State lawmakers pass historic bill to open records of state institutions including the Fernald school

Following decades of secrecy surrounding former state institutions for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, a new bill poised for the governor’s signature promises to open long-shuttered records, including those from the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center in Waltham.

The legislation, championed by State Sen. Michael J. Barrett, seeks to shed light on the untold histories of thousands who lived and died in such facilities across Massachusetts. The bill, passed by both chambers of the Legislature, will allow broader public access to records of residents and patients, many of whom remain nameless and voiceless in the public record.

A recent report by the Special Commission on State Institutions found persistent barriers for family members and researchers trying to piece together the lives of loved ones once held in state custody. While most records remain in state archives, privacy laws have kept them largely inaccessible despite public interest. The bill’s measures are designed to address those obstacles by implementing key recommendations from the commission.

“The commission opened a long-neglected inquiry into the troubling history of these facilities, including the Fernald School in Waltham,” Barrett said. “Fernald and its kin held people of all ages without their consent. It served as the site of ghastly violations of human rights. Yet much of Fernald’s story remains unknown. … This measure will enable researchers to excavate the histories of people at Fernald and elsewhere.”

Among the bill’s provisions: Records of individuals held in state institutions will become available 75 years after their creation, and disclosures of patient records more than 50 years after a patient’s death will be presumed in the best interest of the patient. The legislation also enacts a moratorium on the destruction of patient records pending review and repeals a law permitting medical schools to use the bodies of deceased state institution patients for scientific research.

Maura Sullivan, CEO of The Arc of Massachusetts, which advocated for the commission’s creation and has pushed for record access for years, praised lawmakers for their leadership. “We must know the history of state institutions, however painful, so that we never repeat it,” Sullivan said. “With this new law, we restore dignity to former patients and their families.”

Alex Green of Waltham, a Harvard Kennedy School faculty member and disability rights leader, called the legislation a “monumentally important” reckoning. “Each of the records, graves, and human bodies set free by these laws was a human being whose memory we can now honor by saying their names, telling their stories, and ensuring that disabled people of today will not be subjected to the same inhumanity,” Green said.

Having cleared the House and Senate, the bill now awaits action by the governor. Barrett said he is optimistic the legislation will be signed into law.

“Massachusetts prides itself on sharing its rich history with the world,” he said. “But not all of our stories are so uplifting. … The past can be a guide, but only if we truly know it.”