Walpole Prison Will Stop Housing Inmates By End Of 2024

WALPOLE, MA — Officials in Massachusetts are planning to move inmates out of a maximum-security prison in Walpole and close it within two years due to high maintenance costs and a lower prison population.

After an agency-wide review, the Massachusetts Department of Corrections revealed a two-year, three-phased plan to suspend housing operations at MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole citing "the aging facility's exorbitant maintenance costs."

"Its aging infrastructure has become costly to maintain and requires significant repairs," officials wrote in a statement about Cedar Junction. "After a thorough review with the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, experts identified nearly $30M in necessary infrastructure repairs with the electrical upgrades alone estimated to cost $22M."

In about 60-90 days, the first phase of the reorganization will start, moving the DOC's reception and diagnosis center to Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster.

The second phase will move prisoners from the Behavioral Management Unit to other facilities. The third phase will dissolve the Department Disciplinary Unit, where prisoners are often sent for long-term solitary confinement.

The DOC said eliminating the Department Disciplinary Unit is part of efforts to reform its approach to discipline.

Built in 1955, Cedar Junction is one of the state's oldest correctional facilities. With a current population of 525 inmates, it is currently the prison where newly incarcerated men are evaluated for security concerns before being sent to another facility.

Lingering at about 68% capacity, there are two units for prisoners with serious security concerns, and less than 50 men held in the medium-security setting.

After the DOC reported a decrease of about 2,000 individuals during the pandemic, they say there are about 6,000 incarcerated people in prison across the state