convicted of certain crimes. He said the bill would "set certain parameters for earning good time for certain drug distribution crimes while still honoring the mandatory minimum sentences established by the Legislature."

The chief justice of the state's highest court, on the other hand, sees fundamental problems with mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes. In his 2014 State of the Judiciary address, Gants said those strict sentencing parameters have a "disparate impact upon racial and ethnic minorities," and eliminating those sentencing floors would "free up a considerable amount of money" from the cost of imprisonment for use on programming and increases in the salaries of prosecutors and public defenders.

"Why would we require judges to impose sentences that are not informed by the social science evidence regarding what sentences reduce the risk of recidivism and what sentences may increase that risk?"

Gants asked in his 2014 address, according to a copy of the speech. "But sadly, in drug cases where the law provides a mandatory minimum sentence, that is precisely the sentencing system we now have."

While not explicitly calling for the repeal of all mandatory minimum sentences, Gants on Tuesday spoke to "the importance of individualized sentencing."

"Incarceration should be a last resort when there are other options available to people who have engaged in non-violent activities that may come into conflict with law, but are being driven either by their addiction or their mental illness. So I'm mindful of the fact that we call it the Department of Corrections not the Department of Punishment," Senate President Rosenberg said Tuesday.

The state enlisted the Council of State Governments to review the swath of laws and policies that govern Massachusetts's approach to criminal justice. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said there was an "incredible" effort by the CSG, including the review of more than 13 million state records and more than 300 in-person interviews.

In addition to allowing people serving mandatory minimum sentences to reduce their time of incarceration by participation in programing - something Brownsberger said is generally not available now - the bill would also boost the rewards for all prisoners participating in programs.

"The good time availability goes up 50 percent for all prisoners," Brownsberger told reporters. On top of that, Brownsberger said the credit for completing a course would be increased from a maximum of 10 days now to a maximum of 90 days under the bill.

Baker said giving drug offenders a tangible reason to participate in programming would help reduce the recidivism rate.

"The way the system currently works, there really isn't much of an incentive for them to participate in programming, and we think that would be a good thing," Baker said.

As of fiscal 2014, it cost an average $53,040.87 annually to house a Department of Correction inmate.
There were 9,066 people in Department of Correction custody and 10,768 in county facilities as of Feb. 13, according to DOC data. The CSG review found that the state's total incarcerated population fell 12 percent between 23,220 and 20,325, while recidivism rates have hovered around 40 percent.

Brownsberger said the programming is geared toward "cognitive behavior programming, oriented toward changing criminal thinking." The Belmont Democrat said about two thirds of the "drug mandatories would be opened up to earning good time," and said the bill aims to improve programming within correctional facilities and probation and parole supervision outside prison walls at a cost of about $3.5 million for the first year.

The governor's office said the funding was included in the governor's budget bill.

"Three and a half million is certainly a start, but compared to the need, that doesn't go very far," said Lew Finfer, the director of the Massachusetts Communities Action Network.

The governor said the bill would also "allow judges to refer people to pre-trial services instead of holding them on bail."

Katie Lannan contributed reporting to this story.