State closes minimum security prison in Bridgewater – Boston News, Weather, Sports

BRIDGEWATER, MASS. (WHDH) – The state Department of Correction will close its minimum security prison in Bridgewater later this year and relocate current inmates and transfer existing staff, officials announced Thursday.

The closure will impact the minimum security men's prison at Old Colony Correctional Center. All current inmates are expected to be transferred by Oct. 31. The prison's 26 correctional officers will make the short trip to Old Colony's medium security facility, which is on the same Bridgewater campus as the minimum security wing. The medium security prison will remain open.

Bridgewater State Hospital and the Massachusetts Treatment Center, which also share a campus with Old Colony, will also continue operations.

The Department of Correction announced the closure of the minimum security facility in a statement, saying officials made the decision after assessing the age of the building and its maintenance and renovation needs.

If the state had continued operations at Old Colony's minimum security facility, it would have had to invest about $2.6 million in various investments, the Department of Correction said.

The minimum security wing at Old Colony, known as OCCC Minimum, is 40 years old. It can hold about 160 inmates but housed only 70 this week.

The 70 current inmates will undergo a reclassification process before OCCC closes and will be transferred to other minimum security facilities in Massachusetts “based on care, service and program needs,” according to the Department of Correction. Possible destinations include the Boston Pre-Release Center in Roslindale, the Northeastern Correctional Center in West Concord and the Pondville Correctional Center in Norfolk.

“The strategic consolidation of DOC resources reflects the department's ongoing commitment to responsible stewardship of taxpayer funds while improving operations, sustaining the rehabilitation mission and providing effective services to those in its care,” said Secretary of Public Safety and Order Terrence Reidy in a statement.

Reidy continued, praising the leaders of the Department of Correction “for their hard work and continued efforts to provide an effective correctional system for the incarcerated population, DOC staff and the community…”

Acting Department of Correction Director Shawn Jenkins said the state's “historically low” prison population allows officials to assess needs “to be a fiscally responsible partner with the state of Massachusetts.”

“DOC will continue to support housed individuals to succeed after their release, and we believe closing this facility and relocating the current population will help them thrive,” Jenkins said.

The impending prison closure in Bridgewater follows the closure of the medium-security state prison in Concord in July.

The closure of Concord, announced in January, closed a more than 140-year-old facility that was the oldest operating prison in Massachusetts.

Elsewhere, Massachusetts began winding down operations at MCI-Cedar Junction, a maximum security prison in Walpole, in 2022. The state ended housing operations at MCI-Cedar Junction in June 2023.

The Mass Correction Officers Federated Union, which represents many employees of Massachusetts prisons and county jails, responded to news of the MCI-Concord closure in January by saying, “The closure of MCI Concord or any other prison will place even greater strain on our already violent and dangerous prisons.”

Union representatives called on state officials to stop the closure and warned that further action
“Without doubt, our officers throughout the Commonwealth will be exposed to great danger.”

In announcing the closure of OCCC-Minimum, the Department of Correction said it was increasing public safety through “the safe, humane and efficient operation of correctional facilities.”

“The department remains firmly committed to rehabilitating those entrusted to its care and reducing recidivism rates through effective programs and services aimed at assisting individuals in preparing for successful reintegration into society,” officials said.

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