Department of Corrections

State officials plan to wind down operations at MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole, one of the oldest correctional facilities in Massachusetts. The Department of Correction on Thursday announced a two-year, phased plan to “suspend housing operations” at the maximum-security prison, which is currently operating at 68 percent capacity with about 525 inmates. The agency cited “decreased housing needs and the aging…

The Department of Correction announced the second death of an inmate Saturday after contracting the coronavirus. According to a DOC statement, the 57–year-old prisoner showed symptoms on April 15, 2020. The inmate was transferred to the facility quarantine unit for testing. “While moving, the offender’s condition deteriorated and he was taken to Johnson Memorial Hospital for further treatment,” said DOC…

Over the weekend, Gov. Charlie Baker visited with the corrections officers hurt Friday in an attack at a prison in Shirley, Massachusetts. The attack at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, which began when an officer was surrounded and assaulted by inmates in a general population housing unit, left that officer hospitalized along with two others who intervened. Baker spoke with the…

The Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts, was on lockdown for most of Tuesday after an incident that left 5 corrections officers injured.

A corrections officer was assaulted and four other prison guards were hospitalized following an incident Tuesday morning at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts. The prison was locked down and remains so as a result of the incident, according to the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office.

After a convicted sex offender was released from custody this month, prosecutors are urging the state to change the law that allowed him to get out. Wayne Chapman, 71, was able to go free after he was acquitted of lewdness charges in Middlesex Superior Court. The verdict allowed him to leave prison after 40 years because of a decision from...

Convicted child rapist Wayne Chapman is a free man, but his case is raising concerns.

A rural jail is set to become Massachusetts’ first correctional facility to dispense methadone to inmates for opioid addiction treatment. Franklin County Sheriff Christopher Donelan said Tuesday his office received state and federal approvals to establish a methadone clinic at its jail in Greenfield. The jail will soon offer all three federally-approved opioid treatment medications onsite.

As western Massachusetts struggles with a dramatic spike in fatal overdoses, officials are embracing a controversial solution: sending men who have not committed any crimes to jails and prisons for court-ordered addiction treatment. Hampden County Sheriff Thomas Cocchi has designated a wing of his jail for the treatment of men civilly committed for substance abuse reasons. It’s the only facility...

Authorities are investigating the death of an inmate in Vermont.

Authorities are investigating the death of an inmate in Vermont.

Authorities in Vermont say a man charged with planning a school shooting will be sent to a residential treatment facility outside the state.

A Massachusetts woman has been indicted after allegedly having sex with an inmate at the correctional facility where she worked in Bridgewater. A Plymouth County Grand Jury returned an indictment Friday against Vicki Oliver, 53, of New Bedford, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office. Oliver was charged with one count of sexual relations with an inmate. On Feb....

A new program in New Hampshire is pairing puppies with prisoners. Four puppies are now living at the Merrimack County Jail, and their inmate handlers say the program is helping them turn their lives around.

An inmate who is accused of attempting to solicit other inmates to murder a member of his family has been arrested by Connecticut State Police.

Out of 54 California agencies surveyed by the Investigative Unit, 20 percent had launched internal pornography investigations since 2015.

Florida officials have evacuated nearly 3,000 inmates after two prisons were damaged during Hurricane Michael.

The lawyer for a man accused of killing a person whose body was found in a burning Vermont home says his client will stop fighting for his release on bail.

One of the Lawrence, Massachusetts boys who was raped by Wayne Chapman in 1977 spoke publicly for the first time after a judge denied his lawyer’s petition seeking to stop Chapman’s release from prison.

Mental health experts who evaluated convicted serial rapist Wayne Chapman said he still has urges to sexually assault children, but is no longer physically capable of doing so.