Chapter 127

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 an…

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. Person…

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, probation central file number, offense-based t…

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 perso…

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.

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 a…

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 The record required by the preceding section shall not be published except so far as may be necessary for the identification of persons convicted of larceny or any felony after their release from prison; but the officer in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 t…

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 …

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 t…

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.

Section 32A. A prisoner of a correctional institution, jail or house of correction that has a gender identity, as defined in section 7 of chapter 4, that differs from the prisoner's sex assigned at birth, with or without a diagnosis of gender dysphoria or any other physical or me…

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 supervisio…

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 …

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…

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 …

Section 36C. A correctional institution, jail or house of correction shall not: (i) prohibit, eliminate or unreasonably limit in-person visitation of inmates; or (ii) coerce, compel or otherwise pressure an inmate to forego or limit in-person visitation. For the purposes of this …

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 admissio…

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.

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.

Section 38B. (a) For the purposes of this section, ''bodily substance'' shall mean any human secretion, discharge or emission including, but not limited to, blood, saliva, mucous, semen, urine or feces. (b) Any person in the custody of a correctional facility, including any jail,…

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.

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 faciliti…

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 d…

Section 38F. An inmate shall not file any claim that may be the subject of a grievance under section 38E unless the inmate has exhausted the administrative remedy established pursuant to said section 38E; but the court may consider such claim if a final administrative resolution …

Section 38G. Any claim that may be the subject of a grievance under the provisions of section 38E which is pending in any court when the regulations promulgated pursuant to section 38E take effect, may be dismissed without prejudice or may be continued by the court for up to 80 d…

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 wi…

Section 39. (a) Subject to the limits of this section and section 39A, the superintendent of a state correctional facility or the administrator of a county correctional facility may authorize the confinement of a prisoner in a restrictive housing unit to discipline the prisoner o…

Section 39A. (a) A prisoner shall not be held in restrictive housing if the prisoner has a serious mental illness or a finding has been made, pursuant to subsections (c) or (d) of section 39 or otherwise, that restrictive housing is clinically contraindicated unless, not later th…

Section 39B. (a) All prisoners confined to restrictive housing shall receive placement reviews at the following intervals, and may receive them more frequently, if a prisoner: (i) is being confined to restrictive housing pursuant to subsection (a) of section 39A, every 72 hours; …

Section 39C. The commissioner, after consultation with the sheriffs and the department of mental health, shall promulgate regulations governing the training and qualifications of correction officers, supervisors and managers deployed to restrictive housing.

Section 39D. (a) The commissioner shall publish monthly and provide directly to the restrictive housing oversight committee the number of prisoners held in each restrictive housing unit within each state and county correctional facility. (b) The commissioner shall publish a repor…

Section 39E. Pursuant to regulations promulgated by the commissioner, prisoners held in restrictive housing for a period of more than 60 days shall have access to vocational, educational and rehabilitative programs to the maximum extent possible consistent with the safety and sec…

Section 39F. The department shall establish policies to ensure that an inmate with an anticipated release date of less than 120 days is not housed in restrictive housing, unless: (i) the placement in restrictive housing is limited to not more than 5 days; or (ii) the inmate poses…

Section 39G. (a) There shall be established a restrictive housing oversight committee, hereinafter in this section referred to as the committee, which shall consist of: the secretary of the executive office of public safety and security or a designee, who shall serve as chair; th…

Section 39H. The commissioner shall promulgate regulations to implement sections 39 to 39H, inclusive.

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 s…

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 …

Section 48B. (a) The commissioner or a superintendent of a house of correction may establish young adult correctional units or designate individual corrections officers to exclusively supervise young adults, who are ages 18 to 24, inclusive, and have been placed in the care of th…

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…

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 dem…

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 residenti…

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 sec…

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 an…

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 super…

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 a…

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 i…

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, departme…

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 pr…

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 institu…

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 prison…