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USA Statutes : massachusetts
Title : PART I. ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT
Chapter : TITLE XVIII. PRISONS, IMPRISONMENT, PAROLES AND PARDONS
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Section 1. In addition to exercising the powers and performing the duties which are otherwise given him by law, the commissioner of correction, in this chapter called the commissioner, shall:(a) designate, establish, maintain, and administer such state correctional facilities as he deems necessary, and may discontinue the use of such state correctional facilities as he deems appropriate for such action; provided that no state or county correctional facility named in paragraph (n) of section one of chapter 125 shall be discontinued without specific authorization and approval of the General Court;(b) maintain security, safety and order at all state correctional facilities, utilize the resources of the department to prevent escapes from any such facility, take all necessary precautions to prevent the occurrence or spread of any disorder, riot or insurrection at any such facility, including but not limited to the development, planning, and coordination of emergency riot procedures with the colonel of state police, and take suitable measures for the restoration of order;(c) establish and enforce standards for all state correctional facilities;(d) establish standards for all county correctional facilities and secure compliance with such standards, if necessary, through the enforcement provisions of section one B of chapter one hundred and twenty-seven;(e) establish, maintain and administer programs of rehabilitation, including but not limited to education, training and employment, of persons committed to the custody of the department, designed as far as practicable to prepare and assist each such person to assume the responsibilities and exercise the rights of a citizen of the commonwealth;(f) establish a system of classification of persons committed to the custody of the department for the purpose of developing a rehabilitation program for each such person;(g) determine at the time of commitment, and from time to time thereafter, the custody requirements and program needs of each person committed to the custody of the department and assign or transfer such persons to appropriate facilities and programs;(h) establish training programs for employees of the department and, by agreement, other corrections personnel;(i) investigate grievances and inquire into alleged misconduct within state correctional facilities;(j) maintain adequate records of persons committed to the custody of the department;(k) establish and maintain programs of research, statistics and planning, and conduct studies relating to correctional programs and responsibilities of the department;(l) utilize, as far as practicable, the services and resources of specialized community agencies and other local community groups in the rehabilitation of offenders, development of programs, recruitment of volunteers and dissemination of information regarding the work and needs of the department;(m) make and enter any contracts and agreements necessary or incidental to the performance of the duties and execution of the powers of the department, including but not limited to contracts to render services to committed offenders, and to provide for training or education for correctional officers and staff;(n) seek to develop civic interest in the work of the department and educate the public and advise the general court as to the needs and goals of the corrections process;(o) expend annually in the exercise of his powers, performance of his duties, and for the necessary operations of the department such sums as may be appropriated therefor by the general court;(p) report annually to the secretary of health and human services, the governor and the general court;(q) make and promulgate necessary rules and regulations incident to the exercise of his powers and the performance of his duties including but not limited to rules and regulations regarding nutrition, sanitation, safety, discipline, recreation, religious services, communication and visiting privileges, classification, education, training, employment, care, and custody for all persons committed to correctional facilities.
(r) adopt policies and procedures, in consultation with the county sheriffs, establishing reasonable fees for haircuts that are provided to inmates at any county or state correctional facility. Except as otherwise provided, the commissioner or a county sheriff may charge each inmate a reasonable fee for any haircut provided. The commissioner of correction may deduct such fee from the inmate’s account as provided for in section 48A of chapter 127.
(s) adopt policies and procedures establishing reasonable medical and health service fees for the medical services that are provided to inmates at any state jail or correctional facility. Except as otherwise provided, the commissioner may charge each inmate a reasonable fee for any medical and mental health services provided, including prescriptions, medication, or prosthetic devices. The fee shall be deducted from the inmate’s account as provided for in section 48A of chapter 127. The commissioner shall exempt the following inmates from payment of medical and health services fees: medical visits initiated by the medical or mental health staff, consultants, or contract personnel of the department, prisoners determined to be terminally ill, pregnant, or otherwise hospitalized for more than 30 days successively during the term of incarceration and juvenile inmates and inmates who are undergoing follow-up medical treatment for chronic diseases. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, an inmate shall not be refused medical treatment for financial reasons. The commissioner shall also establish criteria for reasonable deductions from moneys credited to the inmate’s account as provided for in section 48A of chapter 127 to repay the cost of medical treatment for injuries that were self-inflicted or inflicted by the inmate on others.
(t) in accordance with clause (s), the commissioner shall as part of the rules and regulations on payments for medical services, require the department of corrections or the county correctional facility to ascertain whether any inmate seeking medical services has health insurance coverage and if said inmate does have health insurance coverage, said health insurance plan shall be billed for any services provided.
(u) adopt policies and procedures establishing reasonable fees for maintenance and administration of inmate accounts maintained at any state correctional facility. The commissioner may charge each inmate reasonable fees for the maintenance and administration of inmate accounts and may deduct such fees from each inmate’s accounts.
grants, gifts or bequests; site selection for new facilities; title to property Section 10. The department shall be a corporation for the purpose of taking, holding and administering in trust for the commonwealth any grant, gift or bequest made either to the commonwealth or to it for the use of persons under its control in any correctional facility of the department or for expenditure upon any work which the department is authorized to undertake. The department may accept, receive and use money, goods or services given for the general purposes of the department by the federal government or from any other source, public or private, and may comply with such conditions and enter into such agreements upon such covenants, terms and conditions as the department deems necessary or desirable, provided the agreement is not in conflict with state law.
The department, subject to the approval of the governor, shall select the site of any new state correctional facility and any land to be taken or purchased by the commonwealth for the purposes of any new or existing state correctional facility. If any land or property is taken or purchased by the department, title shall be taken in the name of the commonwealth.
Section 2. Subject to the supervision and control of the commissioner, the deputy commissioner for institutional services shall be responsible for planning and directing the efficient administration of each correctional institution of the commonwealth by the officers and employees of the institution.
Subject to the supervision and control of the commissioner, the deputy commissioner for classification and treatment shall be responsible for planning and directing the rehabilitation services of all the correctional institutions of the commonwealth, including the classification, medical, educational, industrial, vocational and recreational programs of each such institution.
Subject to the supervision and control of the commissioner, the deputy commissioner for personnel and training shall be responsible for planning and directing departmental procedures for the appointment, assignment, transfer, training, supervision, discipline and compensation of officers and employees of the department and the correctional institutions of the commonwealth.
Subject to the supervision and control of the commissioner, the deputy commissioner for community services shall be responsible for planning and directing community programs and services provided to committed offenders.
Each of the said deputy commissioners shall perform such other duties as may be assigned to him from time to time by the commissioner.
Section 5. The commissioner shall, at least once in six months, report in writing to the governor the condition of the correctional institutions of the commonwealth, and shall so report to the governor when, in his judgment, the conditions of administration, financial management or discipline in any of said institutions require executive action.
Section 6. He shall make an annual report setting forth fully and in detail the actual condition on November thirtieth of each correctional institution of the commonwealth, and on December thirty-first of each jail and house of correction, the number of inmates in each, such statistics from the reports required by section eight as will show the results of criminal prosecutions, and such statistics from the reports required by section nine, and by section one hundred of chapter two hundred and seventy-six, as he considers proper. The report shall state the industries which have been carried on in the institutions named in section fifty-one of chapter one hundred and twenty-seven during the year, the number of prisoners employed in each, the greatest and smallest number thereof at any one time, the kind and quantity of goods manufactured, the amount thereof sold to such institutions and elsewhere, and the prices received therefor. The report shall include the reports made to him by the officers of the correctional institutions of the commonwealth, of the other penal institutions, and of the parole board.
Section 8. Clerks of courts shall annually, on or before January fifteenth, make reports to the commissioner of all criminal cases commenced in the superior court in the several counties during the year ending on December thirty-first, and of all criminal cases entered therein on appeal during such time. Clerks of district courts shall annually, at the same time and for the same period, make like reports of criminal cases in which such courts have exercised jurisdiction, and shall state whether such jurisdiction was final or otherwise. Blank forms for such reports shall be prepared and furnished by the commissioner. Whoever refuses or neglects to make the report required of him by this section shall forfeit two hundred dollars.
Section 9. The police commissioner of Boston, city marshals or chiefs of police and every officer making an arrest in a town not having a city marshal or chief of police shall make monthly reports to the commissioner of the number of persons of each sex arrested in their several towns. Such reports shall be classified according to offences. An officer who refuses or neglects to make such report shall be punished by a fine of fifty dollars.
Section 1. As used in this chapter and elsewhere in the general laws, unless the context otherwise requires, the following words shall have the following meanings:(a) “administrator”, chief administrative officer of a county correctional facility;(b) “commissioner”, the commissioner of correction;(c) “committed offender”, a person convicted of a crime and committed, under sentence, to a correctional facility;(d) “correctional facility”, any building, enclosure, space or structure used for the custody, control and rehabilitation of committed offenders and of such other persons as may be placed in custody therein in accordance with law;(e) “correctional institution”, correctional facility;(f) “county correctional facility”, any correctional facility owned, operated, administered or subject to the control of a county of the commonwealth;(g) “department”, the department of correction;(h) “gainful employment”, employment within or without any correctional facility including but not limited to labor for the operation and maintenance of any correctional facility;(i) “inmate”, a committed offender or such other person as is placed in custody in a correctional facility in accordance with law;(j) “institution”, facility;(k) “penal institution”, correctional facility;(l) “prison”, correctional facility;(m) “prisoner”, a committed offender and such other person as is placed in custody in a correctional facility in accordance with law;(n) “state correctional facility”, any correctional facility owned, operated, administered or subject to the control of the department of correction, including but not limited to: Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Cedar Junction; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Norfolk; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Concord; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Framingham; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Plymouth; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Warwick; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Monroe;(o) “state prison”, Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Cedar Junction;(p) “superintendent”, the chief administrative officer of a state correctional facility.
Section 10. All officers of such institutions, before entering upon the performance of their official duties, shall take and subscribe the following oaths:—“I, A.
B.
, do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the commonwealth of Massachusetts, and will support the constitution thereof. So help me, God.
” “I, A.
B.
, do solemnly swear that I will obey the lawful orders of all my superior officers. So help me, God.
” “I, A.
B.
, do solemnly swear and affirm that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all duties incumbent on me in the office to which I have been appointed according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the requirements of the constitution, the laws of the commonwealth, and the rules provided in accordance with law for the government of the correctional institutions of the commonwealth. So help me, God.
” The oath may be administered by any officer authorized by law to administer oaths, and a record thereof shall be in the possession of the principal officer of the appropriate institution.
expenses in maintaining United States prisoners Section 11. The department of correction shall maintain, for the security and confinement of prisoners of the commonwealth, the correctional institutions of the commonwealth. A person convicted and sentenced in a court of the United States need not be received in any such institution unless the United States agrees with the commissioner to pay all expenses incurred by the commonwealth in maintaining him therein.
or orders of courts; personal property; receipt Section 12. All persons sentenced to any of the correctional institutions of the commonwealth shall be held in accordance with the sentences or orders of the courts and the rules and regulations of the commissioner. The personal property, valued in excess of fifty dollars, of all inmates held in correctional institutions of the commonwealth or in institutions maintained under the provisions of chapter one hundred and twenty-six shall, in so far as practical, be permanently marked with an identifying number assigned to the owner. If said property is removed from the possession of the owner, the owner shall be given a receipt, prior to any such removal.
Section 13. The officers of each correctional institution shall be a superintendent, a deputy, chaplains and such other officers as the commissioner may find necessary; provided, that there shall be employed therein such additional officers as the commissioner shall consider necessary to comply with section thirty-nine of chapter one hundred and forty-nine.
Section 14. Subject to rules and regulations established by the commissioner and according to law, the superintendent shall be responsible for the custody and control of all prisoners in the correctional institution, and shall govern and employ them pursuant to their respective sentences until their sentences have been performed or they are otherwise discharged by due course of law, or they are removed by the commissioner, and shall also have the charge and custody of the institution and of the land, buildings, furniture, tools, implements, stock, provisions, and all other property belonging to it or within its precincts. The superintendent shall establish and maintain at each correctional institution of the commonwealth a safe and secure place for the storage of firearms carried by uniformed correctional officers of said institutions to and from their place of employment.
Section 15. The superintendent, and his deputy, shall reside constantly within the precincts of the correctional institution, unless otherwise authorized by the commissioner.
facilities; alcohol treatment facility; separate awaiting trial unit Section 16. All females convicted of crimes in the courts of the commonwealth and sentenced to imprisonment or otherwise committed to the custody of the department shall be committed to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Framingham, or to such other correctional facility or facilities as the commissioner may from time to time designate as appropriate for the purpose.
The department shall maintain at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Framingham, a facility for the treatment and rehabilitation of alcoholics, subject to the approval of the department of public health under the provisions of chapter one hundred and eleven B.
The department shall maintain at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Framingham, a separate awaiting trial unit for females, to which female prisoners held for trial in accordance with section forty-two of chapter two hundred and seventy-six, may be transferred by the sheriff upon approval of the commissioner of correction if suitable facilities are not available in the county jail of the court of jurisdiction.
Section 17. The commissioner may, in behalf of the commonwealth hold not more than one acre of land within the town of Sherborn which may be used for the burial of prisoners who die in the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Framingham.
Section 18. The Bridgewater state hospital shall be part of the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater. The commissioner, with the approval of the commissioner of mental health, shall appoint a physician as medical director of the Bridgewater state hospital. The medical director shall have the care of the inmates thereof and govern them in accordance with rules and regulations approved by the commissioner.
Bridgewater; commitment; alcoholism Section 19. No person shall be committed to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater, for the treatment of alcoholism, except in accordance with the provisions of chapter one hundred and eleven B and chapter one hundred and twenty-three.
institutions; appointment; bond Section 2. The superintendent and the deputy of each correctional institution of the commonwealth shall be appointed by the commissioner, shall hold office during his pleasure, and shall not be subject to the provisions of sections nine A and nine B of chapter thirty, or chapter thirty-one.
Each superintendent shall, before entering on the performance of his official duties, give bond to the commonwealth, in such sum as the comptroller may prescribe, with sureties approved by the commissioner, conditioned faithfully to perform the duties of his office. The approval of the sureties shall be endorsed on the bond, and it shall be filed with the state treasurer.
institutions; suits; referees Section 20. All contracts on account of any correctional institution of the commonwealth, except those required to be made by the state purchasing agent, shall be made by the commissioner in writing. The commissioner and his successors in office may sue or be sued upon any contract made in accordance with this chapter. No such suit shall abate by reason of said office becoming vacant, but the successor of the commissioner, pending such suit, may, and, upon motion of the adverse party and notice, shall, prosecute or defend it. The commissioner may submit any controversy relative to any such contract, or any action pending on any such contract, to the final determination of arbitrators or referees appointed by the commissioner and the adverse party and approved by the commissioner of administration.
Section 21. At the time supplies for any of the said institutions are delivered, bills of the quantity and price of such supplies shall be taken and compared at the institution. Bills for all services rendered shall be taken and checked in like manner. Bills found to be correct shall be entered in the accounts of the institution, and appropriate notice of bills found to be incorrect shall be given so that any errors may be corrected.
appointment Section 3. All other officers and all employees in the said institutions shall be appointed by the commissioner, and, except as otherwise provided in chapter thirty and thirty-one, shall hold office during his pleasure.
Section 4. In certifying the names of persons eligible for appointment as correction officers in said institutions, the personnel administrator shall certify the names of persons who at the time of examination were over the age of nineteen.
superintendent; bond; compensation Section 5. If the office of the superintendent of any of the said institutions is vacant, or if the said officer is absent from the institution or is unable to perform his duties, an acting superintendent designated by the commissioner shall have the powers to perform the duties and be subject to the liability of the said office; and the commissioner may required such acting superintendent, before entering on the performance of his official duties, to give a bond to the commonwealth in such sum as the comptroller may prescribe, with sureties approved by the commissioner, conditioned on the faithful performance of such duties, and faithfully to account for all money received by him, as such acting superintendent. After the approval of such bond, the acting superintendent shall, as long as he performs the duties of the office, receive the salary of the superintendent in lieu of his salary prior to his designation as acting superintendent.
Section 6. The commissioner shall appoint a treasurer of each correctional institution of the commonwealth, who shall give bond with surety for the faithful performance of his duties. In each such institution the said treasurer shall receive and disburse all moneys paid by the commonwealth for the support of the institutions, and shall cause to be kept such books of account of the property, expenses, income and business thereof as may be approved by the comptroller.
commissioner’s rules Section 7. The superintendent of each such institution shall from time to time suggest to the commissioner in writing such alterations in the commissioner’s rules as he considers advisable for the direction of the officers and employees of the institution and its government.
Section 8. Officers and employees in each such institution required to wear uniforms while on duty shall be furnished at the expense of the commonwealth with such uniforms of standard pattern as shall be prescribed by the commissioner.
trainees; provisional and permanent appointment as officers; probationary period; tenure and benefits; restriction Section 9. The commissioner shall establish a training academy in cooperation with the municipal police training council and using their facilities and programs where appropriate and such other courses or places of training as he deems necessary for the training of correction officers, other employees of the department, persons appointed as correction officer trainees in accordance with this section and, by agreement, officers of county correctional facilities. The commissioner may appoint as a correction officer trainee, for a period of full-time training including on-the-job training, any citizen of the commonwealth who meets the qualifications required of applicants for appointment to the position of correction officer. Appointment to the position of correction officer trainee shall not be subject to section nine A and nine B of chapter thirty, or chapter thirty-one, nor shall a correction officer trainee be entitled to any benefits of such laws or civil service rules. Such appointment may be terminated in accordance with such conditions as the commissioner may prescribe. A correction officer trainee shall receive such compensation and such leave with pay as the commissioner shall determine and shall be considered an employee of the commonwealth for the purposes of workman’s compensation. Upon successful completion of training, a correction officer trainee shall be appointed, if a vacancy exists, to the position of provisional correction officer, provided there is no suitable civil service eligible list for correction officer.
A correction officer trainee shall not be subject to or entitled to the benefits of any retirement or pension law nor shall any deduction be made from his compensation for the purpose thereof; but a correction officer trainee who during the period of his training or provisional appointment status passes a competitive civil service examination for appointment to the department of correction and is appointed a permanent full-time correction officer shall have his trainee service considered as “creditable service” for purposes of retirement, provided he pays into the annuity savings fund of the retirement system such amount as the retirement board determines equal to that which he would have paid had he been a member of said retirement system during the period of his training.
In accordance with civil service laws and rules the division of personnel administration shall certify the names of applicants from an established list for correction officers to the commissioner who shall appoint said applicants as correction officers. Newly appointed correction officers who have not successfully completed training as correction officer trainees shall be assigned to a period of training as the commissioner shall prescribe. Notwithstanding any civil service law or rules, a correction officer must serve a probationary period of nine months before becoming a full-time permanent employee of the department. Time spent in training shall be considered a part of the probationary period.
Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, but subject to the provisions of section sixty of chapter one hundred and nineteen, no person who has been convicted of a felony or who has been convicted of a misdemeanor and has been confined in any jail or house of correction for said conviction, shall be appointed to any position in the department of correction unless the commissioner certifies that such appointment will contribute substantially to the work of the department; provided, however that no such person shall be appointed to the position of correction officer, superintendent, deputy superintendent, assistant superintendent, or any position involving the regulation of state or county correctional facilities.
The commissioner may expend such sums as may be appropriated or otherwise received to maintain and operate the training academy and other training centers and programs and maintain trainees and employees during any period of training.
INSPECTION OF PRISONS Chapter 126: Section 1. County commissioners; inspection of prisons; duties Section 1. The county commissioners shall be inspectors of the prisons in their counties. They shall twice in each year, at intervals of not exceeding eight months, themselves or by a committee of two of their members, visit all the prisons in their county, and fully examine into everything relative to the government, discipline and police thereof; and as soon as may be after each inspection, the committee shall make and subscribe a detailed report to the commissioners of the condition of each prison as to health, cleanliness and discipline at the time of inspection, the number of prisoners confined there within the preceding six months or since the last inspection, the causes of confinement, the number of prisoners usually confined in one room, the distinction, if any, usually observed in the treatment of the different classes of prisoners, the punishments inflicted, any evils or defects in the construction, discipline or management of such prisons, the names of prisoners who have been discharged or pardoned or who have died or escaped, and any violation or neglect of law relative to such prisons, with the causes, if known, of the violation or neglect.
HOUSES OF CORRECTION Chapter 126: Section 10. Execution of sentence Section 10. A sentence to a house of correction shall be executed in any house of correction in the county.
HOUSES OF CORRECTION Chapter 126: Section 11. Rules; examination of accounts; records Section 11. The county commissioners of the several counties and the penal institutions commissioner of Boston shall cause the rules established for the management of the house of correction and for the government of the prisoners therein to be strictly observed, shall examine all accounts of the master relative to the expenses of the institution, and keep a record of their official proceedings relative thereto.
HOUSES OF CORRECTION Chapter 126: Section 12. Sheriff’s report to superior court Section 12. The sheriff shall report to the superior court, at each session for criminal business, the number of prisoners sentenced to labor in houses of correction in the county employed, and also the number not employed with the reasons why they are not employed.
HOUSES OF REFORMATION FOR JUVENILE OFFENDERS Chapter 126: Section 13 to 15. Repealed, 1931, 426, Sec. 27 JAILS, HOUSES OF CORRECTION AND PRISONERS Chapter 126: Section 16. Custody and control of jails and houses of correction; jailer; assistants; bond Section 16. The sheriff shall have custody and control of the jails in his county, and, except in Suffolk county, of the houses of correction therein, and of all prisoners committed thereto, and shall keep the same himself or by his deputy as jailer, superintendent or keeper, and shall be responsible for them. The jailer, superintendent or keeper shall appoint subordinate assistants, employees and officers and shall be responsible for them. In Suffolk county the penal institutions commissioner shall appoint a superintendent of the house of correction, who shall hold office at the pleasure of said commissioner. A sheriff, who acts as jailer, superintendent or keeper, or a jailer, superintendent or keeper appointed by the sheriff, before entering upon the performance of his duties as such, and thereafter, at intervals of not more than one year, so long as he continues so to act or to hold such office, as the case may be, shall give to the state treasurer a bond, with such sureties as the superior court shall order and approve, conditioned faithfully to perform his duties.
JAILS, HOUSES OF CORRECTION AND PRISONERS Chapter 126: Section 17. Rent from jailers and keepers of houses of correction Section 17. No sheriff shall receive any rent or emolument from the jailers and keepers of the houses of correction for the use and occupation of the dwelling houses provided for them by the county.
JAILS, HOUSES OF CORRECTION AND PRISONERS Chapter 126: Section 18. Compensation and duties of officers and assistants Section 18. The compensation of all officers, assistants and employees of jails and houses of correction shall be paid by their respective counties, and shall be in full compensation for all their services. They shall devote their entire time, not exceeding the time limited by section forty of chapter one hundred and forty-nine, to the performance of their duties, unless released therefrom by the county commissioners.
JAILS, HOUSES OF CORRECTION AND PRISONERS Chapter 126: Section 18A. Injuries to jail or house of correction employees; compensation Section 18A. An employee in a jail or house of correction of a county who, while in the performance of duty, receives bodily injuries resulting from acts of violence of patients or prisoners in his custody, and who as result of such injury is entitled to benefits under chapter one hundred and fifty-two, shall be paid, in addition to the benefits of said chapter one hundred and fifty-two, the difference between the weekly cash benefits to which he is entitled under said chapter one hundred and fifty-two and his regular salary, without such absence being charged against available sick leave credits, even if such absence may be for less than eight calendar days duration.
JAILS, HOUSES OF CORRECTION AND PRISONERS Chapter 126: Section 19, 20. Repealed, 1931, 301, Sec. 19 INSPECTION OF PRISONS Chapter 126: Section 2. Exhibition of prison books, documents and accounts; examination of prison officers Section 2. When the commissioners or any of them visit any of said prisons, the sheriff, superintendent, keeper or other officer in charge thereof shall admit them, when required, into every apartment of such prison, exhibit all books, precepts, documents, accounts and papers relative to the affairs of the prison or to the detention or confinement of any person therein, which may be required, and give such aid as they request in the performance of their duties. The commissioners or their committee may examine on oath, administered by one of them, either by written interrogatories, to be answered in writing and subscribed, or otherwise as they may direct, any officer, keeper or other person relative to the affairs or management of any prison, and they may also converse with any prisoner apart, and without the presence of any officer or keeper.
JAILS, HOUSES OF CORRECTION AND PRISONERS Chapter 126: Section 21. Abstract of mittimus upon commitment of female Section 21. The keeper of a jail or master of a house of correction to which a female has been committed shall forthwith transmit to the commissioner of correction such an abstract of the mittimus upon which she has been committed as he may require.
JAILS, HOUSES OF CORRECTION AND PRISONERS Chapter 126: Section 22. Burial of deceased prisoners Section 22. If a prisoner dies in the jail or house of correction, the sheriff or keeper shall, except as provided in chapter one hundred and thirteen, deliver the body to his relatives or friends if they request it; otherwise, he shall bury it in the common burying ground, and the expense thereof shall be paid by the town where the deceased had resided.
JAILS, HOUSES OF CORRECTION AND PRISONERS Chapter 126: Section 23. Delivery of prisoners to sheriff’s successor Section 23. Upon the expiration of the term of office of a sheriff, or upon his resignation or removal, he shall deliver to his successor all the prisoners in his custody, but he shall retain the keeping of the jails and houses of correction and of the prisoners therein under his care until his successor has qualified.
JAILS, HOUSES OF CORRECTION AND PRISONERS Chapter 126: Section 24. Death of sheriff; temporary custody and control of jail; bond Section 24. Upon the death of a sheriff, the jailer, superintendent or keeper appointed by him shall continue in office and retain the custody and control of the jail or house of correction and of all prisoners therein until a successor to the deceased sheriff has qualified, or until the governor, with the advice and consent of the council, removes him and appoints another. The jailer, superintendent or keeper appointed by the governor shall give bond, with sureties as the governor directs and approves, for the faithful performance of the duties of his office.
JAILS, HOUSES OF CORRECTION AND PRISONERS Chapter 126: Section 25. Care of jail or house of correction Section 25. The keeper of each jail and the superintendent of each house of correction shall, at the county’s expense, cause it to be constantly kept in as cleanly and healthful a condition as may be. No permanent vault shall be used in any apartment. Every room occupied by a prisoner shall be furnished with a suitable bucket, with a cover made to shut tight, for the necessary accommodation of such prisoner, and such bucket, when used, shall be emptied daily and shall be constantly kept in good order.
JAILS, HOUSES OF CORRECTION AND PRISONERS Chapter 126: Section 26. Removal of prisoners in case of disease Section 26. If disease breaks out in a jail or other county prison, which, in the opinion of the inspectors of the prison, may endanger the lives or health of the prisoners to such a degree as to render their removal necessary, the inspectors may designate in writing a suitable place within the same county, or any prison in a contiguous county, as a place of confinement for such prisoners. Such designation, having been filed with the clerk of the superior court, shall be a sufficient authority for the sheriff, jailer, superintendent or keeper to remove all prisoners in his custody to the place designated, and there to confine them until they can safely be returned to the place whence they were removed. Any place to which the prisoners are so removed shall during their imprisonment therein be deemed a prison of the county where they were originally confined, but they shall be under the care, government and direction of the officers of the county where they are confined.
JAILS, HOUSES OF CORRECTION AND PRISONERS Chapter 126: Section 27. Removal of prisoners in case of danger from fire or bombing Section 27. If a jail or other county prison or any building near thereto is on fire, or if a bomb threat has been received, or there is reason to believe a bomb threat or similar threat exists, and the prisoners are exposed to danger thereby, the sheriff, jailer or other person in charge of the prison may remove them to a safe place, and there confine them as long as necessary to avoid the danger, and such removal and confinement shall not be deemed an escape of the prisoners.
EXPENSE OF SUPPORTING PRISONS Chapter 126: Section 28. Supplies for jails and houses of correction Section 28. The county commissioners shall, except in Suffolk county, without extra charge or commission to themselves or to any other person, procure or cause to be procured all necessary supplies for the jails and houses of correction, to be purchased and provided under their direction and at the expense of the county.
EXPENSE OF SUPPORTING PRISONS Chapter 126: Section 29. Expense of keeping and maintaining convicts Section 29. The expense of keeping and maintaining convicts sentenced to imprisonment in the jail or house of correction, of the keeping of persons charged with or convicted of crime and committed for trial or sentence, and of prisoners committed on mesne process or execution, so long as the fees for their board are paid by the defendant or debtor, plaintiff or creditor, shall be paid by the county after the accounts of the keeper or master have been settled and allowed by the county commissioners, or, in Suffolk county, by the auditor of Boston; and no allowance therefor shall be made by the commonwealth.
INSPECTION OF PRISONS Chapter 126: Section 3. Violation of laws relative to prisons; notice Section 3. If it appears to the commissioners, from the report of their committee or otherwise, that any law relative to prisons has been violated or neglected in their county, they shall forthwith give notice thereof to the district attorney.
EXPENSE OF SUPPORTING PRISONS Chapter 126: Section 30. Advances for expenses Section 30. Superintendents and keepers of jails and houses of correction authorized or directed to expend money in behalf of the county may have money advanced to them from the county treasury in such amounts as the county commissioners may approve, not exceeding the sum of three hundred dollars at any one time.
EXPENSE OF SUPPORTING PRISONS Chapter 126: Section 31. Application for advance expenses; approval Section 31. Every officer applying for such an advance shall certify in writing that the amount asked for is needed for immediate use, and, as specifically as may be, the purposes for which it is required. The certificate shall bear the approval of the county commissioners, and when the certificate is filed with the county treasurer payment shall be made by him to such officer.
EXPENSE OF SUPPORTING PRISONS Chapter 126: Section 32. Account of expenditures Section 32. Every such officer shall within thirty days after the receipt of an advance file with the county treasurer a detailed statement, bearing the approval of the county commissioners, of the amounts expended subsequent to the preceding accounting, with vouchers therefor if they can be obtained.
EXPENSE OF SUPPORTING PRISONS Chapter 126: Section 33. Fuel, bedding and clothing for prisoners Section 33. The keeper of the jail and the superintendent of the house of correction in Suffolk county shall, at the expense of the county, provide necessary fuel, bedding and clothing for all prisoners in their custody upon charge or conviction of crime against the commonwealth, and shall present to the auditor of Boston a full account of their charges so incurred or incurred for necessary furniture for said institutions, which, upon the allowance thereof by the auditor, shall be paid by the county.
EXPENSE OF SUPPORTING PRISONS Chapter 126: Section 34. Direction to furnish specific rations; conformance thereto Section 34. If the commissioners, or the mayor of Boston, direct specific rations or articles of food, soap, fuel or other necessaries to be furnished to the prisoners, the keeper or superintendent shall conform to such direction; and if he refuses or neglects to furnish the same, he shall be subject for a first and second offence to the penalties described in section twenty-nine of chapter two hundred and sixty-eight for the offences therein mentioned.
COUNTY INDUSTRIAL FARMS Chapter 126: Section 35. Acquisition, reclamation, improvement and sale of land Section 35. The county commissioners of any county may, subject to the approval of the commissioner of correction, purchase, take by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine, or lease, in behalf of the county, a tract of land not exceeding five hundred acres in area for use as a county industrial farm, and may reclaim, cultivate and improve the same. The work of reclaiming, cultivating and improving the said land shall, so far as practicable, be done by prisoners transferred thereto as provided in section thirty-seven. At any time after said land has been reclaimed, cultivated and improved, the same may be sold if the county commissioners determine that it is for the best interest of the county.
COUNTY INDUSTRIAL FARMS Chapter 126: Section 36. Erection of temporary buildings; management Section 36. Said commissioners may erect on said land such temporary buildings of inexpensive construction as they consider necessary for the proper housing of prisoners and for other purposes, in no case, however, costing over three thousand dollars. If the land reclaimed, cultivated and improved, as aforesaid, shall be sold, the proceeds shall be placed in the county treasury and used, so far as possible, for the payment of loans made under section thirty-eight. Any surplus thereof shall be used for general county purposes. The commissioners may appoint, and at any time remove, a superintendent for said farm and such assistants as in their opinion are needed for its proper management. No building used for housing the prisoners shall be constructed until the commissioner of correction has approved the plans therefor.
COUNTY INDUSTRIAL FARMS Chapter 126: Section 37. Removal of prisoners to industrial farms; custody Section 37. On the request of said commissioners, the sheriff of the county shall remove to said farm such prisoners as in his opinion can advantageously be employed thereon in carrying out sections thirty-five and thirty-six, and on the order of the said commissioners the sheriff shall return any prisoner to the jail or house of correction from which he was taken, or to which he was sentenced. The superintendents of industrial farms shall have the custody of all prisoners removed thereto, and a prisoner who escapes or attempts to escape therefrom shall be punished therefor by imprisonment in a jail or house of correction for not more than one year. Permits to be at liberty shall be issued to the inmates of county industrial farms and revoked in the manner provided by law for the issuance or revocation of permits to prisoners in jails and houses of correction.
COUNTY INDUSTRIAL FARMS Chapter 126: Section 38. Borrowing money to meet expenses; bonds or notes Section 38. To meet the expense of acquiring land in fee under section thirty-five or for constructing buildings under section thirty-six, the county commissioners may borrow from time to time, upon the credit of the county, such sums as may be necessary, not exceeding in the aggregate in any one year the sum of ten thousand dollars, and may issue bonds or notes of the county therefor, which shall be payable in not more than five years from their respective dates. The expense of maintaining industrial farms as authorized under sections thirty-five, thirty-six and thirty-seven shall be provided for in accordance with section twenty-eight of chapter thirty-five. Bonds or notes issued under authority of this section shall bear on their face the words, County of Industrial Farm Loan, General Laws, Chapter 126, — and, except as herein provided, shall be subject to chapter thirty-five. Such bonds or notes shall be signed by the treasurer of the county and countersigned by a majority of the county commissioners and shall not be sold for less than their par value. The county may sell the said securities at public or private sale and the proceeds shall be used only for such of the aforesaid purposes as are specified in the vote authorizing the loan.
COUNTY INDUSTRIAL FARMS Chapter 126: Section 39. Payment of loan Section 39. The county commissioners, at the time of authorizing each loan, shall provide for the payment thereof in accordance with the preceding section; and a sum sufficient to pay the interest as it accrues and to make such payments on the principal as may be required under said section shall be levied annually thereafter, as a part of the county tax of the county, in the same manner as other county taxes, until the debt incurred by said loans is extinguished.
JAILS Chapter 126: Section 4. Purposes Section 4. Jails shall be used for the detention of persons charged with crime and committed for trial, committed to secure their attendance as witnesses upon the trial of criminal causes, committed pursuant to a sentence upon conviction of crime or for any cause authorized by law, or detained or committed by the courts of the United States. Jails may also be used for the detention of persons arrested without a warrant and not admitted to bail pending appearance before the district court, provided that no adequately equipped lock-up established in accordance with the provisions of section thirty-four of chapter forty is available for the detention of such person.
JAILS Chapter 126: Section 5. Confinement Section 5. If there are several jails in a county, the sheriff may cause the prisoners to be confined in any of them.
JAILS Chapter 126: Section 6. Reimbursement of sheriff for damages for escape Section 6. If a prisoner escapes by reason of the insufficiency of the jail, whereby the sheriff is made liable to a party at whose suit the prisoner was committed, or to whose use any forfeiture was adjudged against him, the county shall reimburse the amount recovered by such party of the sheriff on account of the escape.
JAILS Chapter 126: Section 7. Return of list of prisoners to superior court Section 7. The jailers of the county shall, at the opening of each session of the superior court for criminal business, return to the court a list of all prisoners in their custody, specifying the causes for which and the persons by whom they were committed, and produce and exhibit therewith, for the inspection of the court, their calendars of prisoners, and return a like list of the persons committed during the session of the court, so that the court may take cognizance and make deliverance according to law of the prisoners committed for crimes within its jurisdiction. Jailers who neglect to make such reports or to exhibit their calendars shall be punished by a fine at the discretion of the court. In the event that the commonwealth constructs a house or houses of correction in a county, then such county shall no longer be responsible for providing for the structure of such facility or facilities, but shall continue to be required to maintain and operate such facility; provided, however, that in any county which has been ordered by a court to construct a new house of correction, state assumption of the responsibility to provide such structure shall occur when the state appropriates funds therefor and such county has complied with any conditions attached to such appropriation, if any.
HOUSES OF CORRECTION Chapter 126: Section 8. Establishment Section 8. The county commissioners in each county, except Dukes, shall at the expense of the county provide a house or houses of correction, suitably and efficiently ventilated, with convenient yards, workshops and other suitable accommodations adjoining or appurtenant thereto, for the safe keeping, correction, government and employment of offenders legally committed thereto by the courts and magistrates of the commonwealth or of the United States.
HOUSES OF CORRECTION Chapter 126: Section 8A. Superintendents Section 8A. The chief administrative officer of a house of correction shall be the superintendent. The superintendent, and any deputy superintendents, shall be appointed by the sheriff, or in the case of Suffolk county, by the penal commissioner of the city of Boston, and shall serve at his pleasure, and shall not be subject to the provisions of sections nine A and nine B of chapter thirty, or chapter thirty-one.
HOUSES OF CORRECTION Chapter 126: Section 9. Houses of correction yards; fences Section 9. The yards shall be of sufficient extent for the convenient employment of the persons confined therein, and shall be enclosed by fences of sufficient height and strength to prevent escapes and to prevent all persons who are without from access to or communication with any person confined therein. If such house of correction is not provided, the jail or a part thereof may be used for that purpose; but if so used it shall be provided with a sufficient yard, so enclosed.
HOUSES OF CORRECTION Chapter 126: Section 9A. Uniforms Section 9A. Officers and employees of each county penal institution required to wear uniforms shall wear while on duty uniforms prescribed by the sheriff of the county, which shall be furnished at the expense of said county; provided, that expenditures for the same are authorized by the county commissioners.
DEFINITIONS Chapter 127: Section 1. Definitions Section 1. As used in this chapter, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:—“Commissioner”, the commissioner of correction.
“Parole board”, the parole board of the department of correction.
“Victim”, a person who has suffered a personal injury, including mental anguish or death, property damage or property loss; also any entity which has suffered property damage or property loss as a direct result of the crime for which the sentence referred to in this chapter was imposed.
OFFICERS Chapter 127: Section 10. Annual report to commissioner of correction Section 10. Annually, on or before August fifteenth, the sheriffs, county commissioners and the penal institutions commissioner of Boston, shall make a report to the commissioner of the salaries of prison officers, of the number and cost of support of prisoners, and of such other details relative to the management and discipline of the several prisons as the commissioner may prescribe.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 109. Repealed, 1941, 344, Sec. 21 REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 109A to 111. Repealed, 1955, 770, Sec. 122 OFFICERS Chapter 127: Section 11. Repealed, 1955, 770, Sec. 122 REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 111A. Removal of defective delinquents Section 111A. He may remove any person committed to a department for defective delinquents established at any institution under the department of correction under section one hundred and seventeen of chapter one hundred and twenty-three, from such department to a like department at any other institution under the department of correction.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 112. Repealed, 1931, 426, Sec. 30 REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 113. Removal of prisoners convicted and sentenced by United States Court Section 113. The commissioner may remove from one jail or house of correction to another, or to any correctional institution of the commonwealth a prisoner convicted and sentenced by a United States court and thereafter transferred by the Attorney General of the United States to such jail or house of correction.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 114. Repealed, 1955, 770, Sec. 122 REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 115. Removal of prisoners from one jail to another by sheriff Section 115. The sheriff in any county, except Suffolk, may remove prisoners from one jail to another or from a jail to a house of correction or from a house of correction to a jail in his own county.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 116. Application of original sentence of prisoner removed or returned Section 116. A prisoner who is removed or returned under any provision of sections ninety-seven to one hundred and fifteen, inclusive, shall be held in the place of imprisonment to which he is so removed or returned under the terms of his original sentence, unless sooner discharged, and the period for which he is so removed shall be reckoned as a part of the term of his imprisonment.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 117. Medical, dental, or similar professional treatment Section 117. Whenever the physician of any state correctional facility certifies that any prisoner held therein requires medical, dental or other similar professional treatment which cannot safely or properly be given in such state correctional facility or the hospital at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Norfolk, the commissioner may temporarily place such person in an appropriate hospital or medical facility to receive such treatment.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 117A. Temporary placement of prisoners in hospital or medical facility Section 117A. Whenever the physician of any jail or house of correction certifies that any prisoner held therein requires medical, dental or other similar professional treatment which is not available in such jail or house of correction, the sheriff or, in the case of the house of correction in Suffolk county, the penal institutions commissioner of the city of Boston may temporarily place such prisoner in a hospital or medical facility to receive such treatment.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 118. Pregnant females Section 118. Whenever it appears that a female confined in any correctional facility, is about to give birth to a child, the physician of the institution where the inmate is confined shall send to the commissioner a certificate of her condition, and the commissioner shall thereupon order her removal to a hospital near the institution where she is confined, but in no case shall such female be removed to the Tewksbury hospital or to any penal or reformatory institution for the purpose of giving birth. An inmate so removed shall be kept in such hospital until the physician thereof shall certify to said commissioner that she may safely be removed, whereupon the commissioner shall issue an order for her return to the correctional facility.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 119. Hospital confinement as term of sentence Section 119. Any prisoner placed in a hospital or medical facility under section one hundred and seventeen, one hundred and seventeen A or one hundred and eighteen shall, during his absence from prison or the jail or house of correction, be considered as in the custody of the officer having charge of the prison, jail or house of correction, and the time of confinement in said hospital or medical facility shall be considered as part of the term of sentence.
OFFICERS Chapter 127: Section 12. Removal of unfaithful or incompetent officers or employees Section 12. Any officer or employee in any correctional institution of the commonwealth who is unfaithful or incompetent, or uses intoxicating liquor to excess, shall be forthwith removed by the commissioner.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 120. Order of removal; transfer of mittimuses and processes with prisoner Section 120. Every order of removal of the commissioner shall be signed by him or his designee and shall be directed to the officer by whom it is to be executed. All mittimuses, processes and other official papers by which a prisoner is committed or held, or attested copies thereof, shall at the time of such removal be transferred, with the order of removal, to the institution to which the prisoner is removed, and be kept therein as if he had been originally committed thereto; but if he is returned to the place from which he was removed, they shall be returned with him.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 121. Execution of order of removal Section 121. An officer authorized to serve criminal process may execute an order of removal or return issued under this chapter.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 122. Repealed, 1983, 721, Sec. 3 REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 123. Expense of removal Section 123. The expense of removing a prisoner from one jail or house of correction to another shall be paid by the county from which he is removed. The expense of removing a prisoner to or from any of the correctional institutions of the commonwealth by order of the commissioner shall be paid upon bills approved by him, out of the appropriation for the removal of prisoners, except that when a removal of a prisoner is made under section one hundred and seventeen or one hundred and eighteen, the expense thereof shall be borne by the institution from which the prisoner is removed. The expense of removing a prisoner to the Bridgewater state hospital or to a state hospital shall be paid by the prison from which the prisoner is removed. The expense of removing, under section one hundred and seventeen or one hundred and eighteen, a person under commitment to a department for defective delinquents, shall be paid by the institution from which such person is removed; and all hospital expenses incurred under either of said sections in connection with a prisoner or a person under commitment as aforesaid shall be paid by the prison or institution from which such person is removed.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 124. Expense of support of prisoner transferred from correctional institution to jail or house of correction Section 124. The expense of supporting a prisoner transferred from a correctional institution of the commonwealth to a jail or house of correction shall be paid by the commonwealth, if the prisoner was not originally sentenced from the county where such jail or house of correction is situated; but before payment the bills therefor shall be approved by the commissioner.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 125. Expense of support of prisoner transferred from one county to another Section 125. The expense of supporting a prisoner transferred from a jail or house of correction in one county to another, removed from the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater to a house of correction, or sentenced to a jail or house of correction in a county other than that in which he was convicted, may be paid by the county where he was sentenced. If the amount to be paid cannot be agreed upon by the county commissioners of the two counties, it may be determined by the superior court sitting in either county.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 126. Expense of support of prisoner removed from jail or house of correction to Massachusetts Correctional Institution Section 126. The expense of supporting a prisoner removed from a jail or house of correction to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater shall be paid to the commonwealth by the county from which he is removed, and the amount thereof shall be determined by the commissioner. The expense of supporting a sick prisoner removed to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater from a jail or house of correction, not exceeding three dollars and twenty-five cents a week, shall be paid by the county from which he is removed.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 127. Special state police officers; powers and duties Section 127. The governor, upon the written recommendation of the commissioner or the chairman of the parole board, may appoint any employee of the department of correction or the parole board, respectively, a special state police officer for a term of three years, unless sooner removed. Officers so appointed may serve warrants issued by the governor, the commissioner or the parole board and orders of removal or transfer of prisoners issued by the commissioner and warrants issued by any court or trial justice in the commonwealth for the arrest of a person charged with the crime of escape or attempt to escape from a penal institution or from the custody of an officer while being conveyed to or from any such institution, and may perform police duty about the premises of penal institutions. Such special state police officers of the parole board may also perform police duties: (1) when on official duty as a parole officer and in the company of an on-duty police officer or state police officer during the course of such police officers official duties; (2) to serve arrest warrants issued by any court in the commonwealth for the arrest of any person charged with any crime; (3) when arresting parolees pursuant to warrants or detainers of the parole board or transporting said parolees, over individuals who attempt or threaten to interfere with such special state police officers of the parole board in the performance of their duties; (4) on the premises of parole board facilities, which facilities shall include locations where the board is conducting a hearing or other board business; (5) including applying for and executing search warrants in the course of an investigation of parole violations, and upon complaint on oath that such special state police officer has probable cause to believe that the parolee, for whom a current parole arrest warrant is outstanding, is concealed within a house, place, vessel anywhere within the commonwealth or territorial waters thereof or vehicle of another; (6) including, after such applying for and executing search warrants in the course of an investigation of parole violations after notifying the appropriate local police department or the state police and upon complaint on oath that such special state police officer has probable cause to believe that stolen or embezzled property or property obtained by false pretenses, property which has been used as the means of committing a crime, property which has been concealed to prevent a crime from being discovered or property which is unlawfully possessed or kept or concealed for an unlawful purpose is in the possession or control of a parolee; and (7) including applying for and executing search warrants in the course of an investigation of parole violations, and upon complaint on oath that such special state police officer reasonably believes that evidence of a parole violation is concealed on such parolee’s person or under such parolee’s exclusive control. Whenever evidence of a crime has been discovered by such special state police officer, the appropriate local police department or state police shall be notified immediately. Such special state police officers of the investigative and fugitive apprehension unit of the department of correction may also perform police duties: (1) when on official duty as such a special state police officer of said investigative and fugitive apprehension unit, and in the company of an on-duty police officer or state police officer during the course of such police officer’s official duties; (2) to serve arrest warrants or escape warrants issued by any court in the commonwealth for the arrest of any person charged with any crime; and (3) when arresting escapees pursuant to arrest warrants or transporting said escapees, over individuals who attempt or threaten to interfere with such special state police officers of said investigative and fugitive apprehension unit in the performance of their duties.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 128. Issuance of parole permits Section 128. Subject to other provisions of law, parole permits, in this chapter also referred to as permits to be at liberty, may be granted by the parole board to prisoners in state and county correctional institutions serving sentences or total aggregate sentences of sixty days or more, or serving sentences suspended in part pursuant to sections one or one A of chapter two hundred and seventy-nine, or a special sentence of imprisonment imposed pursuant to section six A of chapter two hundred and seventy-nine, having a committed portion of sixty days or more.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 129. Repealed, 1993, 432, Sec. 10 PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 129A. Repealed, 1989, 307 PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 129B. Confinement while awaiting trial; reduction of sentence Section 129B. The sentence of any prisoner in any correctional institution of the commonwealth or in any house of correction or jail, who was held in custody awaiting trial shall be reduced by the number of days spent by him in confinement prior to such sentence and while awaiting trial, unless the court in imposing such sentence had already deducted therefrom the time during which such prisoner had been confined while awaiting trial.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 129C. Confinement in prison camp; deduction of sentence for good conduct Section 129C. For the satisfactory conduct of a prisoner confined in a prison camp, the commissioner may grant, in addition to the deductions of sentence provided under section one hundred and twenty-nine, a further deduction of sentence of not more than two and one half days for each month while confined in a prison camp. Such further deduction of sentence shall be added to any deduction to which the prisoner is entitled under section one hundred and twenty-nine for computing the minimum term of sentence for release on parole as authorized by section one hundred and thirty-three, or for reducing the term of imprisonment by deduction from the maximum term for which he may be held under his sentence or sentences. A prisoner whose term of imprisonment is reduced shall receive from the commissioner a certificate of discharge on the date which has been determined by such additional deduction from the maximum term of his sentence or sentences.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 129D. Work, educational, vocational training and rehabilitation programs; deduction of sentence for good conduct; reduction of good conduct credit for abuse of judicial process Section 129D. For the satisfactory conduct of a prisoner while confined at a correctional institution of the commonwealth, or any jail or house of correction, but working at a state hospital or state school, satisfactory completion of an educational program leading to the award of a high school equivalency certificate, satisfactory performance of said prisoner in completion of any other educational sequence or any vocational training program established within or without the institution, satisfactory performance of said inmate when he is employed on work-release or in a prison industry, or satisfactory performance of said inmates in any other program or activity which the superintendent of the institution shall deem valuable to said prisoner’s rehabilitation, the commissioner may grant, in addition to the deductions of sentence provided under sections one hundred and twenty-nine and one hundred and twenty-nine C, a further deduction of sentence of not more than two and one-half days per program or activity for each month while said prisoner is working in a state hospital or school, on work-release or working in a prison industry, or partaking in any of the said programs or activities as aforesaid; provided, however, that in no event shall said deductions exceed a maximum monthly total of seven and one-half days. Such further deduction of sentence shall be added to any deduction to which the prisoner is entitled under said sections one hundred and twenty-nine and one hundred and twenty-nine C for reducing the term of imprisonment by deduction from the maximum term for which he may be held under his sentence or sentences, and for reducing from the minimum term of the sentence or sentences the good conduct credits earned under this section for parole eligibility as provided under section one hundred and thirty-three.
A prisoner whose term of imprisonment is reduced from the maximum term for which he may be held under his sentence or sentences shall receive from the commissioner a certificate of discharge on the date which has been determined by such additional deductions from the maximum term of his sentence or sentences.
Good conduct credit earned or to be earned under this section or section 129C shall be subject to reduction by order of the court upon a finding that a claim or action brought by a prisoner was frivolous and filed in bad faith in order to abuse the judicial process or upon a determination that an inmate intentionally and in bad faith in order to abuse the judicial process has misrepresented or omitted material information in an affidavit submitted under section 29 of chapter 261.
OFFICERS Chapter 127: Section 13. Removal of incompetent jailers or keepers of houses of correction Section 13. The jailer, superintendent or keeper of a jail or house of correction, except in Suffolk county, may be removed by the superior court for neglect of duty or for wasteful or extravagant use of supplies, upon complaint of the county commissioners, after notice to the sheriff and the person complained of and a hearing.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 130. Granting of parole permits; record of decision; jurisdiction of parole board over parolee; terms and conditions including payment of child support due under support order; certificate of termination of sentence Section 130. No prisoner shall be granted a parole permit merely as a reward for good conduct but only if the parole board is of the opinion that there is a reasonable probability that, if such prisoner is released, he will live and remain at liberty without violating the law, and that his release is not incompatible with the welfare of society. The record of the decision of the board shall contain a summary statement of the case indicating the reasons for said decision. Said record of decision shall become a public record and shall be available to the public except for such portion thereof which contains information upon which said decision was made which said information the board determines is actually necessary to keep confidential to protect the security of a criminal or civil investigation, to protect anyone from physical harm or to protect the source of any information; provided, however, that it was obtained under a promise of confidentiality. All such confidential information shall be segregated from the record of decision and shall not be available to the public. Said confidential information may remain secret only as long as publication may defeat the lawful purposes of this section for confidentiality hereunder, but no longer. A prisoner to whom a parole permit is granted shall be allowed to go upon parole outside prison walls and inclosure upon such terms and conditions as the parole board shall prescribe, but shall remain, while thus on parole, subject to the jurisdiction of such board until the expiration of the term of imprisonment to which he has been sentenced or until the date which has been determined by deductions from the maximum term of his sentence or sentences for good conduct or until such earlier date as the board shall determine that it is in the public interest for such prisoner to be granted a certificate of termination of sentence. In every case, such terms and conditions shall include payment of any child support due under a support order, as defined in section 1A of chapter 119A, including payment toward any arrearage of support that accrues or has accrued or compliance with any payment plan between the prisoner and the IV-D agency as set forth in chapter 119A, provided, however, that the board shall not revise, alter, amend or revoke any term or condition related to payment of child support unless the parole permit itself is revoked.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 130A. Issuance of certificate of termination of sentence Section 130A. The parole board may, by a majority vote of all of the members,issue to a parolee under its supervision a certificate of termination of sentence, provided that in the judgment of the board such termination of sentence shall be in the public interest; and provided, further, that in no case will such certificate of termination of sentence be issued unless the parolee has completed at least one year of satisfactory parole; provided, however, that the parole board, by a majority vote of all its members, may grant a certificate of termination if the parolee has successfully completed the so-called special incarceration boot camp program and subsequently completed at least four months of satisfactory parole. The parole board shall furnish to the commissioner of correction and to the judge who pronounced sentence upon the parolee a copy of such certificate of termination of sentence.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 131. Giving of parolee written copy of terms and conditions of parole Section 131. The parole board shall, in releasing a prisoner on parole, specify in writing the terms and conditions of his parole, and a copy of such terms and conditions shall be given to the parolee. A violation of such terms and conditions shall render the parolee liable to arrest and re-imprisonment.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 131A. Notice to state and local police of terms and conditions of parole permits Section 131A. Not less than twenty-four hours prior to the effective date of any parole permit the parole board shall notify in writing the department of state police and the police department in the city or town to which the parolee will return of such parole, specifying the terms and conditions thereof.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 132. Repealed, 1955, 770, Sec. 122 PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 133. Granting of parole permits by board; eligibility and requisites Section 133. Parole permits may be granted by the parole board to prisoners subject to its jurisdiction at such time as the board in each case may determine; provided, however, that no prisoner sentenced to the state prison shall be eligible for such permit until such prisoner shall have served the minimum term of sentence, pursuant to section twenty-four of chapter two hundred and seventy-nine, as such minimum term of sentence may be reduced by deductions allowed under section one hundred and twenty-nine D. Where an inmate is serving two or more consecutive or concurrent state prison sentences, a single parole eligibility shall be established for all such sentences. Prisoners who are granted parole permits shall remain subject to the jurisdiction of the board until the expiration of the maximum term of sentence or, if a prisoner has two or more sentences to be served otherwise than concurrently, until the aggregate maximum term of such sentence, unless earlier terminated by the board under the provisions of section one hundred thirty A. Sentences of imprisonment in the state prison shall not be suspended in whole or in part.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 133A. Eligibility for parole; notice and hearing; parole permits; revision of terms and conditions; revocation; arrest Section 133A. Every prisoner who is serving a sentence for life in a correctional institution of the commonwealth, except prisoners confined to the hospital at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater, and except prisoners serving a life sentence for murder in the first degree, shall be eligible for parole, and the parole board shall, within sixty days before the expiration of fifteen years of such sentence, conduct a public hearing before the full membership unless a member of the board is determined to be unavailable as provided in this section. For the purposes of this section, the term unavailable shall mean that a board member has a conflict of interest to the extent that he cannot render a fair and impartial decision or that the appearance of a board member would be unduly burdensome because of illness, incapacitation, or other circumstance. Whether a member is unavailable for the purposes of this section shall be determined by the chair. Board members shall appear unless said chair determines them to be unavailable. Under no circumstances shall a parole hearing proceed pursuant to this section unless a majority of the board is present at the public hearing. Unless a board member is unavailable due to a conflict of interest, any board member who was not present at the public hearing shall review the record of the public hearing and shall vote in the matter.
Said board shall at least thirty days before such hearing notify in writing the attorney general, the district attorney in whose district sentence was imposed, the chief of police or head of the organized police department of the municipality in which the crime was committed and the victims of the crime for which sentence was imposed, and said officials and victims may appear in person or be represented or make written recommendations to the board, but failure of any or all of said officials to appear or make recommendations shall not delay the paroling procedure.
After such hearing the parole board may, by a vote of a majority of its members, grant to such prisoner a parole permit to be at liberty upon such terms and conditions as it may prescribe for the unexpired term of his sentence. If such permit is not granted, the parole board shall, at least once in each ensuing five year period, consider carefully and thoroughly the merits of each such case on the question of releasing such prisoner on parole, and may, by a vote of a majority of its members, grant such parole permit.
Such terms and conditions may be revised, altered and amended, and may be revoked, by the parole board at any time. The violation by the holder of such permit or any of its terms or conditions, or of any law of the commonwealth, may render such permit void, and thereupon, or if such permit has been revoked, the parole board may order his arrest and his return to prison, in accordance with the provisions of section one hundred and forty-nine.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 133B. Parole of prisoners declared to be habitual criminals; conditions; revision; revocation Section 133B. In the case of every prisoner sentenced under the provisions of section twenty-five of chapter two hundred and seventy-nine except for those persons sentenced to a term of imprisonment as prescribed by the sentencing guidelines established by the sentencing commission, the parole board shall, within sixty days before the expiration of half of his maximum sentence, and thereafter at least once in each ensuing two-year period, consider carefully and thoroughly the merits of such case on the question of releasing such person on parole. After such consideration, the parole board may grant to such prisoner a parole permit to be at liberty upon such terms and conditions as it may prescribe for the unexpired term of his sentence. Such terms and conditions may be revised, altered and amended, and may be revoked by the parole board at any time. The violation by the holder of such permit of any of its terms or conditions, or of any law of the commonwealth, shall render such permit void, and thereupon, or if such permit has been revoked, the parole board may order his arrest and his return to prison, in accordance with the provisions of section one hundred and forty-nine. The period which must be served before such prisoner becomes eligible for parole shall be calculated with deductions applicable to other sentences for good conduct.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 133C. Representation of deceased victims at hearing by family members Section 133C. The family members of a deceased victim may represent the victim at any parole hearing for a prisoner serving a sentence for a crime which resulted in the death of such victim or for a crime for which a prisoner is serving a sentence for life in a correctional institution of the commonwealth, except prisoners serving a life sentence for murder in the first degree and prisoners confined to the hospital at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater. For the purposes of this section, family members shall include: parent, stepparent or guardian of the victim, spouse or person with whom the victim lived and in a relationship similar to marriage, child, stepchild, grandchild, grandparent, sibling, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew and guardian of the minor child or stepchild of the victim.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 133D. Community parole supervision for life Section 133D. (a) A person upon whom a sentence of community parole supervision for life has been imposed under section 45 of chapter 265 shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the parole board for the term of such sentence.
Except as otherwise provided in this section, a person serving such sentence of community parole supervision for life shall be subject to the provisions of law governing parole as if such person were a parolee. The parole board shall impose terms and conditions for such sentence within 30 days prior to the commencement of community parole supervision. Such terms and conditions may be revised, altered and amended by the parole board at any time.
A person under community parole supervision for life shall be under the jurisdiction, supervision and control of the parole board in the same manner as a person under parole supervision. The board is authorized to establish such conditions of community parole supervision for life, on an individual basis, as may be necessary to ensure public safety. Such conditions may include protecting the public from such person committing a sex offense or kidnapping as well as promoting the rehabilitation of such person. Such conditions shall include sex offender treatment with a recognized treatment provider in the field for as long as the board deems necessary, and compliance with the requirements of sections 178C to 178P, inclusive, of chapter 6.
The board is authorized to impose and enforce a supervision and rehabilitation fee upon a person on community parole supervision. To the extent possible, without reducing a parolee’s income to such an extent that the potential for successful community reintegration is diminished, the board shall set such fee in an amount that will substantially defray the cost of the community parole supervision program.
The board shall also establish a fee waiver procedure for hardship and indigency cases.
(b)(1) Notwithstanding the board’s authority to issue a certificate of termination of sentence under section 130A, after a person sentenced to community parole supervision has been on such supervision for a period of 15 years, such person may petition the board for termination of community parole supervision. Such termination may only occur by a majority vote of all the members. Upon receiving such a petition, the board shall, within 60 days, conduct a hearing before the full membership. At least 30 days prior to a hearing on the petition, the board shall cause a criminal history check to be conducted and notify in writing the victims of the crime for which the sentence was imposed, the attorney general, the district attorney in whose district the sentence was imposed, the chief of police or head of the organized police department of the municipality in which the crime was committed and the chief of police or head of the organized police department of the municipality in which the parolee resides, of the person’s petition for release from supervision. Such officials and victims shall be provided the opportunity to respond to such petition. Such officials and victims may appear in person or be represented or make written recommendations to the board, but failure of any or all of such officials to appear or make recommendations shall not delay the termination procedure.
If a victim is deceased at the time the hearing on termination of said sentence is scheduled, the deceased victim may be represented by his relatives in the following order: mother, father, spouse, child, grandchild, brother or sister, niece or nephew.
(2) Prior to the hearing, the petitioner shall be examined, personally interviewed and evaluated by a psychiatrist or licensed psychologist who is an expert in the field of sex offender treatment and who is approved by the board. The psychiatrist or psychologist shall file with the board written reports of his examinations and diagnosis and his recommendation for the disposition of such petitioner. The petitioner’s treatment while on community parole supervision shall be examined and considered by such psychiatrist or psychologist in such recommendation. Such reports shall be admissible in a hearing conducted pursuant to this section. If such petitioner refuses to be personally interviewed by such psychiatrist or psychologist, without good cause, such petitioner shall be deemed to have waived his right to a hearing on the petition and the petition shall be dismissed by the board. The cost of such examination and evaluation shall be the responsibility of the petitioner; provided, however, that the board shall establish procedures for cases of hardship or indigency.
(3) At the hearing, the board shall call such witnesses as it deems necessary, including the examining psychiatrist or psychologist, the appropriate district attorney, the attorney general, the police chief or the victims of the crime or such crime victims’ family members, as the board deems necessary. The petitioner may offer such witnesses and other proof at the hearing as is relevant to the petition.
(4) The board shall terminate community parole supervision for life if the petitioner demonstrates, by clear and convincing evidence, that he has not committed a sex offense or a kidnapping since his conviction, that he is not likely to pose a threat to the safety of others and that the public interest is not served by further community parole supervision over the petitioner.
(5) If a petition for release from supervision is denied by the board, such petitioner may not file another such petition for a period of three years.
(c) An individual who violates a condition of community parole supervision shall be subject to the provisions of section 149. If the parolee has served the entire period of confinement under his original sentence, the original term of imprisonment shall, upon a first violation, be increased to imprisonment in a house of correction for 30 days if such violation does not otherwise constitute a criminal offense. Upon a second violation, said original term of imprisonment shall be increased to 180 days in the house of correction if such violation does not otherwise constitute a criminal offense. Upon a third or subsequent violation, said original term of imprisonment shall be increased to one year in the house of correction if such violation does not otherwise constitute a criminal offense. If such violation otherwise constitutes a criminal offense, said increased term of imprisonment shall be served on and after any sentence received for commission of the new offense.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 133E. Victims of violent crime or sex offenses; certification by criminal history systems board; testimony at parole hearing Section 133E. Victims, and parents or legal guardians of minor victims, of a violent crime or a sex offense for which a sentence was imposed, who have been certified by the criminal history systems board in accordance with section 172 of chapter 6 and section 3 of chapter 258B, may testify in person at the parole hearing of the perpetrator of the crime of which they were victims, or submit written testimony to the parole board.
For the purpose of this section, “sex offense” and “violent crime” shall be defined as follows:“Sex offense”, an indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 under section 13B of chapter 265; indecent assault and battery on a mentally retarded person under section 13F of said chapter 265; indecent assault and battery on a person age14 or over under section 13H of said chapter 265; rape under section 22 of said chapter 265; rape of a child under 16 with force under section 22A of said chapter 265; rape and abuse of a child under section 23 of said chapter 265; assault with intent to commit rape under section 24 of said chapter 265; assault of a child with intent to commit rape under section 24B of said chapter 265; kidnapping of a child under section 26 of said chapter 265; enticing away a person for prostitution or sexual intercourse under section 2 of chapter 272; drugging persons for sexual intercourse under section 3 of said chapter 272; inducing a minor into prostitution under section 4A of said chapter 272; living off or sharing earnings of a minor prostitute under section 4B of said chapter 272; incestuous marriage or intercourse under section 17 of said chapter 272; disseminating to a minor matter harmful to a minor under section 28 of said chapter 272; posing or exhibiting a child in a state of nudity under section 29A of said chapter 272; dissemination of visual material of a child in a state of nudity or sexual conduct under section 29B of said chapter 272; unnatural and lascivious acts with a child under 16 under section 35A of said chapter 272; aggravated rape under section 39 of chapter 277; and any attempt to commit a violation of any of the aforementioned sections pursuant to section 6 of chapter 274.
“Violent crime”, any crime (a) for which an individual has been sentenced to imprisonment of 1 year or more, and (b) that: (i) has as an element the use, attempted use or threatened use of physical force or a deadly weapon against the person of another; (ii) is burglary, extortion, arson or kidnapping; (iii) involves the use of explosives; or (iv) otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious risk of physical injury to another.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 134. Appearance before board; investigation and hearing by staff members; reports; sentences served in other states Section 134. (a) In the case of an inmate committed to a correctional institution of the commonwealth, no parole permit shall be granted by the parole board until the inmate has been seen by at least three members of said board, except when the chairman has designated three members to act as the parole board under the provisions of section five of chapter twenty-seven, no parole permit shall be granted by the board until the inmate has been seen by at least two of said members.
(b) In the case of an inmate committed to a jail or house of correction, the chairman may designate the director of parole services, a parole supervisor, a parole employment officer, the legal counsel to the parole board, an institutional parole officer, the executive secretary to the parole board, a parole officer, a junior parole officer, or a parole board employee whose primary function is to serve as a hearing officer, to make an investigation and to conduct a hearing in lieu of the board for the purpose of ascertaining the suitability of such inmate for a parole permit. The staff member so designated shall report his findings of fact and recommendations as to parole and conditions of parole to the board. The board may grant or deny a parole permit to such inmate after considering said report and recommendations. No parole permit shall be granted until such inmate has been seen according to the provisions of paragraphs (a) or (b).
(c) In the case of an inmate serving a Massachusetts sentence in another state, the chairman may request the paroling authority of that state or at the written request of the inmate the federal paroling authority with jurisdiction over the institution in which said inmate is housed to conduct a hearing in lieu of the Massachusetts board for the purpose of ascertaining the suitability of such inmate for a parole permit and to report its findings and recommendations as to parole and conditions of parole to the board. The board may grant or deny a parole permit to such an inmate after considering said report and recommendations. No parole permit shall be granted until such inmate has been seen in accordance with the provisions of paragraphs (a) or (c).
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 135. Furnishing information to parole board; filing information; statement; contents; availability; duty of clerk of court and probation officer Section 135. The commissioner or the jailer, superintendent or keeper of a jail or house of correction shall furnish to the parole board all information in his possession relating to any prisoner whose case is under consideration. As each prisoner is received in the correctional institutions of the commonwealth or in the jails or houses of correction, it shall be the duty of the commissioner of correction or of the jailer, superintendent or keeper, while the case is still recent, to cause to be obtained and filed information as complete as may be obtainable at that time with regard to such prisoner. Such information shall include a complete statement of the crime for which he is then sentenced, the circumstances of such crime, the nature of his sentence, the court in which he was sentenced, the name of the judge and district attorney, and copies of such probation reports as may have been made, as well as reports as to the prisoner’s social, physical, mental and psychiatric condition and history. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the court and of all probation officers and other appropriate officials to send such information as may be in their possession or under their control to the commissioner or the jailer, superintendent or keeper of a jail or house of correction, upon request. The commissioner or the jailer, superintendent or keeper of a jail or house of correction shall also at that time obtain and file a copy of the complete criminal record of such prisoner, so far as reasonably available, including any juvenile court record that may exist. When all such existing available records have been assembled, they shall be made available to the parole board so as to be readily accessible when the parole or pardon of such prisoner is being considered.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 136. Initiating release of prisoner; hearing; submission of further information to board; contents of reports Section 136. No application for release on parole of a prisoner made by him or on his behalf shall be entertained by the parole board, but such a release of a prisoner by said board shall be solely on its own initiative. In every case where a prisoner is serving a sentence for a felony, except for those prisoners serving a sentence for any offense from the superior court for a term of one year or less or from the district court for a term of one year to a jail or house of correction, the parole board shall, within sixty days before such prisoner first becomes eligible for parole, grant such prisoner a hearing before the board and shall consider carefully and thoroughly the question whether a parole permit should be granted to such prisoner. Prisoners entitled to such a hearing shall, so far as reasonably practicable, be granted a hearing in the order in which they respectively become eligible for parole. At least ninety days prior to the time a prisoner serving sentence for a felony first becomes eligible for parole, the commissioner shall submit to the parole board or to an officer designated by it, all information with regard to such prisoner not already so submitted. Such information shall include, in addition to any other pertinent information: (a) a report from the warden or superintendent of each prison in which such prisoner has been confined as to the prisoner’s conduct in prison, with a detailed statement as to all infractions of prison rules and discipline, all punishments meted out to such prisoner, and the circumstances connected therewith, as well as a report from each such warden or superintendent as to the extent to which such prisoner has responded to the efforts made in prison to improve his mental and moral condition, with a statement as to the prisoner’s attitude toward society, toward the judge who sentenced him, toward the district attorney who convicted him, toward the policeman who arrested him, and how the prisoner then regards the crime for which he is in prison and his previous criminal career; (b) a report giving the prisoner’s industrial record while in prison, the nature of his occupations while in prison, and a recommendation as to the kind of work he is best fitted to perform and at which he is most likely to succeed when he leaves prison; (c) a report of such physical, mental and psychiatric examinations as have been made of such prisoner which so far as practicable shall have been made within two months of the time of his eligibility for parole. The parole board shall reach its own conclusions as to the desirability of granting such prisoner a parole permit.
For those prisoners serving a sentence in a jail or house of correction, and for those prisoners serving a Massachusetts sentence in a correctional institution of another state, hearings shall be granted in accordance with section one hundred and thirty-four.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 136A. Repealed, 1971, 1076, Sec. 8 PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 137. Repealed, 1941, 344, Sec. 22 PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 137A to 139. Repealed, 1941, 690, Sec. 2 OFFICERS Chapter 127: Section 14. Removal of officers using intoxicating liquor to excess Section 14. The sheriffs of the several counties and the penal institutions commissioner of Boston may remove any officer appointed by them, respectively, to any position of trust or authority in a jail or house of correction who is known to use intoxicating liquor to excess.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 140, 141. Repealed, 1980, 155, Sec. 4 PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 142. Permits to be at liberty or discharge of pregnant females Section 142. Whenever, in the opinion of the physician of any prison or other place of confinement in which is imprisoned a woman who is about to give birth to a child during the term of her imprisonment, the best interests of the woman or of her unborn child require that she be granted a permit to be at liberty or discharged, he may so certify to the board or officer empowered to grant permits to be at liberty or discharges from the institution in which she is imprisoned, and such board or officer may, subject to such terms and conditions as appear necessary, grant the permit to be at liberty or the discharge.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 143. Discharge of common nightwalker from house of correction Section 143. The county commissioners, or, in Boston, the penal institutions commissioner, subject to the approval of a justice of the court which imposed the sentence, after six months from the time of sentence, may discharge a person sentenced to the house of correction, upon a conviction under the provisions of section sixty-two of chapter two hundred and seventy-two of being a common nightwalker, if they are satisfied that the prisoner has reformed.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 144. Discharge of prisoner committed for non-payment of fine Section 144. A prisoner confined in a prison or place of confinement for non-payment of a fine or a fine and expenses shall be given a credit of thirty dollars on such fine or fine and expenses for each day during which he shall be so confined, and shall be discharged at such time as the said credits, or such credits as have been given and money paid in addition thereto, shall equal the amount of the fine or the fine and expenses; and in such case no further action shall be taken to enforce payment of said fine or fine and expenses.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 145. Discharge of poor persons from jails Section 145. Justices of district courts shall discharge from jail persons confined for the nonpayment of fine, or of fine and expenses, if they are of opinion that such persons are not able to pay the same or that it is otherwise expedient; but no fee shall be allowed to any person for such service.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 146. Report of confinement of poor prisoners; discharge; guardianship Section 146. If a poor prisoner has been confined in a jail or house of correction for one month under one or more sentences for fine or fine and expenses only, the jailer, superintendent or keeper shall make a report thereof, in Suffolk county to the municipal court of the city of Boston, and in other counties to a district court. The court shall inquire into the truth of the report, and may require the jailer, superintendent or keeper to bring the prisoner into court. If the court finds that the report is true, and that the prisoner since his confinement has not had any property, real or personal, with which he could have paid the amount or amounts for which he was committed, it shall, if it finds that he is held for no other cause, and may, if it finds that he is held only for one or more other sentences for fine or fine and expenses, order the sheriff, superintendent or keeper to discharge the prisoner. If a poor prisoner has been confined in a correctional institution of the commonwealth on a sentence with fine, after one month from the date of release by parole or otherwise on the term sentence, the superintendent shall make a report thereof to the district court. The court shall inquire in the truth of the report and if the court finds the report is true and the prisoner has had no property, real or personal, with which he could have paid the amounts of fine for which he is held and that he is held for no other cause, may order the superintendent to discharge the prisoner. A person under guardianship may have the benefit of this section, although it appears that he has property held under guardianship, if it also appears that such property is beyond his actual control; and if he is discharged the commonwealth may, in an action of tort brought within one year after the discharge, recover from his guardian, if he has assets, the amount of fine or fines and expenses remaining unpaid.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 147. Repealed, 1965, 772 PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 148. Revocation of permit Section 148. The parole board may revoke a permit to be at liberty at any time prior to its expiration.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 149. Arrest for violation of permit; application of terms of original sentence; computation of period of confinement Section 149. If a permit to be at liberty has been revoked, the parole board may order the arrest of the holder of such permit by any officer qualified to serve civil or criminal process in any county, and order the return of such holder to the prison or jail to which he was originally sentenced. A prisoner who has been so returned to prison or jail shall be detained therein according to the terms of his original sentence. In computing the period of his confinement, the time between the day of his release upon a parole permit and the day of issuance of a parole violation warrant shall be considered as part of the term of his original sentence. The time between the day after the issuance of the parole violator warrant until the service of said warrant shall not be considered as any part of the term of his original sentence. Service of the parole violation warrant shall be made effective forthwith upon arrest and imprisonment of the parole violator unless he is convicted of commission of a crime or found guilty of violating the conditions of federal or another state’s parole or probation, then service of said parole violation warrant shall not be effective until the expiration of any additional sentences by parole or otherwise. If the parolee is found not guilty of the additional crimes charged or not guilty of violating the conditions of parole or probation then service of the warrant on the parolee shall be made effective on the date of this issuance of said warrant and the time served by him as a result of the parole violation warrant lodged as a detainer shall be considered as part of the original sentence. If the disposition of the new criminal charges or charges of violation of probation or parole is without a finding of guilt, the parole board may retroactively serve the parole violation warrant. The provisions of this section shall not be deemed to preclude the board from withdrawing a parole violation warrant at any time. In computing the period of the parolee’s confinement, the time between the day after the issuance of the parole violation warrant until the withdrawal of said warrant shall not be considered as any part of the term of the parolee’s original sentence.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 149A. Temporary custody of parolees; warrant Section 149A. If a parole officer believes that a parolee has lapsed or is about to lapse into criminal ways or has associated or is about to associate with criminal company or that he has violated the conditions of his parole, the parole officer may, with the consent of a parole supervisor or other superior officer, issue a warrant for the temporary custody of said parolee for a period not longer than fifteen days, during which period he shall notify the director of parole service or a parole supervisor of his action and submit a complete report for final decision by the parole board. The detention of any such parolee may be further regulated by the rules of said board. The parole board shall have the right to withdraw said warrant for temporary custody and such withdrawal shall not affect the validity of any subsequent warrants issued. Upon the withdrawal of said warrant, the time from the issuance of the warrant until the withdrawal shall be considered as part of the original sentence. Such warrant shall constitute sufficient authority to a parole officer and to the superintendent, jailer, or any other person in charge of any jail, house of correction, lockup, or place of detention to whom it is exhibited to hold in temporary custody the parolee retaken pursuant thereto.
OFFICERS Chapter 127: Section 15. Repealed, 1955, 770, Sec. 122 PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 150. Expiration of term on Sunday or legal holiday Section 150. A prisoner whose term expires on Sunday or on a legal holiday shall be discharged on the preceding day.
PERMITS TO BE AT LIBERTY AND DISCHARGE Chapter 127: Section 151. Temporary care of infirm or diseased prisoner in institution after expiration of sentence; transfer to hospital Section 151. When a prisoner at the expiration of his sentence is in such condition from bodily infirmity or disease as to render his removal from a correctional institution inexpedient, the principal officer of such institution may, with the approval of the physician, authorize his temporary care at said institution, and shall forthwith report to the commissioner all of the circumstances. If it shall appear to the commissioner that such care may be required for a period longer than sixty days, he shall ascertain whether said discharged prisoner is suffering from tuberculosis or from any other disease for which treatment facilities are available in hospitals or sanatoria under the supervision of the department of public health, and in such case he shall notify the commissioner of public health who shall, if he finds that such facilities are available, receive the discharged prisoner; and if no facilities are available in the department of public health, the commissioner of correction shall notify the commissioner of public welfare, who shall receive said discharged prisoner at the Tewksbury hospital.
INTERSTATE SUPERVISION OF PROBATIONERS AND PAROLEES Chapter 127: Section 151A. Compacts with other states relative to convicts on probation or parole; form; approval Section 151A. The governor, on behalf of this commonwealth, is hereby authorized to enter into a compact, substantially in the following form, with any of the United States legally joining therein and the general court hereby signifies in advance its approval and ratification of such a compact so entered into, such approval and ratification to be effective upon the filing of a copy of such compact in the office of the state secretary:A COMPACTEntered into by and among the contracting states, signatories hereto, with the consent of the Congress of the United States of America, granted by an act entitled “An Act granting the consent of congress to any two or more states to enter into agreements or compacts for co-operative effort and mutual assistance in the prevention of crime and for other purposes”.
The contracting states solemnly agree:(1) That it shall be competent for the duly constituted judicial and administrative authorities of a state which is a party to this compact and wherein any person has been convicted of an offence and placed on probation or released on parole, herein called the sending state, to permit such person to reside while on probation or parole in any other state which is a party to this compact, herein called the receiving state, if (a) it appears to such judicial or administrative authorities that such person is a resident of or has his family residing within the receiving state and can obtain employment there, or if (b) the receiving state, by its governor or a person thereto authorized by him, consents to his being sent there; provided, that, in either case, before such permission is granted by the sending state, opportunity shall have been afforded to the receiving state to investigate the home and prospective employment of such person.
A resident of the receiving state, within the meaning of clauses (a) and (b) hereof, is one who has been an actual inhabitant of such state continuously for more than one year prior to his coming to the sending state and has not resided within the sending state more than six consecutive months immediately preceding the commission of the offence of which he has been convicted. The word “parole”, as used in this compact, shall include parole, permit to be at liberty, and any other method of release under supervision, after sentence, from confinement in any penal or reformatory institution, and the word “parolee” shall include any person so released.
(2) That each receiving state will assume the duties of visitation of and supervision over probationers and parolees of any sending state and in the exercise of those duties will be governed by the same standards that prevail for its own probationers and parolees.
(3) That duly accredited officers of the sending state may at all times enter the receiving state and there apprehend and retake any probationer or parolee. For that purpose no formalities shall be required other than establishing the authority of the officer and the identity of the person to be retaken. All legal requirements to obtain rendition of fugitives from justice are hereby expressly waived. The decision of the sending state to retake a probationer or parolee shall be conclusive upon and not reviewable within the receiving state; provided, that if, at the time when a state seeks to retake a probationer or parolee, there shall be pending against him within the receiving state any criminal charge, or he shall be suspected of having committed within such state a criminal offence, he shall not be retaken without the consent of the receiving state, by its governor or a person thereto authorized by him, until his prosecution therein for such offence has terminated in his favor or he has been discharged from imprisonment following conviction thereof.
(4) That the duly accredited officers of the sending state will be permitted to transport prisoners being retaken through any and all states parties to this compact, without interference.
(5) That the governor of each contracting state may designate an officer who, acting jointly with like officers of other contracting states, if and when appointed, shall promulgate such rules and regulations as may be deemed necessary to more effectively carry out the terms of this compact.
(6) That this compact may be ratified by any state in the manner provided by the laws of such state, or, in the absence of such law, by its legislature, and that upon ratification by two or more states this compact shall have the full force and effect of law within each ratifying state and shall become operative as between the several states so ratifying it.
(7) That this compact shall continue in force and remain binding upon each ratifying state until renounced by it as hereinafter set forth; provided, that the duties and obligations hereunder of a receiving state renouncing this compact shall continue, as to each parolee and each probationer sent under authority hereof to such state and residing therein at the time of the renunciation, until he is retaken by the sending state or his parole or probation is otherwise terminated, or he voluntarily returns to the sending state or with its consent removes to a third state. Renunciation of this compact by any state which is a party hereto may be effected by the authority acting on behalf of such state in the ratification hereof, but such renunciation shall not be effective with respect to any other state which is a party hereto until after six months’ notice given in writing to such other state.
INTERSTATE SUPERVISION OF PROBATIONERS AND PAROLEES Chapter 127: Section 151B. Residence of person on probation in another state; orders permitting; revocation; modification Section 151B. Subject to the terms of paragraph (1) of the compact authorized by section one hundred and fifty-one A, any judicial officer of this commonwealth authorized to place persons on probation may by order permit any person then or theretofore placed on probation by his court to reside in any other state between which and this commonwealth there shall be in force a compact so authorized, and may at any time revoke or modify such order.
INTERSTATE SUPERVISION OF PROBATIONERS AND PAROLEES Chapter 127: Section 151C. Residence of prisoners on parole or on permit to be at liberty in another state; permits; revocation Section 151C. Subject to the terms of paragraph (1) of the compact authorized by said section one hundred and fifty-one A, any officer or board of this commonwealth authorized by law to release prisoners on parole or on permit to be at liberty may at any time permit any prisoner then or theretofore so released by him or it to reside in any other state between which and this commonwealth there shall be in force a compact so authorized, and may at any time revoke such permission or permit such parolee to remove to another such state.
INTERSTATE SUPERVISION OF PROBATIONERS AND PAROLEES Chapter 127: Section 151D. Effect of compact upon ratification by two or more states Section 151D. Upon ratification by two or more states, including this commonwealth, of a compact authorized by said section one hundred and fifty-one A, said compact shall have the force of law in this commonwealth.
INTERSTATE SUPERVISION OF PROBATIONERS AND PAROLEES Chapter 127: Section 151E. Effect of rules and regulations; powers and duties of officers Section 151E. All rules and regulations made by authority of paragraph (5) of said compact, if consistent with the laws of this commonwealth, shall have the force of law herein, and all officers whose offices are established under the laws of this commonwealth, to whom powers shall be given and upon whom duties shall be imposed by such rules and regulations, shall have and exercise the powers so given and shall perform the duties so imposed.
INTERSTATE SUPERVISION OF PROBATIONERS AND PAROLEES Chapter 127: Section 151F. Partial invalidity Section 151F. If any section, sentence, subdivision or clause of sections one hundred and fifty-one A to one hundred and fifty-one E, inclusive, or sections one hundred and fifty-one H to one hundred and fifty-one J, inclusive, is for any reason held unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of said sections.
INTERSTATE SUPERVISION OF PROBATIONERS AND PAROLEES Chapter 127: Section 151G. Citation; out-of-state probationer and parolee supervision law Section 151G. Sections one hundred and fifty-one A to one hundred and fifty-one J, inclusive, may be cited as the out-of-state probationer and parolee supervision law.
INTERSTATE SUPERVISION OF PROBATIONERS AND PAROLEES Chapter 127: Section 151H. Administrator of interstate compact for supervision of parolees and probationers; powers and duties Section 151H. The officer designated by the governor pursuant to paragraph (5) of section one hundred and fifty-one A shall be the administrator of the interstate compact for the supervision of parolees and probationers. He shall have power and authority to deputize any person regularly employed as a parole or probation officer by another state to act as an officer and agent of this commonwealth in effecting the return of any person who has violated the terms and conditions of parole or probation as granted by this commonwealth. In any matter relating to the return of such a person, any agent so deputized shall have all the powers of a police officer of this commonwealth. Any deputization pursuant to this section shall be in writing, and any person authorized to act as an agent of this commonwealth pursuant hereto shall carry formal evidence of his deputization and shall produce the same upon demand.
INTERSTATE SUPERVISION OF PROBATIONERS AND PAROLEES Chapter 127: Section 151I. Interstate contracts by administrator; sharing of costs Section 151I. The administrator of the interstate compact for the supervision of parolees and probationers may, subject to the approval of the governor and council, enter into contracts with similar officials of any other state or states for the purpose of sharing an equitable portion of the cost of effecting the return of any person who has violated the terms and conditions of parole or probation as granted by this commonwealth.
INTERSTATE SUPERVISION OF PROBATIONERS AND PAROLEES Chapter 127: Section 151J. Administrator; lapse of parolee; notice to parole board; warrant for retaking Section 151J. If the administrator of this compact believes that a parolee received under the provisions of said compact has lapsed or is about to lapse into criminal ways or company or that he has violated the conditions of his parole in an important respect, said administrator shall notify the parole board. Thereupon the parole board shall issue a warrant for the retaking of such parolee and for his temporary custody or detention for a period not exceeding sixty days pending action by the sending state to have said parolee returned. The retaking or detention of any such parolee may be further regulated by the rules of said board not inconsistent with this section. Such warrant shall constitute sufficient authority to the parole officer or to the peace officer to whom it is issued and to the superintendent, jailer or any other person in charge of any jail, prison, house of correction, lockup or place of detention to whom it is exhibited who shall hold in temporary custody the prisoner retaken pursuant thereto.
INTERSTATE SUPERVISION OF PROBATIONERS AND PAROLEES Chapter 127: Section 151K. Definition of “state;” commonwealth party to compact Section 151K. The word “state” in sections one hundred and fifty-one A to one hundred and fifty-one J, inclusive, shall include any one of the several states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia, and the commonwealth shall be a party to said compact authorized by the provisions of section one hundred and fifty-one A with any such jurisdiction legally joining therein when such jurisdiction shall have enacted said compact in accordance with the terms thereof.
INTERSTATE SUPERVISION OF PROBATIONERS AND PAROLEES Chapter 127: Section 151L. Convicted felon residing in commonwealth while on probation; notification to police department and criminal history systems board Section 151L. When the office of the commissioner of probation receives notice from a sending state that an offender who is on probation in that state having been convicted of a violent felony, will be residing in the commonwealth while on probation, the office shall within thirty days after receiving such notice: (a) notify the local police department where the offender will be residing while in the commonwealth, and (b) notify the criminal history systems board of such offender. The office of the commissioner of probation shall provide to the local police department and the criminal history systems board the following information about the offender: his first and last name, his social security number, his residential address within the commonwealth, his date of birth, the nature of the offense for which he was placed on probation, and the state and jurisdiction where the offender’s criminal records are held.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 152. Pardons by governor; petition; advisory board; hearing; revocation of pardon; annual list Section 152. In a case in which the governor is authorized by the constitution to grant a pardon, he may, with the advice and consent of the council, and upon the written petition of the petitioner, grant it, subject to such conditions, restrictions and limitations as he considers proper, and he may issue his warrant to all proper officers to carry such pardon into effect. Such warrant shall be obeyed and executed instead of the sentence originally awarded.
If a sentence of death is imposed on a child under seventeen years of age, and if, before he reaches the age of seventeen, the governor pardons such child and commits him to the care of the department of youth services, said department shall assume control over him subject to the provisions of sections seventeen to twenty, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and twenty.
Every pardon petition shall, before its presentation to the governor, be filed with the parole board, acting as the advisory board of pardons, together with all statements and signatures appended thereto, and shall thereupon become a public record. Upon receipt, the advisory board of pardons shall process each petition in accordance with the applicable provisions of section one hundred and fifty-four.
In the case of a prisoner confined under sentence for a felony, no final action or vote shall be taken on such petition until after a public hearing has been held by the council. Such hearing shall be held as soon as practicable after the filing of such petition with the council. Any action taken by the council on such petition shall be taken by a roll call vote of the members present, recording and voting as yea or nay. The presence of a quorum and the vote of the majority of all members of the council present shall be necessary for the approval or disapproval of a petition. Within three days after such vote of the council, a certified copy of such roll call shall be filed with the state secretary for public inspection.
Upon approval of a petition for pardon, the governor shall direct all proper officers to seal all records relating to the offense for which the person received the pardon. Such sealed records shall not disqualify a person in any examination, appointment or application for employment or other benefit, public or private, including, but not limited to, licenses, credit or housing, nor shall such sealed record be admissible in evidence or used in any way in any court proceeding or hearing before any board, commission or other agency except in imposing sentence in subsequent criminal proceedings or in any court proceeding or hearing in which an individual is accused of violating sections one, thirteen, thirteen B, thirteen C, thirteen F, thirteen G, thirteen H, fourteen, fifteen, fifteen A, fifteen B, sixteen, eighteen, eighteen A, eighteen B, twenty-two, twenty-two A, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-four B and twenty-six of chapter two hundred and sixty-five. On any application or in an interview for employment, or in any other circumstances, where a person is asked whether he has been convicted of an offense, a person who has received a pardon for such offense may answer in the negative. The attorney general and the person so pardoned may enforce the provisions of this paragraph by an action commenced in the superior court department of the trial court.
The governor, with the advice and consent of the council, may at any time revoke any pardon if he, with such advice and consent, determines that there is a misstatement of a material fact knowingly made at the time of the filing of the written petition of the petitioner, or that such pardon was procured by fraud, concealment or misrepresentation or that any provision of this section has not been complied with, and upon such revocation the governor may issue his warrant to all proper officers to take the person so pardoned into custody and return him to the institution where he was imprisoned at the time of the granting of the pardon.
Such warrant shall be obeyed and executed by the officers to whom it is issued, and the person whose pardon has been so revoked shall have the same standing in the penal institution to which he is returned as he would have had if said pardon had not been granted, except that the time during which he has been out of said penal institution upon such pardon, shall not be counted in determining the amount of his sentence remaining to be served upon such return to such institution.
The governor shall, at the end of each calendar year, transmit to the general court, by filing with the clerk of either branch, a list of pardons granted with the advice and consent of the council during such calendar year, together with action of the advisory board of pardons concerning each such pardon, and together with a list of any revocations of pardons made under this section.
The word “pardon” as used in this section shall be deemed to include any exercise of the pardoning power except a respite from sentence.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 153. Notification to attorney general of petition for pardon of state prisoner Section 153. In all cases of petitions for pardons referred to the executive council by the governor, where the petitioner is serving a sentence in the state prison, the executive secretary shall notify the attorney general, and also the district attorney who prosecuted the case, and they or their representatives may be present at the hearing on the petition by the pardon committee of the executive council, examine the petitioner’s witnesses, and present to the pardon committee full information as to the case of the commonwealth against the petitioner on which he stands convicted of the crime for which he is serving sentence.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 154. Parole board as advisory board of pardons; powers and duties Section 154. The parole board shall be the advisory board of pardons. Said board shall, forthwith, upon receipt of a pardon petition in a case in which the petitioner is confined in a correctional institution of the commonwealth, forward a copy of such petition to the attorney general, the commissioner of correction, the chief of police of the municipality in which the crime was committed, and, if the petitioner was sentenced in the superior court, the district attorney in whose district sentence was imposed, or, if the petitioner was sentenced in a district court, the justice of the court in which sentence was imposed.
Upon receipt of all other petitions, the board shall forward a copy to the attorney general, the chief of police and the district attorney or the justice of the district court, as the case may be; provided, however, that they shall not be required to forward said copies if the petitioner was convicted of a misdemeanor and is not confined.
Within six weeks of the receipt of a copy of any petition, the appropriate officials may make written recommendations concerning such petition to the advisory board, but failure of any or all of these officials to make such recommendations, shall not arrest the pardoning procedure in the case.
Within ten weeks of the original receipt of any petition, the advisory board shall transmit the original petition to the governor, together with its conclusions and recommendations and together with such recommendations as have been received from the above officials; except that if the board shall determine that adequate consideration of the case requires a hearing on its merits by the board, said board shall not be required to submit its recommendations at the end of ten weeks but shall notify the governor of its intention to hold a hearing; but such hearing shall be held and a report made to the governor within six months of the original receipt of the petition by the board. If the board shall determine that such hearing shall be held, in the case of a petitioner who is confined under sentence for a felony, the attorney general and the district attorney shall be notified of the hearing and they or their representatives given the opportunity to appear, examine the petitioner’s witnesses and be heard.
If in the opinion of the board, the facts stated in their report to the governor are such as to cause undue or unmerited hardship or injury to the petitioner or to other individuals, if made public, the portion of said report containing such facts may be submitted separately from the conclusions and recommendations, and without publicity. However, in all cases a statement containing the facts of the crime or crimes for which a pardon or commutation is sought, the sentence or sentences received, together with all conclusions and recommendations shall be made public when the report is submitted. A copy of such statement, as well as a statement of the majority recommendation of the board, signed by all members concurring, and a certified copy of the petition with all statements and signatures appended thereto, shall be retained by the board as a permanent record open to public inspection at any reasonable time for a period of ten years from the date the original petition was filed with the board.
The said board shall not review the proceedings of the trial court, and shall not consider any questions regarding the correctness, regularity or legality of such proceedings, but shall confine itself solely to matters which properly bear upon the propriety of the extension of clemency to the petitioner. Said board, from time to time, may make rules relative to the calling of meetings and to the proceedings thereat. The board or any members of it may summon witnesses and administer oaths or affirmations. The fees of witnesses before the board shall be the same as for witnesses in civil actions before the courts, and shall be paid from the appropriation for the expenses of the parole board.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 154A. Repealed, 1965, 766, Sec. 2 PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 155. Violation of pardon; arrest; notice Section 155. If a prisoner who has been pardoned upon conditions to be observed and performed by him violates such conditions, the parole board shall forthwith cause him to be arrested and detained, and the warden, superintendent or keeper, respectively, of the institution in which the prisoner was confined shall receive said prisoner and cause him to be detained until the case can be examined by the governor and council; and the officer who makes the arrest shall forthwith give written notice thereof to the governor and council.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 156. Confinement for unexpired term; computation of confinement; discharge Section 156. The governor and council shall, upon receiving such notice, examine the case of such prisoner; and if it appears by his own admission or by evidence that he has violated the condition of his pardon, the governor, with the advice and consent of the council, shall order him to be remanded and confined for the unexpired term of his sentence, said confinement, if the prisoner is under any other sentence of imprisonment at the time of said order, to begin upon the expiration of such sentence. In computing the period of his confinement, the time between the conditional pardon and subsequent arrest shall not be taken to be part of the term of his sentence. If it appears to the governor and council that he has not broken the conditions of his conditional pardon, he shall be discharged.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 157. Execution of warrant of pardon; return Section 157. If a prisoner is pardoned or his punishment is commuted, the officer to whom the warrant for such purpose is issued shall, as soon as may be after executing it, make return thereof, signed by him, with his doings thereon, to the secretary’s office, and shall file in the office of the clerk of the court in which the offender was convicted an attested copy of the warrant and return, and the clerk shall subjoin a brief abstract thereof to the record of the conviction and sentence.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 158. Parole board agents; duties Section 158. The agents employed by the parole board shall, in accordance with the rules and regulations of the board, supervise, counsel and advise prisoners released on parole from the correctional institutions of the commonwealth, or from any institution to which they were removed therefrom, and shall assist them in securing employment. They shall also render assistance and counsel to discharged prisoners who are in need of such help, and perform such other duties relative to discharged or released prisoners as the parole board requires.
They shall obtain information for the use of the parole board relative to prisoners sentenced to correctional institutions of the commonwealth, especially as to the details of their offences and their previous character and history. They may for that purpose require of the police authorities any facts in their possession relative to such prisoners if the communication thereof will not, in the opinion of said authorities, be detrimental to the public interest.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 159. Repealed, 1955, 770, Sec. 122 PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 16. Physical examination of inmates; communicable diseases Section 16. The superintendents of the correctional institutions of the commonwealth, and the keepers and superintendents of jails and houses of correction shall cause a thorough physical examination to be made by a competent physician of each inmate in their respective institutions committed for a term of thirty days’ imprisonment or more. In conducting the examination special attention shall be given to determining the presence of communicable diseases, particularly venereal diseases as defined under section six of chapter one hundred and eleven and pulmonary tuberculosis.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 160. Expenditures for assistance of released prisoners Section 160. The parole board may expend such sum as may be appropriated for the assistance of prisoners released from any correctional institution of the commonwealth, or from any institution to which they were removed therefrom. Such assistance may be in the form of a loan on such conditions as the board may determine.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 161. Account of expenditures by parole board agents Section 161. The commissioner shall cause an account to be kept of the money expended by the agents for the necessary expenses of the service required by sections one hundred and fifty-eight and one hundred and fifty-nine, for correspondence and travel in procuring employment for and furnishing clothing, board and tools to discharged prisoners and for conveying them to their homes or places of employment, which, upon approval by the comptroller, shall be paid at the end of each month.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 162. Expenditure of institutional funds for welfare of released prisoners Section 162. The superintendent of any correctional institution of the commonwealth may pay from the treasury of the institution not more than fifty dollars to every prisoner leaving the institution. A prisoner who leaves the institution shall be provided with decent clothing.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 162A. Arsonists; notice of release Section 162A. The superintendent of a correctional institution shall immediately prior to the release or discharge from such institution of any person sentenced upon conviction of the crime of arson notify the state fire marshal of the intended date of the release or discharge of such prisoner.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 163. Annual report of agents for aiding discharged prisoners Section 163. The agents for aiding discharged prisoners shall annually, on or before December fifteenth, make full and detailed statements to the commissioner of their doings for the year ending on November thirtieth, which shall be included by the commissioner in his annual report.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 164. County commissioners; aid to prisoners Section 164. The county commissioners may provide a prisoner released from prison with such amount of money as in their opinion can be wisely used to encourage his reformation, or they may pay it to a suitable person designated by them to be used for such prisoner.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 165. Expenditures by superintendent or keeper of jail in aid of discharged prisoners Section 165. The superintendent or keeper of a jail or house of correction may, with the approval of the county commissioners, expend such amount, not exceeding twenty-five dollars, in aiding a prisoner discharged from his custody as in his opinion will assist such prisoner in his endeavor to reform. He may in his discretion pay it to the prisoner, or to some person selected by the superintendent or keeper, to be expended by him in behalf of the prisoner or for providing the prisoner with board, clothing, transportation or tools. The amount so paid by a superintendent or keeper shall be allowed and paid by the county like other prison expenses.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 166. Payment or receipt of money for obtaining pardon, parole, commutation of or respite from sentence Section 166. No person shall, in the attempt to procure, or for the procurement of, any pardon, parole, commutation of or respite from sentence of a prisoner then confined in, or at liberty after having been confined in, any of the penal institutions of this commonwealth, or then under sentence to serve a term of imprisonment in any of said institutions, knowingly pay or offer to pay, or solicit, offer to receive or receive, either by way of gift or of reward or of compensation for services, or otherwise, except for proper legal services, any money or other thing of value, or shall transmit the same from one person to another; nor in such attempt or for such procurement shall any person make, or offer or promise to make, or to procure or induce the making of, any appointment to any position, whether or not in the public service.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 167. Persons representing applicants for pardons, parole or commutation of sentence; statements Section 167. No person shall represent or purport to represent any prisoner then confined in, or at liberty after having been confined in, any of the penal institutions of this commonwealth or then under sentence to serve a term of imprisonment in any of said institutions, in the attempt to procure or for the procurement of any pardon, parole, commutation of or respite from sentence, unless such person shall first have filed in the office of the state secretary a written statement signed by him and made under the penalties of perjury, stating in substance that none of the provisions of section one hundred and sixty-six has been violated, that such person is acting with the written consent of the prisoner, and that such person has not received or been promised, and does not expect to receive or to be promised, any money or other reward for so acting, except fees or other reward for legal services, the amount of which fees or other reward and a detailed description of which services shall be set forth in such statement. If any person receives any additional fee or other reward for legal services different from that disclosed in the statement referred to in this section, such person shall forthwith file in the same form and manner as the original statement an additional statement setting forth the amount of such additional fees or the exact nature and extent of such reward, with a detailed description of the legal services rendered for such fee or reward. Said statements shall be kept as permanent records in the office of the state secretary and shall be open to public inspection at any reasonable time.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 168. Violation of Sec. 166 or 167 Section 168. Whoever violates any provision of section one hundred and sixty-six or one hundred and sixty-seven shall be punished by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than two years, or both.
PARDONS Chapter 127: Section 169. Copy of Secs. 166 to 169; printing on petition for pardon forms Section 169. A copy of sections one hundred and sixty-six to one hundred and sixty-nine, inclusive, shall be printed on the form of any petition for pardon, parole, commutation of or respite from sentence, but shall not be deemed a part of such petition.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 16A. Reimbursement of medical expenses by persons incarcerated in pre-release facilities Section 16A. The commissioner may include in the rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to the provisions of section forty-eight provisions for the reimbursement of medical expenses by persons incarcerated in department of correction pre-release facilities.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 17. Specifications governing physical examinations; records; statements Section 17. Specifications governing the manner and time of such physical examinations shall be promulgated by the department of public health. Said department shall prescribe the medical records to be kept, shall require such laboratory or other diagnostic aids to be used as in its judgment are expedient, and shall forward to the commissioner statements of the results of all such examinations, together with recommendations relative thereto. For the purpose of obtaining further information relative to such prisoners the commissioner may cause inquiry to be made of court physicians and psychiatrists, probation officers and district attorneys, who have made examinations or investigations of such prisoners prior to conviction or who have prosecuted them, and such physicians, psychiatrists and probation officers shall furnish to the commissioner when requested all pertinent information in their possession. The commissioner may cause such further inquiry to be made relative to the offences committed by such prisoners and their past history and environment as he may deem necessary. He shall cause records to be made of such examinations and investigations.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 18. Failure to comply with Secs. 16 and 17; penalty Section 18. Any officer named in section sixteen who neglects or refuses to comply with said section or who violates any rule or regulation of the department of public health made under section seventeen shall forfeit not more than fifty dollars.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 19. Physical training of prisoners; director Section 19. The commissioner may institute a system of physical training, including military drill and organized athletic sports in any penal institution in the commonwealth, to be under the direction of the director of physical training of the department. He may prescribe the powers and duties of the director and may adopt rules and regulations to carry out this section.
DEFINITIONS Chapter 127: Section 1A. County correctional facilities; minimum standards; financial or other assistance Section 1A. In accordance with paragraphs (d) and (q) of section one of chapter one hundred and twenty-four the commissioner shall establish, and shall from time to time revise, minimum standards for the care and custody of all persons committed to county correctional facilities. Prior to establishing or revising such minimum standards the commissioner shall visit, consult with and receive the recommendations of the sheriffs of the several counties and the penal institutions commissioner of the city of Boston. The commissioner shall require from the sheriffs of the several counties and the penal institutions commissioner of the city of Boston periodic reports on the population, operation and conditions of all county correctional facilities.
The commissioner may provide consultation services for the design and construction of facilities, studies and surveys of programs and administration and any other technical assistance he deems proper and necessary. In cooperation with the county commissioners and administrators of each county, the commissioner may develop and administer programs of grants-in-aid or subsidies for any county correctional facility.
DEFINITIONS Chapter 127: Section 1B. Inspection of county correctional facilities; compliance with minimum standards; report; notice of violations; enforcement procedure Section 1B. At least once each six months the commissioner or his delegate shall inspect each county correctional facility to determine compliance with minimum standards. The results of such inspections shall be summarized in the annual report of the commissioner to the general court. Personnel of the department shall be admitted to all county correctional facilities as required for the purposes of this section.
If, in the opinion of the commissioner, any county correctional facility does not comply with the standards established by him for county correctional facilities, the commissioner shall give notice of the alleged violation to the sheriff and the county commissioners of the county in which such facility is located except that in the case of Suffolk County House of Correction such notice shall be given to the penal institutions commissioner of the city of Boston. Said notice shall specify the particular standards that in the commissioner’s opinion have not been met by such facility. The officials so notified shall have the right to be heard by the commissioner with regard to the alleged violation and shall have a reasonable period of time to remedy any such violation. If, in the opinion of the commissioner, the facility has not been brought into compliance with the aforesaid standards within a reasonable time from the date when notice of their violation is given, the commissioner may petition the Superior Court in equity in the county in which such facility is located for an order to close the facility or for other appropriate relief. The Superior Court shall have jurisdiction to enter such an order.
OFFICERS Chapter 127: Section 2. Duty of superintendents to keep records Section 2. The superintendents of correctional institutions of the commonwealth and the superintendents and keepers of jails, houses of correction and of all other penal or reformatory institutions shall keep full and accurate records of all prisoners committed thereto, maintained therein or discharged therefrom. Systems operated by the criminal history systems board, pursuant to sections one hundred and sixty-seven to one hundred and seventy-eight, inclusive, of chapter six, may be used for such record-keeping purposes provided that such records remain subject to the regulations of said board.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 20. Classification of prisoners; approval Section 20. There shall be established by the commissioner, with the approval of the governor and council, a reception center for all male prisoners, except those sentenced to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater. Any male convict who is sentenced to any correctional institution of the commonwealth, except the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater, shall be delivered by the sheriff or other officer authorized to execute sentence to said center for the purpose of proper classification of the prisoner. Classification of female prisoners shall be made at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Framingham, under the supervision of the deputy commissioner for classification and treatment.
The deputy commissioner for classification and treatment, under the general supervision of the commissioner, shall direct the professional staff assigned to said reception center, and shall be responsible for grading and classifying all prisoners sentenced to any of the correctional institutions of the commonwealth, and shall in addition have general charge of the reception center.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 20A. Prisoner classification board Section 20A. The superintendent of each correctional facility shall establish a periodic classification board, the membership of which he shall appoint. Such boards shall make recommendation to such superintendent or his deputy for a prisoner’s periodic grading and classification; provided, however, that such recommendation shall be made only by a full board. No less than three members shall constitute a full board. Such classification boards shall consist of correction officers, prison camp officers, correctional counselors, unit managers, directors of classification or deputy superintendents; provided, however, that in a facility designated by the commissioner as maximum or medium security, one member shall be a correction officer and, in a facility designated by the commissioner as a community correction facility, one member shall be an employee of the department whose primary role includes security responsibilities.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the grading and classification of any prisoner at a correctional facility other than that facility to which such prisoner is currently committed if, in the commissioner’s opinion, conducting such procedure at another facility is appropriate for such prisoner.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 21. Classification of prisoners in jails and houses of correction; approval Section 21. The sheriffs and the penal institutions commissioner of Boston may so classify prisoners sentenced and committed to jails and houses of correction, with reference to their sex, age, character, condition and offences, as to promote their reformation and safe custody and the economy of their support, and to secure the separation of male and female prisoners, subject to the approval of the deputy commissioner for classification and treatment. The superintendent or keeper of a jail or house of correction shall ascertain whether a prisoner committed thereto upon a sentence of six months or more can read or write.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 22. Separation of prisoners; minors Section 22. Male and female prisoners shall not be put or kept in the same room in a jail or house of correction; nor, unless the crowded state of the institution so requires, shall any two prisoners, other than debtors, be allowed to occupy the same room, except for work. Persons committed for debt shall be kept separate from convicts and from persons who are confined upon a charge of an infamous crime. Conversation between prisoners in different apartments shall be prevented. Minors shall be kept separate from notorious offenders and from persons convicted of an infamous crime. Persons committed on charge of crime shall not be confined with convicts, and prisoners charged with or convicted of a crime not infamous shall not be confined with those charged with or convicted of an infamous crime, except while at labor or assembled for moral or religious instruction, at which time no communication shall be allowed between prisoners of different classes.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 23. Identification of prisoners Section 23. The officer in charge of a penal institution to which a person is committed under a sentence of imprisonment for any crime shall, unless the court otherwise orders, take or cause to be taken his name, age, height, weight, photograph and general description and copies of his finger prints in accordance with the finger print system of identification of criminals. The court may order to be taken the photograph and the aforesaid description and finger prints of a person convicted of a felony who is not committed to a penal institution. All such photographs and identifying matter shall be transmitted forthwith to the colonel of state police.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 24. Repealed, 1931, 350, Sec. 10 PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 25. Fugitives from justice Section 25. Whenever the officer in charge of a prison, lockup or other place of detention has received a request from any authority, either by circular or otherwise, to assist in the apprehension of a fugitive from justice, such officer may take an exact description of any person committed to such prison or held in such lockup or other place of detention, and may include in such descriptions copies of the finger prints in accordance with the finger print system of identification. But said officer shall not take a description of a person who, he has reason to believe, is not a fugitive from justice. All descriptions so made shall be forthwith transmitted to the office of the colonel of state police.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 26. Repealed, 1931, 350, Sec. 10 PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 27. District attorney to furnish criminal history Section 27. The district attorney who prosecuted such prisoners as are described in section twenty-three shall forward to the department of correction the criminal history of each prisoner as shown upon the trial, upon blanks to be furnished by the commissioner of correction.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 28. Descriptions, fingerprints and criminal history; records Section 28. The superintendents of the correctional institutions of the commonwealth and the keepers of jails and houses of correction shall keep a record of the descriptions and fingerprints taken under section twenty-three and of the criminal history of prisoners so described and fingerprinted, as shown by the records of the courts of the commonwealth, or of any other state, or by any other official records which are accessible, and shall attach to the record a photograph of such prisoner or file such photograph in such manner as to be readily found. Systems operated by the criminal history systems board, pursuant to sections one hundred and sixty-six through one hundred and seventy-seven, inclusive, of chapter six, may be used for such recordkeeping purposes provided that such records remain subject to the regulations of said board.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 29. Publication of records; exhibition of records Section 29. The record required by the preceding section shall not be published except so far as may be necessary for the identification of persons convicted of larceny or any felony after their release from prison; but the officer in charge of a prison shall exhibit the record to any person upon the order of a justice of the superior court or of a district attorney. A copy of the descriptions including copies of finger prints, photographs and criminal histories shall upon request be furnished by the officer in charge of any prison to the colonel of state police or to the principal officer of a prison in any other state which requires by law the finger printing and description of convicts and has provided for furnishing information concerning criminals to other states. However, publication of any records required by section twenty-eight which are kept on systems operated by the criminal history systems board shall be in accordance with the regulations of said board.
OFFICERS Chapter 127: Section 3. Money and property of prisoners; records; custody and return; transmission to court; interest on deposits Section 3. They shall keep a record of all money or other property found in possession of prisoners committed to such institutions, and shall be responsible to the commonwealth for the safe keeping and delivery of said property to said prisoners or their order on their discharge or at any time before. The superintendents of correctional institutions of the commonwealth and the superintendents and keepers of jails, houses of correction and of all other penal or reformatory institutions shall, upon receipt of an outstanding victim and witness assessment, transmit to the court any part or all of the monies earned or received by any inmate and held by the correctional facility, except monies derived from interest earned upon said deposits and revenues generated by the sale or purchase of goods or services to persons in correctional facilities, to satisfy the victim witness assessment ordered by a court pursuant to section eight of chapter two hundred and fifty-eight B. Any monies derived from interest earned upon the deposit of such money and revenue generated by the sale or purchase of goods or services to persons in the correctional facilities may be expended for the general welfare of all the inmates at the discretion of the superintendent.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 30. Compensation to officers; reimbursement Section 30. No compensation shall be allowed to an officer for the performance of any services required by sections twenty-three to twenty-nine, inclusive, but he shall be reimbursed by the commonwealth for his actual traveling expenses incurred in the performance of any duties therein required.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 31. Repealed, 1931, 350, Sec. 10 PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 32. Treatment of prisoners Section 32. The superintendents of the institutions under the supervision of the department of correction shall treat the prisoners with the kindness which their obedience, industry and good conduct merit.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 33. Maintenance of order in institutions; enforcement of obedience Section 33. The superintendents of all institutions under the jurisdiction of the department of correction and the superintendents and keepers of jails and houses of correction shall cause all necessary means to be used to maintain order in the institutions under their supervision, enforce obedience, suppress insurrection and prevent escapes, and for that purpose they may at all times require the aid and utmost exertions of all the officers of the institution except the chaplain and the physician.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 34, 35. Repealed, 1955, 770, Sec. 122 PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 36. Visits to jails or correctional institutions; permission Section 36. No person except the governor, a member of the governor’s council, a member of the general court, a justice of the supreme judicial, superior or district court, the attorney general, a district attorney, the commissioner, a deputy commissioner of correction, a member of the parole board, or a parole or probation officer may visit any of the correctional institutions of the commonwealth or any jail or house of correction in the commonwealth without the permission of the commissioner or of the superintendent of such institution or of the keeper of such jail or house of correction. Every visitor who is required to obtain such permission shall also make and subscribe a statement under the penalties of perjury stating his true name and residence, whether or not he has been convicted of a felony, and, if visiting an inmate of such institution, his relationship by blood or marriage, if any, to such inmate, and, if not so related, the purpose of the visit.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 36A. Conferences with attorneys Section 36A. The superintendent shall not abridge the right of an inmate of any correctional or penal institution in the commonwealth to confer with any attorney at law engaged or designated by him, and such attorney may visit such inmate at such times as may be established under rules promulgated by the commissioner.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 36B. Conferences with clergy members Section 36B. The superintendent shall not abridge the right of an inmate of any correctional or penal institution in the commonwealth to confer with any accredited member of the clergy of said inmate’s choice. Said clergy may visit inmates at such times and under such conditions as may be established under rules promulgated by the commissioner.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 37. Record of visitors Section 37. The superintendent of each correctional institution shall cause a record to be kept of the names and residences of all visitors, which record shall always be open to the commissioner, and may refuse admission to a person having a permit if in his opinion such admission would be injurious to the best interests of the institution, but such superintendent shall forthwith report such refusal to the commissioner.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 38. Use of gags Section 38. Punishment by the use of the gag shall not be allowed in any penal, reformatory or charitable institution. An officer of any such institution who uses a gag as a punishment shall be punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 38A. Holding officers and employees as hostages Section 38A. Any prisoner in any penal or reformatory institution who holds any officer or employee of such institution or any other person as a hostage shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than twenty years.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 38B. Assaults upon guards; penalty Section 38B. A prisoner in any jail or house of correction, or in any correctional institution of the commonwealth who commits an assault or an assault and battery upon an officer, guard or other employee of any jail, house of correction or correctional institution or upon any duly authorized officer, guard or other employee of any such jail, house of correction or correctional institution engaged in the transportation of a prisoner for lawful reasons shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than ten years. Such sentence shall begin from and after all sentences currently outstanding and unserved at the time of said assault or assault and battery.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 38C. Felonies in correctional institutions; notice to district attorney Section 38C. Whenever the superintendent of a correctional institution of the commonwealth determines that a felony has been committed therein, he shall forthwith notify the district attorney for the county in which such institution is located.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 38D. Notice of transfer of prisoner convicted of offense against officer, guard or correctional institution employee Section 38D. At the request of any correction officer, guard or other employee of any jail, house of correction or correctional institution, the commissioner, sheriffs or their designees shall provide notice to such officer, guard or employee of any transfer between such facilities or similar facilities utilized by the commonwealth or any political subdivision within or without the commonwealth of a prisoner convicted of an offense against such officer, guard or employee.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 38E. Inmate complaints; grievance system; grievance resolution Section 38E. (a) The commissioner shall promulgate regulations to establish a fair, impartial, speedy and effective system for the resolution of grievances filed against the department, its officers or employees, by inmates who are committed to, held by or in the custody of the department in a state, county, or federal correctional facility, or the Massachusetts treatment center. The commissioner, in consultation with the county sheriffs, shall also promulgate regulations for the resolution of grievances filed against a county of the commonwealth, its officials or employees, by inmates who are committed to, held by, or in the custody of a county sheriff.
(b) A grievance system shall provide but not be limited to:(1) specific maximum time limits for written replies to grievances with reasons for such replies at each decision level within the system;(2) priority processing of grievances that are of an emergency nature, including matters in which delay would subject the petitioner to substantial risk of personal injury or other damages;(3) safeguards to avoid reprisals against any petitioner or participant in the resolution of a grievance.
(c) Grievances that may be brought by inmates subject to the provisions of subsections (a) and (b) shall include all grievances arising out of or resulting from a condition of or occurrence during confinement, whether or not said grievance is presented in the form of petition for a writ of habeas corpus. A petition for a writ of habeas corpus seeking only release from unlawful imprisonment or restraint and no other relief shall not be subject to the provisions of this section. All applicable statute of limitations and presentment periods shall be tolled from the date of the filing of a grievance pursuant to this section until the final administrative resolution of the grievance.
PRISONERS Chapter 127: Section 38H. Judicial review of final decision on grievance Section 38H. A final decision with respect to a grievance shall be subject to judicial review in accordance with section 14 of chapter 30A, in the superior court for the county in which the inmate is incarcerated or otherwise being held, or in Suffolk county. A complaint filed with the court by an inmate in accordance with this section shall be accompanied by a copy of the final decision for which review is sought, if any, and a complaint not so accompanied subject to the exclusion in section 38F shall not be accepted for filing. The availability of review under this section shall not be construed to limit any judicial remedies otherwise available.
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT Chapter 127: Section 39. Segregated units; facilities; examinations Section 39. At the request of the superintendent of any correctional institution of the commonwealth, the commissioner may authorize the transfer, for such period as he may determine, to a segregated unit within any correctional institution of the commonwealth, of any inmate whose continued retention in the general institution population is detrimental to the program of the institution.
Such segregated unit shall provide regular meals, fully furnished cells, limited recreational facilities, rights of visitation and communication by those properly authorized, and such other privileges as may be established by the commissioner. Under the supervision of the department of mental health, all inmates confined to a segregated unit shall be given periodic medical and psychiatric examinations, and shall receive such medical and psychiatric treatment as may be indicated.
OFFICERS Chapter 127: Section 4. Records of punishment by isolation Section 4. They shall keep a record of the name and number or other sufficient designation of every person punished by isolation, the day and hour when he was placed in isolation, the day and hour when released, the offense, and such remarks as may be necessary to complete the record. The commissioner shall ascertain whether the requirements of this section are observed.
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT Chapter 127: Section 40. Confinement to isolation unit in correctional institutions Section 40. For the enforcement of discipline, an inmate in any correctional institution of the commonwealth may, at the discretion of its superintendent, be confined, for a period not to exceed fifteen days for any one offence, to an isolation unit.
Such isolation units must provide light, ventilation and adequate sanitary facilities, may contain a minimum of furniture, and shall provide at least one full meal daily.
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT Chapter 127: Section 41. Confinement to isolation unit in jails or houses of correction Section 41. The superintendent or keeper of a jail or house of correction may set aside in such jail or house of correction one or more cells to be used as isolation units, and for the enforcement of discipline may confine any inmate thereto; but no prisoner shall be confined to such isolation unit for more than three days without informing the sheriff or the county commissioners thereof and of the reasons therefor; and in no case for more than ten days for any one offence.
Such isolation units shall provide light, ventilation and adequate sanitary facilities, may contain a minimum of furniture, and shall provide at least one full meal daily.
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT Chapter 127: Section 42 to 47. Repealed, 1955, 770, Sec. 122 EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 48. Establishment and maintenance; rules and regulations Section 48. The commissioner shall establish and maintain education, training and employment programs for persons committed to the custody of the department. The administrators of county correctional facilities shall establish and maintain such programs for persons committed to such facilities. Such programs shall include opportunities for academic education, vocational education, vocational training, other related prevocational programs and employment, and may be made available within correctional facilities or, subject to the restrictions set forth in sections forty-nine and eighty-six F, at other places approved by the commissioner or administrator. In determining which employment programs to establish and maintain under the authority of this section, the commissioner or administrator shall take into account, first, the training value of the program, second, the job market and employment conditions in the community and third, in the case of programs to be carried out within a correctional facility, the types of goods and services required by the commonwealth and its subdivisions.
The commissioner shall make and promulgate rules and regulations governing programs established under this section which shall include provisions for hours, conditions of employment, wage rates for employment program participants, incentive payments for education and training program participants, and deductions from said wages pursuant to the provisions of section eighty-six F.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 48A. System of compensation; graduated scale; credits; appropriations Section 48A. Subject to appropriation from the General Fund, the commissioner shall establish a system of compensation for inmates of the correctional institutions of the commonwealth who perform good and satisfactory work either within the industrial program or in the servicing and maintenance of the correctional institutions or in the prison camps. Upon the recommendation of any superintendent, the commissioner may establish a graduated scale of compensation to be paid inmates in accordance with their skill and industry, and the commissioner shall establish, and may at any time amend or annul, rules and regulations for carrying out the purposes of this section. No money shall be paid directly to any inmate during the term of his imprisonment.
The superintendent of any correctional institution may expend one half of the money so earned by any inmate on behalf of the inmate for articles for the use of the inmate; provided, however, that in the case of an inmate who is a defective delinquent or a sexually dangerous person or who is serving a life term, the superintendent may so expend any part or all of such money. The superintendent shall also expend any part or all of such money of any inmate to satisfy the victim and witness assessment ordered by a court pursuant to section eight of chapter two hundred and fifty-eight B. The remainder of the moneys so earned, after deducting amounts expended on behalf of the inmate as aforesaid, shall be accumulated to the credit of the inmate and shall be deposited in an interest-bearing account by the superintendent as trustee in a bank approved by the state treasurer and paid to the inmate, with the accrued interest, upon his release from such institution in such instalments and at such times as may be described in such rules and regulations. The superintendent shall also expend any part or all of such money of any inmate to satisfy the victim and witness assessment ordered by a court pursuant to section eight of chapter two hundred and fifty-eight B.
Said superintendent may also expend on behalf of any inmate such further sums from the money the inmate has earned upon the inmate’s written request and in circumstances of compelling need, including, but not limited to, expenses related to family illness or death, legal defense, provision of essential articles of personal use or any other such circumstances of compelling need as determined by the superintendent.
Subject to appropriation from the General Fund, the commissioner may expend such amounts as are appropriated to rearrange or enlarge the shops and to provide storage room needed for the manufacturing of prison goods in an established industry. The commissioner may employ such additional employees as shall be approved by the governor and council to make arrangements with the offices, departments and institutions named in sections fifty-three and fifty-seven.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 49. Participation of inmates in programs outside correctional facilities; eligibility; sentence credit; rules and regulations; escape, punishment; public employment; labor dispute restriction Section 49. The commissioner of correction, or the administrator of a county correctional facility, subject to rules and regulations established in accordance with the provisions of this section, may permit an inmate who has served such a portion of his sentence or sentences that he would be eligible for parole within eighteen months to participate in education, training, or employment programs established under section forty-eight outside a correctional facility; provided that no committed offender who is serving a life sentence or a sentence in a state or county correctional facility for violation of section thirteen, 14, 15, 15A, 15B, 16, 17, 18, 18A, 19, 20, 21, 24B, 25, or section 26 of chapter 265, or section 17, 34, or 35, of chapter two hundred and seventy-two, or for an attempt to commit any crime referred to in said sections shall be eligible to participate in education, training or employment programs outside a correctional facility, as established under section forty-eight, except on the recommendation of the superintendent of the correctional facility or superintendent of a county correctional facility on behalf of a particular committed offender and upon the approval of the commissioner or the administrator of a county correctional facility. No sex offender in the custody of the department of correction shall be eligible to participate in any program outside a correctional facility established under section forty-eight unless he has completed the department’s voluntary sex offender treatment program. The voluntary sex offender treatment program shall be administered pursuant to the rules and regulations of the department. No sex offender, or sexually dangerous person as defined in section 1 of chapter 123A, or any person who commits a sexual offense as defined in said section 1, or any person who violates section 24B of chapter 265 shall be eligible for any program outside a correctional facility authorized under section 48 or any other work release program authorized by law.
In the case of a committed offender who participates in any program outside a correctional facility established under section forty-eight, the time spent in such participation shall be credited toward the serving of his sentence in the same manner as though he had served such time within the facility. A committed offender enrolled in any such program shall remain subject to the rules and regulations of the correctional facility and shall be under the direction, control and supervision of the officers thereof during the period of his participation in the program. The commissioner or such administrator shall make and promulgate rules and regulations regarding programs established under section forty-eight outside correctional facilities. Such rules and regulations shall include provisions for reasonable periods of confinement to particular correctional facilities before a committed offender may be permitted to participate in such programs and provisions for feeding, housing and supervising participants in such programs in such manner as will be calculated to maintain morale and prevent the introduction of contraband to the facility.
If any inmate who participates in any program outside a correctional facility established under the provisions of section forty-eight leaves his place of employment, or having been ordered by the commissioner or such administrator to return to the correctional facility, neglects or refuses to do so, said inmate shall be held to have escaped from said prison or institution and shall, upon conviction of such escape, be sentenced, if the escape was from a state correctional facility, to a state correctional facility for a term of not less than three nor more than five years, and all deductions from the sentence or sentences he was serving at the time of such escape, authorized by section one hundred and twenty-nine, shall be forfeited, but said inmate shall be entitled to a deduction of sentence on any sentence imposed for said escape and if the escape was from a county correctional facility, to a county correctional facility for a term not to exceed one year or the term for which he was originally sentenced, whichever is the lesser.
Committed offenders who are gainfully employed outside a correctional facility may be so employed by an agency of the commonwealth other than the department of correction or by public or private employers. The rates of pay and other conditions of employment for a committed offender so employed shall be the same as those paid or required in the locality in which the work is performed provided that no committed offender employed by an agency of the commonwealth shall be subject to sections nine A or nine B of chapter thirty, or chapter thirty-one, and in no case shall such rates of pay be less than those paid by his employer to other employees doing similar work. No committed offender shall be so employed at a place where there exists any strike or work stoppage arising from a labor dispute of any kind.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 49A. Evaluation of inmates for participation in programs outside correctional facilities; committees; recommendation Section 49A. Before any inmate may be considered for participation in education, training, or employment programs established under section forty-eight outside a correctional facility, or in any other program outside a correctional facility exclusive of parole, he shall first demonstrate that he is responsible and deserving of these opportunities.
The commissioner shall establish, in each state correctional facility, one or more committees made up of representatives from all segments of department of corrections staff, especially correction officers and the administrator of a county correctional facility shall establish, in each county correctional facility, one or more committees made up of representatives from all segments of the sheriff’s department staff, especially correction officers. The membership of said committees shall be appointed by the superintendent of each correctional facility and shall consist of correction officers, prison camp officers, correctional counselors, unit managers, directors of classification or deputy superintendents; provided, however, that, in a facility designated by the commissioner as maximum or medium security, one member shall be a correction officer and, in a facility designated by the commissioner as a community correction facility, one member shall be an employee of the department whose primary role includes security responsibilities.
Said committees shall evaluate the behavior and conduct of inmates within the prison; provided, however, that such evaluation shall be made only by a full board. No less than three members shall constitute a full board. In evaluating an inmate’s behavior and conduct within the prison, said committee shall interview the inmate, and shall have access to disciplinary reports and other appropriate records. After evaluating the inmate’s behavior and conduct within the prison, said committee shall make a recommendation to the superintendent of the correctional facility or superintendent of a county correctional facility as to whether or not the inmate shall be permitted to participate in any program outside a correctional facility, exclusive of parole. Said recommendation shall be made in writing, and shall include the vote of said committee in making said recommendation.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 49B. Participation of prisoners in work programs at mental health, mental retardation and public health facilities; restrictions Section 49B. Prisoners in state correctional institutions, except prisoners who are housed in the maximum security section at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Cedar Junction, may, in the custody of an officer, be eligible to provide services for patients in residential care at facilities of the department of mental health, the department of mental retardation or the department of public health or provide care of public lands or buildings and grounds. No prisoner may participate in a program under this section unless he has been screened both by the committee established under the provisions of section forty-nine A for the correctional institution wherein he is confined and by a member of the professional staff of the institution at which he is to provide such care or service, who shall be designated by the head of said institution or the person in charge of such public lands or buildings. Any prisoner who escapes from the premises at which he is providing care or service under this section shall be deemed to have escaped from the institution of which he is an inmate. No prisoner, except as provided in section forty-nine, shall be employed outside the precincts of the place of his imprisonment doing work of any kind for private persons.
No person who is serving a sentence for violation of or for an attempt to commit any crime referred to in section two, three, four, five, six, seven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, twenty-four, twenty-six, twenty-eight, twenty-eight A, twenty-eight B, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty A, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-four, thirty-five or thirty-five A of chapter two hundred and seventy-two or section thirteen B, twenty-two, twenty-two A, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-four B of chapter two hundred and sixty-five or who is under commitment under the provisions of chapter one hundred and twenty-three A may participate in a program under the provisions of this section.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 49C. Employment of prisoners of county correctional institutions on municipal properties within county Section 49C. Prisoners in county correctional institutions may, in the custody of an officer, be eligible to provide services for municipalities within the county, including the care of public lands or buildings and grounds. No prisoner may participate in a program under this section unless he has been screened both by the committee for the correctional institution wherein he is confined that determines an inmate’s fitness to participate in outside programs, and by a member of the professional staff of the institution or agency at which he is to provide such care or service. Said member shall be designated by the head of said institution or agency or the person in charge of such public lands or buildings. Any prisoner who escapes from the premises at which he is providing care or service under this section shall be deemed to have escaped from the institution of which he is an inmate. No prisoner, except as provided in section forty-nine, shall be employed outside the precincts of the place of his imprisonment doing work of any kind for private persons.
No person who is serving a sentence for violation of or for an attempt to commit any crime referred to in section two, three, four, five, six, seven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, twenty-four, twenty-six, twenty-eight, twenty-eight A, twenty-eight B, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty A, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-four, thirty-five, or thirty-five A of chapter two hundred and seventy-two or section thirteen B, twenty-two, twenty-two A, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-four B of chapter two hundred and sixty-five or who is under commitment under the provisions of chapter one hundred and twenty-three A may participate in a program under the provisions of this section.
OFFICERS Chapter 127: Section 5. Calendar of prisoners; contents Section 5. The jailer, keeper or superintendent of each jail and house of correction shall keep in a bound book or an electronic computer database an exact calendar of all prisoners committed thereto, in which shall be recorded the names of all prisoners, their places of abode and additions, the time, cause and authority of their commitment, and, if they have been committed upon a sentence on conviction of crime, a description of their persons and such facts as, with the entries in the prison book or electronic computer database, will enable the sheriff or penal institutions commissioner of Boston to make the reports to the commissioner required by section ten. He shall record in the same book the time and authority for the release of every prisoner released and the time and manner of the escape of a prisoner escaping. A jailer, superintendent or keeper neglecting to keep such calendar or to enter such facts therein shall forfeit one hundred dollars, which shall be recovered by the county commissioners in the name of the county, or, in Suffolk county, by the penal institutions commissioner in the name of the city of Boston, and shall be expended by them for the relief of discharged prisoners.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 50. Repealed, 1955, 770, Sec. 122 EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 51. Establishment and maintenance of industries in correctional institutions; contracts for labor Section 51. The commissioner, and the superintendents of the correctional institutions of the commonwealth, keepers or superintendents of jails and houses of correction, shall determine the industries to be established and maintained in the respective institutions under the supervision of said officers. The prisoners in said institutions shall be employed in said industries under regulations which shall be established by the commissioner; but no contract shall be made for the labor of prisoners.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 52. Supervisors and instructors; authority; removal Section 52. Supervisors and instructors to instruct the prisoners in industries determined upon in accordance with section fifty-one of chapter one hundred and twenty-seven in the correctional institutions of the commonwealth shall be appointed by the commissioner, and in jails and houses of correction by the superintendents and keepers thereof, with the approval of the commissioner. Such supervisors and instructors shall have the same authority relative to the prisoners as the subordinate officers of the institution where they are employed. In the correctional institutions of the commonwealth they may be removed by the commissioner, and in jails and houses of correction by the superintendent or keeper thereof.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 53. Production of articles by prisoners Section 53. The commissioner shall, so far as possible, cause such articles and materials as are used in the offices, departments or institutions of the commonwealth and of the several counties, cities and towns to be produced by the labor of prisoners in the institutions named in section fifty-one.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 54. Annual meetings for determination of styles, designs and qualities of articles to be produced by prisoners; expenses Section 54. For the purpose of determining the styles, designs and qualities of articles and materials to be made by the labor of prisoners for use in the offices, departments or institutions in accordance with section fifty-three, the officers in charge of said offices, departments or institutions shall hold meetings annually in May. The day and place of each of said meetings shall be assigned by the commissioner, who shall give to the officers concerned at least ten days’ notice thereof. If an officer in charge is unable to be present at a meeting he may delegate one of his assistants to attend in his behalf. Each meeting shall organize by the choice of a chairman and clerk; and within one week after the meeting, these officers shall formally notify the commissioner of the styles, designs and qualities adopted by the meeting for use in each class of offices, departments or institutions. The expenses of attending any of said meetings shall be repaid to the respective officers in the same way as other traveling expenses are paid.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 55. List of styles, designs and qualities of articles; arbitration of differences Section 55. Annually in September the commissioner shall issue to the officers in charge of the offices, departments and institutions named in section fifty-three a descriptive list of the styles, designs and qualities of said articles and materials. Any difference between the prison officials and the offices, departments or institutions in regard to styles, designs and qualities shall be submitted to arbitrators, whose decision shall be final. One of said arbitrators shall be named on behalf of the prison by the commissioner, one by the principal officer of the other office, department or institution concerned, and one by agreement of the other two. The arbitrators shall be chosen from the official service, and shall receive no compensation for performance of any duty under this section; but their actual and necessary expenses shall be paid by the prison or office, department or institution against which their award is given.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 56. Annual estimates of articles and materials needed in public offices Section 56. Annually in November the officers in charge of all offices, departments and institutions named in section fifty-three shall send to the commissioner an estimate of the quantities of the articles and materials needed for their respective offices, departments or institutions during the ensuing year. Said estimates shall generally observe the styles, designs and qualities named in the descriptive list; and if any special style is desired in considerable quantity, the estimate shall contain a request that the commissioner shall arrange for the manufacture of such special articles as may be needed.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 57. Lists of prison-made articles; requisitions from counties, municipalities and public institutions Section 57. Annually in January the commissioner shall send to the comptroller, to the auditing and disbursing officers of the several counties, and to the auditor and treasurer of each city and town a list of the articles and materials that can be produced by the labor of prisoners for the use of offices, departments and institutions of the commonwealth and of the counties, cities and towns. The requisitions hereinafter provided for shall conform to said list unless it appears that special style, design or quality is needed and shall be on forms provided by the commissioner. The state purchasing agent or the purchasing agent of a city or town shall make requisition therefor to the commissioner; provided, that in the case of articles or materials needed by a state office, department or institution and not required to be purchased by the state purchasing agent, or needed by a county, or by a city or town not having a purchasing agent, the requisition shall be made by the officer in charge of the state, county, city or town office, department or institution in which such articles or materials are needed. The commissioner shall forthwith inform said state, city or town purchasing agent or other officer in what institutions they are produced, and he shall purchase them from any institution so designated. If they are needed immediately and are not on hand, the commissioner shall forthwith so notify him, and he may purchase them elsewhere. No bill for any such articles or materials purchased for the use of said offices, departments or institutions, otherwise than from a prison or from another penal institution, shall be allowed or paid unless it is accompanied by a certificate from the commissioner showing that a requisition therefor has been made and that the goods cannot be supplied from the prisons. Provisions of any city charter contrary to this section shall be void.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 58. Prices of prison-made articles Section 58. The price of all articles and materials supplied by the prisons to the commonwealth, counties, cities and towns shall conform as nearly as may be to the wholesale market rates for similar goods manufactured outside of the prisons. Any difference of opinion in regard to price may be submitted to arbitration in the manner provided in section fifty-five.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 59. Repealed, 1955, 770, Sec. 122 OFFICERS Chapter 127: Section 6. Service of process in penal or reformatory institutions Section 6. All process to be served within the precincts of any penal or reformatory institution shall be directed to and served by the superintendent, superintendent or keeper of each jail or house of correction thereof or his deputy.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 60. Noncompliance with sections relative to purchase of articles Section 60. Any officer who wilfully refuses or neglects to comply with the provisions of this chapter relative to the purchase of articles and materials from the prisons shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 61. Establishment of industries Section 61. The commissioner shall endeavor to establish in all institutions under his jurisdiction such industries as will enable prisoners employed therein to learn valuable trades.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 62 to 65. Repealed, 1955, 770, Sec. 122 EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 66. Purchase of tools and materials for correctional institutions; approval Section 66. Subject to appropriation from the General Fund, the tools, implements and materials required for use in manufacturing in any of the correctional institutions of the commonwealth, and such necessary machinery to replace any which becomes unfit for use or is destroyed by fire or by malicious acts of prisoners or to establish new trades or industries, may be purchased through the state purchasing agent as provided by section twenty-two of chapter seven, or with his approval as provided by section fifty-two of chapter thirty, or by or under the direction of the purchasing bureau as provided in section fifty-one of chapter thirty, by the commissioner, or by the superintendent, or any agent appointed by such superintendent with the approval of the commissioner.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 66A. Purchase of tools and materials for jails and houses of correction; approval Section 66A. The tools, implements and material required for use in manufacturing in any jails or houses of correction, and such necessary machinery to replace any which becomes unfit for use or is destroyed by fire or by malicious acts of prisoners or to establish new trades or industries, may be purchased for any jail or house of correction by the superintendent or keeper, or any agent appointed by such superintendent or keeper, under supervision of the commissioner, and subject to any applicable provisions of law relative to purchases for the county, city or town, as the case may be, after estimates or requisitions, in such form as the commissioner shall require, have been approved by him.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 67. Sale of prison-made goods; proceeds Section 67. Goods manufactured in any of the institutions named in section fifty-one shall, with the approval of the commissioner, be sold by the superintendent of the correctional institution of the commonwealth, the superintendent or keeper of the jails or houses of correction thereof at not less than the wholesale market price prevailing at the time of sale for goods of the same description and quality. The proceeds of such sales shall be paid by the purchasers to the respective institutions from which the goods are delivered.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 67A. Repealed, 1972, 777, Sec. 14 EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 68. Appointment of selling agents; removal Section 68. In the correctional institutions of the commonwealth the commissioner, and in jails and houses of correction the superintendent or keeper, with the approval of the commissioner, may appoint agents who under such regulations as the commissioner shall establish shall sell, subject to the provisions of section sixty-seven, goods and services produced therein. Any such agent may be removed at the pleasure of the officers by whom he was appointed.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 69. Report relative to labor of prisoners Section 69. The superintendent or keeper of each institution named in section fifty-one shall make a full report to the commissioner relative to the labor of the prisoners whenever he requires it.
OFFICERS Chapter 127: Section 7. Warrants, mittimuses and processes; contents; filing Section 7. All warrants, mittimuses, processes and other official papers by which a prisoner is committed or released, or attested copies thereof, shall contain a detailed statement of the fees of the officer for making the commitment, shall be regularly filed in chronological order, and safely kept with the calendar in a suitable box for that purpose. Upon the expiration of the sheriff’s commission, his death, resignation or removal from office, it shall be delivered to his successor; and in default thereof the sheriff or his executor or administrator shall forfeit two hundred dollars.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 70. Repealed, 1955, 770, Sec. 122 EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 71. Receipts from sale of products, services, or labor of committed offenders; disposition Section 71. At least once each month all money received from the sale of products, by-products, or services of committed offenders shall be credited on the books of the commonwealth to a fund to be known as the Correctional Employment Fund. Subject to appropriation the commissioner may employ such fund to defray operating expenses of employment programs, including cost of materials, supplies, and equipment, maintenance of industrial facilities and compensation to committed offenders gainfully employed.
At the end of each fiscal year the unexpended balance remaining in the correctional employment fund of the state correctional facilities shall be transferred to the General Fund. At least once in each month the receipts from the labor of committed offenders in county correctional facilities and from charges for services rendered by a sheriff, superintendents and deputy superintendents of a county correctional facility to persons visiting such a facility shall be paid to the county. So much thereof as is necessary to pay the expenses of maintaining the industries in said county correctional facilities shall be expended from the county treasury for that purpose, but not until schedules of such expenses have been sworn to by the administrator and approved by the commissioner. Whenever, in the opinion of the administrator of a county correctional facility and the county commissioners and county treasurer, the accumulated funds in the county treasury from the receipts from the labor of committed offenders in county correctional facilities exceed the sums necessary to pay the expenses of maintaining the industries by which they were produced, the administrator of a county correctional facility and the county commissioners and the county treasurer shall direct that the surplus shall be transferred into the general revenue of the county. The administrator of a county correctional facility shall, as often as he has in his possession money to the amount of five thousand dollars received from the labor of committed offenders in such county correctional facility, pay it into the county treasury.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 72. Payment of salaries and bills for tools, machinery and materials; schedules Section 72. Subject to appropriation, the bills for tools, implements, machinery and materials purchased for, and the salaries of persons employed in, the correctional institutions of the commonwealth, under sections fifty-one to fifty-eight, inclusive, sections sixty, sixty-one, and sixty-six to sixty-nine, inclusive, shall be paid monthly by the commonwealth, upon schedules prepared and sworn to by the superintendents and approved by the commissioner. Bills for tools, implements, machinery and materials purchased by, and the salaries of persons employed in, the jails and houses of correction under said sections shall be paid monthly by the county, upon schedules prepared and sworn to by the superintendent or keeper and approved by the commissioner. The schedule of bills for tools, implements and machinery and of bills for materials and salaries shall be kept separate from each other and from the schedules of bills incurred for the maintenance of the correctional institutions of the commonwealth, jails or houses of correction.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 73. Suits on contracts by and against principal officers; arbitration Section 73. The superintendent or keeper of any institution named in section fifty-one may sue or be sued upon any contract of purchase or sale made by him under sections fifty-one to seventy, inclusive. No suit shall abate by reason of a vacancy in any such office, but the successor of any such officer may, and upon motion of the adverse party shall, prosecute or defend it. The superintendent or keeper may submit a controversy relative to such contract or an action thereon to the final determination of arbitrators or referees, who shall, if the claim or suit is made or brought by or against the superintendent of a correctional institution of the commonwealth, be approved by the governor, or, if made or brought by or against the superintendent or keeper of a jail, a house of correction, or any other penal or reformatory institution, be approved by the county commissioners.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 74 to 77. Repealed, 1955, 770, Sec. 122 EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS Chapter 127: Section 78 to 82. Repealed, 1941, 344, Sec. 19 OFFICERS Chapter 127: Section 8. Prison books; contents; accessibility Section 8. Each jailer and superintendent of a house of correction shall have a prison book, in which he shall keep an account of the value of the labor of the prisoners, of the salaries of officers and of articles furnished for the support of the prisoners, the quantity of such articles, of whom bought and the price paid, classified as follows: cost of provisions, including the portion consumed by the family of the jailer or superintendent; of clothing; of beds and bedding; of medicines; of medical attendance; of religious or secular instruction; of fuel; of light; allowance to discharged prisoners; allowance to witnesses in money or clothing. The prison book, verified by the oath of the jailer or superintendent, shall be exhibited to the county commissioners when his accounts are presented for examination, and at other times when demanded. A jailer or superintendent who neglects to keep such book or to enter therein such facts, or who wilfully makes any false entry therein, shall forfeit one hundred dollars, to be recovered by the county commissioners in the name of the county, or, in Suffolk county, by the penal institutions commissioner in the name of the city of Boston, and it shall be expended by them for the relief of discharged prisoners.
OUTDOOR LABOR Chapter 127: Section 83. Outdoor labor of inmates Section 83. During all times when outdoor labor is practicable, inmates of penal institutions required to labor shall be employed, so far as is possible, in the reclamation of waste places and in cultivating lands for raising produce to be used in public institutions, and in the reforestation, maintenance or development of state forests. Prisoners so employed shall be at all times in the custody and under the direction of the prison officers.
OUTDOOR LABOR Chapter 127: Section 83A. Establishment of camp for male prisoners for reforestation; approval; hearing. Section 83A. The commissioner is hereby authorized to establish, on land under the control of the department of environmental management or of the metropolitan district commission and upon sites approved by the commissioner of conservation and recreation, camps to which male prisoners, including male prisoners sentenced to life who have served twelve years, except those serving a sentence for life for first degree murder, may be removed for employment, as designated and approved by the commissioner of conservation and recreation, in reforestation, maintenance and development of state forests, who have shown by their conduct and disposition that they would be amenable to less rigorous discipline and would benefit from work in the open air; provided, however, that only one such camp may be established on land within the urban parks district. Before any site for any such camp shall be approved, a public hearing shall be held by the commissioner of conservation and recreation, in a city or town situated within a radius of ten miles of the proposed site.
OUTDOOR LABOR Chapter 127: Section 83B. Removal of prisoners to camp; permit to be at liberty; escape Section 83B. The commissioner may remove to any camp so established any prisoner held in a correctional institution of the commonwealth except the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Framingham, and sentenced prisoners in jails and houses of correction, including male prisoners sentenced to life who have served twelve years, except a prisoner serving a life sentence for first degree murder, or a sentence imposed for violation of sections twenty-two, twenty-three and twenty-four of chapter two hundred and sixty-five and for attempt to commit a crime referred to in said sections, who, in his judgment, may properly be so removed and may at any time return such prisoners to the prison from whence removed. Prisoners so removed shall be entitled to a permit to be at liberty as provided under the provisions of sections one hundred and twenty-eight, one hundred and thirty-two and one hundred and thirty-three of chapter one hundred and twenty-seven.
If a prisoner escapes or attempts to escape from a prison camp all deductions from the sentence he is then serving shall be thereby forfeited. A prisoner who is entitled to have the term of his imprisonment reduced shall receive from the parole board a certificate of discharge and shall be released from the prison camp on the date which has been determined by such additional deduction from the maximum term of his sentence or sentences.
OUTDOOR LABOR Chapter 127: Section 83C. Escapes from prison camp Section 83C. A prisoner who escapes or attempts to escape from any prison camp or from land adjacent thereto or from the custody of the officer thereof or while being conveyed to and from any such camp may be pursued and recaptured and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than ten years or by imprisonment in a jail or house of correction for not more than two and one half years.
OUTDOOR LABOR Chapter 127: Section 83D. Director of prison camps; offices and positions; appointments; duties Section 83D. The commissioner shall appoint a director of prison camps and such other prison camp officers as he shall deem necessary. All offices and positions in the prison camps shall be filled in accordance with the provisions of chapter thirty-one, except that offices and positions which require the care, custody and control of prisoners shall be filled by promotion or transfer from among the employees of the department of correction in accordance with the provisions of said chapter.
The director of prison camps shall have the care, custody and control of all prisoners removed to any camp. Purchases and sales on account of any camp shall, if authorized by the state purchasing agent, be made by the director with the approval of the commissioner.
OUTDOOR LABOR Chapter 127: Section 83E. Establishment of camps for prisoners prior to release on parole; transfer; training for release Section 83E. The commissioner is hereby authorized to establish, on land under the control of the department of environmental management and upon sites approved by the commissioner of environmental management, or wherever authorized by the governor and council, camps to which male prisoners may be transferred prior to their release upon parole. The commissioner may transfer to any camp so established any prisoner whose parole has been approved by the parole board unless otherwise recommended by the parole board. Such camp shall provide such training and preparation for release as will best enable the prisoners to attain successful readjustment within the community.
OUTDOOR LABOR Chapter 127: Section 84. Purchases or lease of land for improvement by prison labor; payment to county Section 84. The county commissioners of any county may purchase or lease land, with funds specifically appropriated therefor by the general court, for the purpose of improving and cultivating the land by the labor of prisoners from a jail or house of correction; and the said commissioners may also make arrangements with the department of highways or with the officials of a town to employ said prisoners on any highway or unimproved land, or with the director of the division of forests and parks in the department of environmental management for the reforestation, maintenance or development of state forests, or with a private owner to improve waste or unused land, or land used for agricultural or domestic purposes, by means of such prison labor. When prisoners are so employed they shall be in the custody of the sheriff of the county. When land that is not the property of the county or is a public way or state forest is so improved, the owners thereof or those having the way or forest in charge shall pay the county such sums as may be agreed upon between the county commissioners, sheriff, and the other parties in interest for the labor of any prisoners employed thereon.
EMPLOYMENT OF PRISONERS ON DAY-WORK Chapter 127: Section 85, 86. Repealed, 1972, 777, Sec. 17 EMPLOYMENT OF PRISONERS ON DAY-WORK Chapter 127: Section 86A to 86C. Repealed, 1971, 1076, Sec. 8 EMPLOYMENT OF PRISONERS ON DAY-WORK Chapter 127: Section 86D, 86E. Repealed, 1972, 777, Sec. 17 EMPLOYMENT OF PRISONERS ON DAY-WORK Chapter 127: Section 86F. Work release programs Section 86F. The sheriff on any county, except the sheriff of Suffolk county, may establish a work release program under which persons sentenced to the house of correction, except sex offenders, may be granted the privilege of leaving actual confinement during necessary and reasonable hours for the purpose of working at gainful employment within the commonwealth. Such program may also include, under appropriate conditions, release for the purpose of seeking such employment and obtaining educational training in connection therewith. Any such inmate may apply to the sheriff for permission to participate in such program. The application shall include a statement by the inmate that he agrees to abide by all terms and conditions of the particular plan selected for him by the sheriff, and shall state the name and address of the proposed employer and all such other information as the sheriff may require. The sheriff may approve, disapprove, or defer action on such application. If the sheriff approves the application, he shall select a work release plan for the inmate which shall contain such terms and conditions as may be necessary and proper; such plan shall be signed by the inmate, the sheriff and the employer, prior to participation in the program by the inmate. At any time after approval has been granted it may be revoked at will by the sheriff.
An inmate and his employer shall agree to deliver his total earnings, minus tax and similar deductions, to the sheriff. At no time shall any inmate personally receive any monies, checks or the like from his employer. The sheriff shall deduct from the earnings delivered to him the following:—First, an amount necessary to satisfy the victim and witness assessment ordered by a court pursuant to section eight of chapter two hundred and fifty-eight B; second, an amount determined by the sheriff for substantial reimbursement to the county for providing food, lodging and clothing for such inmate; third, the actual and necessary food, travel and other expenses of such inmate when released for employment under the program; fourth, the amount ordered by any court for support of such inmate’s spouse or children; fifth, the amount arrived at with public welfare departments; sixth, sums voluntarily agreed to for family allotments and for personal necessities while confined. Any balance shall be credited to the account of the inmate and shall be paid to him upon his final release.
No inmate shall be deemed to be an employee of the county under chapter one hundred and fifty-two while participating in a work release program.
The sheriff shall appoint a work release supervisor, whose duties shall consist of participant screening, employer interviewing, collection of monies, keeping of records, procurement of positions and similar duties assigned by the sheriff.
All such inmates shall, while so employed by the day, be fed, housed and supervised in a separate place or part of the house of correction, and segregated from all other inmates not so employed. Any inmate participating in such work release program and permitted to leave his place of confinement for the purpose of working in gainful employment, as herein provided, who leaves his place of employment without permission of his employer and with the intention of not returning to his place of confinement, or who having been ordered by the sheriff or the work release supervisor to return to his place of confinement neglects or refuses to do so, shall be held to have escaped from such house of correction, and shall be arrested and returned to such house of correction, and, upon conviction of such escape, shall be sentenced for a term not to exceed one year or the term for which he was originally sentenced, whichever is the lesser.
The expense of the arrest and return of any such inmate shall be paid in the same manner as the expense of the arrest and return of an inmate who escapes from a house of correction.
Nothing in this act shall be construed to affect eligibility for release or parole.
EMPLOYMENT OF PRISONERS ON DAY-WORK Chapter 127: Section 86G. Work release programs; Suffolk county Section 86G. In Suffolk county the penal institutions commissioner of Boston shall have the same powers and duties with respect to the house of correction at Deer Island, and the sheriff of Suffolk county shall have the same powers and duties with respect to the Suffolk County Jail, as are vested in the sheriff of any county, except the sheriff of Suffolk county, under the provisions of section eighty-six F, and the exercise of such powers and duties, in each instance, shall be subject to the same terms and conditions as are provided in said section eighty-six F. The work release supervisor or supervisors in Suffolk county shall be placed in such grade of the classification and pay plan for said county as the city council of the city of Boston, subject to the provisions of the charter of said city, shall from time to time determine.
EMPLOYMENT OF PRISONERS ON DAY-WORK Chapter 127: Section 86H. Public speaking engagements; inmates of state correctional facilities Section 86H. The commissioner of correction may permit an inmate to leave a state correctional facility to address a public gathering, provided that the commissioner receives a request in writing from the sponsor of the public gathering desiring such an address, the inmate selected to present the address is recommended by the committee established under the provisions of section forty-nine A, the inmate leaves the correctional facility in the custody of an officer or employee of the department and remains in such custody until returned to the facility by said officer or employee, and the sponsor of the public gathering bears the cost of transportation for the inmate and the officer.
An inmate shall, at all times during his absence from a correctional facility under this section, be considered as in the custody of the officer having charge of the correctional facility, and the time away from the facility shall be considered as part of the term of the sentence.
EMPLOYMENT OF PRISONERS ON DAY-WORK Chapter 127: Section 86I. Public speaking engagements; inmates of county correctional facilities Section 86I. The administrator of a county correctional facility may permit an inmate to leave such facility in order to address a public gathering, provided that the administrator receives a request in writing from the sponsor of the public gathering desiring such an address, the inmate is selected after a careful screening process, the inmate leaves the facility in the custody of an officer or employee of the facility and remains in such custody until returned to the facility by said officer or employee, and the sponsor of the public gathering bears the cost of transportation for the inmate and officer.
An inmate shall, at all times during his absence from a correctional facility under this section, be considered as in the custody of the officer having charge of the correctional facility, and the time away from the facility shall be considered as part of the term of the sentence.
PRIVILEGES Chapter 127: Section 87. Correspondence of inmates Section 87. (a) Every inmate of a correctional institution or any other penal institution in the commonwealth shall be allowed to send mail to the President or Vice President of the United States, a member of the Congress of the United States, the Attorney General of the United States, the director or any agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, any judge, attorney, clerk, probation officer, or parole officer the United States or of the commonwealth, the governor of the commonwealth, a member of the general court of the commonwealth, the attorney general of the commonwealth, the commissioner of public safety, the commissioner or any deputy commissioner of correction, and the superintendent of the institution in which the inmate is confined. A locked letter box shall be placed in each institution, into which the inmates may deposit sealed mail to the above-listed officials at their official addresses. The commissioner may provide that such mail be marked to indicate to the addressee that it has not been inspected or opened, and may also require as a condition of delivery that the mail bear the inmate’s name and return address. The mail shall be delivered or conveyed to the federal postal authorities for delivery.
(b) Every inmate of a correctional institution or any other penal institution in the commonwealth shall be allowed, consistent with such regulations as are necessary to protect legitimate governmental interests, to send mail to persons not listed in subsection (a).
(c) The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations to effectuate the purpose of this section.
PRIVILEGES Chapter 127: Section 88. Religious services Section 88. An inmate of any prison or other place of confinement shall not be denied the free exercise of his religious belief and the liberty of worshipping God according to the dictates of his conscience in the place where he is confined; and he shall not be required to attend any service or religious instruction other than that of his own religious belief, if religious services and instructions of his own belief are regularly held at the institution; and he may, in illness, upon request to the superintendent, keeper, receive the visits of any clergyman whom he may wish. The officers having the management and direction of such institutions shall make necessary regulations to carry out the intent of this section. This section shall not be so construed as to impair the discipline of any such institution so far as may be needful for the good government and the safe custody of its inmates, nor prevent the assembling of all the inmates, who do not attend a regularly held religious service of their own belief, in the chapel thereof for such general religious instruction, including the reading of the Bible, as the officer having charge of the institution considers expedient.
PRIVILEGES Chapter 127: Section 89. Maintenance of sabbath schools and schools for instruction Section 89. The superintendent of any correctional institution of the commonwealth, with the consent of the commissioner, may cause a sabbath school to be maintained in the institution for the instruction of the inmates in their religious duties, and may permit such persons as he considers suitable to attend it as instructors, under such regulation as the commissioner may establish. The superintendent may also, except on Sunday, and subject to the approval of the commissioner, maintain schools of instruction for the prisoners.
OFFICERS Chapter 127: Section 9. Invoice books; contents Section 9. The keeper, superintendent or other officer having charge of a jail, house of correction, county training school or other county public institution shall keep an invoice book, in which shall be entered, on the day of receipt, all bills for supplies for the maintenance of such institution. Such books shall be as nearly uniform as the character of the institutions will admit, and shall be kept posted up to date so that the footings shall at all times show the actual facts relating to such supplies. Such books shall be county property and remain among the records of the institutions to which they belong.
PRIVILEGES Chapter 127: Section 90. Appropriations for religious instruction and services Section 90. The department or officers having charge of any prison or other place of confinement shall include as a separate item in their annual requests for appropriations such sums of money as they deem proper to carry out the two preceding sections and section forty of chapter one hundred and nineteen, relating to the religious instruction and free exercise of their religious beliefs by inmates of all the correctional institutions of the commonwealth. The amounts appropriated and spent for said purposes shall appear as a separate item in the reports of said department or officers.
PRIVILEGES Chapter 127: Section 90A. Temporary release of committed offenders Section 90A. The commissioner may extend the limits of the place of confinement of a committed offender at any state correctional facility by authorizing such committed offender under prescribed conditions to be away from such correctional facility but within the commonwealth for a specified period of time, not to exceed fourteen days during any twelve month period nor more than seven days at any one time; provided, however, that no committed offender who is serving a life sentence or a sentence in a state correctional facility for violation of section thirteen, thirteen B, fourteen, fifteen, fifteen A, fifteen B, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, eighteen A, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-two A, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-four B, twenty-five or section twenty-six of chapter two hundred and sixty-five, or section seventeen, thirty-four, thirty-five, or section thirty-five A of chapter two hundred and seventy-two, or for an attempt to commit any crime referred to in said sections shall be eligible for temporary release under the provisions of this section except on the recommendation of the superintendent on behalf of a particular committed offender and upon the approval of the commissioner; and, provided further, that no committed offender who has been convicted of murder in the first degree shall be eligible for temporary release under the provisions of this section. The administrator of a county correctional facility may grant like authorization to a committed offender in such facility. Such authorization may be granted for any of the following purposes: (a) to attend the funeral of a relative; (b) to visit a critically ill relative; (c) to obtain medical, psychiatric, psychological or other social services when adequate services are not available at the facility and cannot be obtained by temporary placement in a hospital under sections one hundred and seventeen, one hundred and seventeen A, and one hundred and eighteen; (d) to contact prospective employers; (e) to secure a suitable residence for use upon release on parole or discharge; (f) for any other reason consistent with the reintegration of a committed offender into the community. For the purposes of this section the word “relative” shall mean the committed offender’s father, mother, child, brother, sister, husband or wife and, if his grandparent, uncle, aunt or foster parent acted as his parent in rearing such committed offender, it shall also mean such grandparent, uncle, aunt or foster parent.
A person away from a correctional facility pursuant to this section may be accompanied by an employee of the department, in the discretion of the commissioner, or an officer of a county correctional facility, in the discretion of the administrator.
Any expenses incurred under the provisions of this section may be paid by the correctional facility in which the committed offender is committed. A committed offender shall, during his absence from a correctional facility under this section, be considered as in the custody of the correctional facility and the time of such absence shall be considered as part of the term of sentence.
PRIVILEGES Chapter 127: Section 91. Repealed, 1955, 770, Sec. 122 PRIVILEGES Chapter 127: Section 92. Instruction in jails and houses of correction Section 92. The county commissioners may include, among the items requested to be appropriated for their respective counties, an amount to cover the expenses of furnishing instruction for one hour each evening except Sunday, in reading and writing to prisoners in jails and houses of correction who may be benefited thereby and who wish to receive it. In the county of Suffolk, the mayor of Boston may include such an item in his annual budget submitted to the city council.
PRIVILEGES Chapter 127: Section 92A. General education development tests; age requirement; no fee Section 92A. The department of education shall permit an inmate of a correctional institution of the commonwealth who is eighteen years of age or over to take the general education development tests, and said department shall not charge an application or testing fee to any inmate desiring to take said tests.
PRIVILEGES Chapter 127: Section 93. Appropriations for moral and religious instruction in jails and houses of correction Section 93. The keeper or superintendent of a jail or house of correction shall in his statement of his requirements submitted to the county commissioners under section twenty-eight of chapter thirty-five include a sum to cover the expenses of providing a copy of the version which he wishes of the Bible or of the New Testament for each prisoner in his charge who is able and wishes to read, which may be used by him at proper seasons during his confinement, and such keeper or superintendent may also include therein a sum to cover the expenses of providing books and papers for such prisoners. The county commissioners may include such amounts, and an amount to cover the expense of providing moral and religious instruction for prisoners in jails and houses of correction within their county, among the items requested to be appropriated for their respective counties.
PRIVILEGES Chapter 127: Section 94. Light for reading Section 94. In the assignment of cells to prisoners in a house of correction, due regard shall be had to the accommodation of those who are able and wish to read; and from October first to April first, all prisoners confined to labor during the day shall be provided with sufficient light to enable them to read for at least one hour each evening.
PRIVILEGES Chapter 127: Section 95, 96. Repealed, 1958, 588, Sec. 1 PRIVILEGES Chapter 127: Section 96A. Disposition of unclaimed money of former prisoners; claim Section 96A. So much of any funds as represent monies belonging to, or deposited for the benefit of, inmates who have died or have been discharged or have escaped from any correctional institution of the commonwealth, which shall have remained unclaimed for more than two years, shall be paid by the superintendent of such institution to the state treasurer to be held subject to be paid to the person establishing a lawful right thereto. After six years from the date when any such monies were paid to the state treasurer the same or any balance thereof then remaining in his hands may be used as a part of the ordinary revenue of the commonwealth. Any person may, however, establish his claim after the expiration of the six years above mentioned, and any claim so established shall be paid from the ordinary revenue of the commonwealth. Any person claiming a right to money deposited with the state treasurer under this section may establish the same by a petition to the probate court; provided, that in cases where claims amount to less than fifty dollars, the claims may be presented to the comptroller, who shall examine the same and allow and certify for payment such as may be proved to his satisfaction.
PRIVILEGES Chapter 127: Section 96B. Disposition of unclaimed property of former prisoners; sale; proceeds Section 96B. Property belonging to, or deposited for the benefit of, former inmates of any correctional institution of the commonwealth, which shall have remained unclaimed for more than one year, shall be disposed of as hereinafter provided, by the superintendent of the institution and a representative of the department of correction designated by the commissioner, acting as a special board for said purpose, but only if all known next of kin of the former prisoner shall have been notified in writing by said superintendent. The board shall ascertain whether the property has any sale value, and, if so, shall solicit from at least three reputable dealers in like property offers for the purchase thereof, and shall sell the same to the dealer offering the highest price. The proceeds of such sale shall be disposed of as provided in section ninety-six A. The board may dispose of such of said property as, in its opinion, has no sale value, or any of said property for which no offer, solicited as aforesaid, has been received, in such manner as it may deem proper. A complete record of each transaction hereunder shall be made and signed by both members of the board and filed with the other records at such institution relating to the former prisoner whose property shall have been disposed of as aforesaid.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 97. Transfers from and to correctional institutions; approval Section 97. The commissioner may transfer any sentenced prisoner from one correctional institution of the commonwealth to another, and with the approval of the sheriff of the county from any such institution except a prisoner serving a life sentence to any jail or house of correction, or a sentenced prisoner from any jail or house of correction to any such institution except the state prison, or from any jail or house of correction to any other jail or house of correction. Prisoners so removed shall be subject to the terms of their original sentences and to the provisions of law governing parole from the correctional institutions of the commonwealth.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 97A. Transfer of state prisoners to federal institutions; reciprocal agreements Section 97A. The commissioner may, with the approval of the appropriate officials of the federal government, transfer any prisoner sentenced to state prison to any available or appropriate correctional institution maintained and supervised by the federal government within the confines of continental United States. The commissioner may, subject to the approval of the governor, enter into reciprocal agreements, contracts or other mutual plans to accomplish such transfers.
Prisoners so removed shall be subject to the terms of their original sentences to the state prison and to the provisions of law governing discharge and parole from the correctional institutions of the commonwealth.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 97B. Treaties; transfer of prisoners to other countries Section 97B. If a treaty in effect between the United States and a foreign country provides for the transfer or exchange of a prisoner to the country of which said prisoner is a citizen or national, the commissioner may, with the written consent of such prisoner, subject to the approval of the governor, and in accordance with the terms of such treaty, consent to the transfer or exchange of any such prisoner and take any other action necessary to initiate the participation of the commonwealth in such treaty.
REMOVALS Chapter 127: Section 98 to 108. Repealed, 1955, 770, Sec. 122
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