BOSTON — House and Senate negotiators reached agreement Friday on a sweeping overhaul of the state’s criminal justice system, ending several months of what were described as occasionally contentious discussions.
The compromise unveiled by a six-member conference committee calls for a wide range of changes in how Massachusetts deals with crime and punishment issues. The changes would affect everything from bail to sentencing to the use of solitary confinement in prisons.
“The agreement we have reached … is about lifting people up instead of locking them up,” said Democratic Sen. William Brownsberger, the chief Senate negotiator. “It’s about cutting the chains that hold people down when they are trying to get back on their feet, and it is about better protecting the public from guns and drugs.”
The committee met behind closed doors for several months to resolve differences between House and Senate versions of a bill widely considered to be the most sweeping criminal justice overhaul in Massachusetts in several decades.
“Other bills made small dents. This makes a big bang,” said Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Creem, who also took part in the negotiations, as did House Majority Leader Ronald Mariano.
The compromise faces an up or down vote from lawmakers early next month, with no further amendments allowed.
The bill would repeal several mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, while also calling for tougher sentences for trafficking in fentanyl and carfentanil, synthetic opioids blamed for accelerating the deadly opioid abuse crisis.
Democratic Rep. Claire Cronin, the top House negotiator, said lawmakers sought to lessen penalties for low-level drug offenses and offer greater access to treatment for those addicted, while at the time increasing penalties for “those who seek to profit from the misery of others.”
“Let the message be clear, fentanyl and carfentanil are not welcome in Massachusetts,” said Cronin.
Lawmakers said the compromise also addresses a loophole in a previous law that Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey said had inadvertently tied the hands of prosecutors trying to crack down on dealers who mix the synthetic opioids with heroin or other drugs.