NCJ Number
198857
Journal
Sheriff Volume: 55 Issue: 1 Dated: January-February 2003 Pages: 24-26
Date Published
January 2003
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article describes the successful efforts of Sheriff Carmen Massimiano, Jr., of Berkshire County, MA, in providing the leadership for the county's transition from a Civil-War-era jail building to a new direct-supervision jail building with comprehensive inmate programs, along with his effort to establish a Community Corrections Center and services for juvenile offenders.
Abstract
The old jail was an aging brick and granite facility that was in constant need of repair; it typically housed nearly double its intended inmate capacity. A staff of 79 performed 2 or more different jobs, and the jail could offer only limited treatment, education, and vocational opportunities for the approximately 200 inmates. Although it has taken more than 20 years, Sheriff Massimiano persuaded the State legislature to fund $39.1 million for the construction of a new Berkshire County Sheriff's Office, jail, and House of Correction. Not only was the project completed within the budget, but was finished in less than 2 years. The new 160,000-square-foot jail has an inmate capacity of approximately 500. Once the physical facility was ready for occupancy, the sheriff proceeded to put in place progressive new inmate programs. While the new jail was under construction, Sheriff Massimiano worked with the State Office of Community Corrections, the Office of the Commissioner of Probation, the State Parole Board, and local courts and service providers to establish the county's first Community Corrections Center (CCC). The CCC is located in a renovated office building and serves both male and female adult probationers, parolees, and inmates who are released into the community on a step-down program. Clients participate in a variety of programs not previously offered to offenders. Further, the sheriff obtained a Federal grant to establish a new Juvenile Resource Center, which was subsequently housed in the old jail building. The Center provides an alternative education program for students aged 14 and older who are suspended from school for 3 days or more. The Center also provides an after-school program for the county juvenile court and the Department of Youth Services.