Helping inmates become rehabilitated and improving a state’s criminal justice system begins with understanding how that system functions. This article provides a basic summary of crime, incarceration, rehabilitation, and alternatives to prison in Massachusetts.

Understanding the scope of crime and criminal justice in Massachusetts begins with answering questions like:

• How many people are incarcerated in Massachusetts?
• What are the biggest prisons in Massachusetts?

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Massachusetts incarcerates just 103 of its residents for every 100,000 people in the state. That means Massachusetts has the lowest per capita incarceration rate in the nation. And despite the state’s large population, as for the total number of prisoners, Massachusetts has a very low number of people held in state prisons, at just 8,205.¹

According to 2019 data, Massachusetts operates 19 jails in 14 counties. There are about 9,380 individuals in jails awaiting trial or serving short-term sentences. Massachusetts currently operates 16 state prisons, holding over 8,000 inmates serving prison sentences. Massachusetts currently has about 51,338 people under probation in its community corrections system and 1,348 under parole.²

Massachusetts operates its prisons and jails under an annual budget of $689,034,581, a relatively small budget considering the state’s large population. According to the Urban Institute, the Department of Corrections in Massachusetts is the 7th costliest item in the state budget, just below law enforcement but well below other items like education, healthcare, and highways.³

Image courtesy of www.archives.gov

What is the largest prison in Massachusetts? According to state data, MCI-Norfolk is the largest prison in the state. This prison has been in operation since the 1930s. It is the largest maximum security prison in the region, with the latest figures suggesting it holds about 1,250 inmates in its general population beds. Of historical note, the state of Massachusetts held civil rights activist Malcolm X in MCI-Norfolk, where, despite the prison’s high-security constraints and rigorous schedule, Malcolm was able to forward his education, improve his debate skills, and enlarge his vocabulary.⁴

Understanding Massachusetts’s crime rate is critical in developing a basic assessment of the state’s criminal justice system and its efficacy. According to the state’s reporting, crime rates fell 11% in 2021, though they did not quite fall to pre-pandemic levels. The state reported 223,664 crimes, which translates to 3,245 crimes for every 100,000 residents.⁵

Statistical data on recidivism is an important metric by which to assess a state’s criminal justice system. Massachusetts’s recidivism rate is a direct indicator of whether or not the criminal justice system is working. According to the state’s reporting, about 33% of people formerly incarcerated in Massachusetts re-offend and return to jail or prison within three years of their release. That means the state’s criminal justice system is not working for one-third of those who go through it.⁶

Massachusetts has a relatively large population, mostly concentrated in urban areas. However, Massachusetts has the nation’s lowest per capita incarceration rate and the 16th lowest total incarcerated population figure. Further, every state that incarcerates fewer people than Massachusetts also has significantly fewer people living in that state (Vermont, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Hawaii, and Alaska, just to name a few).

To summarize, Massachusetts has a large urban population, yet one of its criminal justice strengths is its low incarceration rate. However, one-third of those incarcerated in Massachusetts re-offend within three years of their release, suggesting policymakers and criminal justice experts could improve criminal rehabilitation in Massachusetts.

Just as creating a successful criminal rehabilitation program in Massachusetts is important, so is criminal justice reform and making alternatives to prison available in Massachusetts.

In many ways, Massachusetts has been a leader in criminal justice reform by creating more equitable, humane, and compassionate approaches to criminal justice. Some of the reforms Massachusetts has instituted include:⁷

• The raising of the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 7 to 12.
• The creation of a pre-trial services unit to remind pre-trial detainees of upcoming court dates.
• The implementation of measures that would reduce the use of solitary confinement as punishment.
• Eliminating mandatory and statutory minimum sentences for low-level, non-violent drug offenses.
• Protecting the parent-child relationship by disqualifying parents and children from being called to testify against each other in court.

Massachusetts also utilizes several alternatives to incarceration, including:

• Work release programs
• Sober living homes and environments
• Electronic monitoring and home confinement
• Drug court for veterans and active service members
• Deferred adjudication programs for certain types of offenses
• Probation as an alternative to incarceration and temporary detention
• Drug court for drug and alcohol-related crimes involving possession

Massachusetts is making progress in creating a more fair, equitable, and humane criminal justice system, but there is still room for improvement. Looking to the future, policymakers should implement educational programs inside prisons in Massachusetts and rehabilitation programs inside prisons in Massachusetts. Such programs will reduce recidivism by helping offenders get to the bottom of why they committed a crime in the first place.