Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center (SBCC) is a maximum security prison in Lancaster, Massachusetts (though it receives mail through a post-office box in the town of Shirley ). It is operated by the Massachusetts Department of Correction . It is close to the medium-security prison Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Shirley , which is directly to the north over the town border. Souza-Baranowski opened on September 30, 1998. As of January 6, 2020 SBCC housed 672 inmates in general population beds.
15-568: The prison is named in honor of a corrections officer, James Souza , 29, and an instructor Alfred Baranowski , 54, who were shot in July 1972 by an inmate whose wife had smuggled in handguns into what was then the Norfolk Prison Colony . Souza-Baranowski is the only post-conviction maximum-security state prison in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Cedar Junction operates
30-637: A lawsuit which triggered an investigation by state legislators, inmates alleged that corrections officers retaliated in the following weeks, including against uninvolved inmates. The complaints included unprovoked beatings and use of stun guns, positional torture, ripping out of hair, underfeeding, confiscation of all clothing, deprivation of personal property, denial of access to lawyers and legal paperwork, failure to follow procedure by videotaping raids and documenting injuries, and use of personnel from other facilities who hid their identities. Abuse allegations continued into October. On February 11, 2020, an officer
45-541: A pre-trial maximum-security "reception and diagnostic center", and the Federal Medical Center, Devens operates at all security levels, including maximum. A riot involving 46 inmates on January 9, 2017, was triggered after they were denied showers before returning to their cells from exercise. On January 10, 2020, an officer was surrounded in the N1 unit (north side) and severely injured. Three other officers were taken to
60-604: Is a maximum security prison in Lancaster, Massachusetts (though it receives mail through a post-office box in the town of Shirley ). It is operated by the Massachusetts Department of Correction . It is close to the medium-security prison Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Shirley , which is directly to the north over the town border. Souza-Baranowski opened on September 30, 1998. As of January 6, 2020 SBCC housed 672 inmates in general population beds. The prison
75-522: Is a medium security prison in Norfolk, Massachusetts under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Department of Correction . Though it is rated medium security, it also houses up to 98 maximum security inmates. Opened in the early 1930s, MCI-Norfolk is the largest state prison in Massachusetts . On January 6, 2020, there were 1,251 inmates in general population beds. One of the notable inmates of MCI-Norfolk
90-461: Is named in honor of a corrections officer, James Souza , 29, and an instructor Alfred Baranowski , 54, who were shot in July 1972 by an inmate whose wife had smuggled in handguns into what was then the Norfolk Prison Colony . Souza-Baranowski is the only post-conviction maximum-security state prison in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Cedar Junction operates a pre-trial maximum-security "reception and diagnostic center", and
105-507: The Federal Medical Center, Devens operates at all security levels, including maximum. A riot involving 46 inmates on January 9, 2017, was triggered after they were denied showers before returning to their cells from exercise. On January 10, 2020, an officer was surrounded in the N1 unit (north side) and severely injured. Three other officers were taken to the hospital, six inmates were immediately moved to other facilities, and criminal charges were filed against 16 inmates. In complaints and
120-762: The Supreme Judicial Court's April 3, 2020 Opinion and Order in the Committee for Public Counsel Services v. Chief Justice of the Trial Court, SJC-12926 matter, as amended on April 10, April 28 and June 23, 2020 (the “Order”), the Special Master posts weekly reports which are located on the SJC website here for COVID testing and cases for each of the correctional facilities administered by the Department of Correction and each of
135-501: The county Sheriffs’ offices. The SJC Special master link above has the most up to date information reported by the correctional agencies and is posted for the public to view. On December 4, 2020, a prisoner at MCI-Norfolk died from complications of COVID-19 . On the day of his death, there were 41 prisoners reported with active cases. MCI-Norfolk 2 Clark Street PO Box 43 Norfolk, MA 02056 Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center (SBCC)
150-774: The hospital, six inmates were immediately moved to other facilities, and criminal charges were filed against 16 inmates. In complaints and a lawsuit which triggered an investigation by state legislators, inmates alleged that corrections officers retaliated in the following weeks, including against uninvolved inmates. The complaints included unprovoked beatings and use of stun guns, positional torture, ripping out of hair, underfeeding, confiscation of all clothing, deprivation of personal property, denial of access to lawyers and legal paperwork, failure to follow procedure by videotaping raids and documenting injuries, and use of personnel from other facilities who hid their identities. Abuse allegations continued into October. On February 11, 2020, an officer
165-653: The order, has been formed through Sister Ruth Raichle, the Catholic chaplain in Norfolk. On July 31, 1972, Corrections Officers Alfred Baranowski and James Souza were shot and killed by an inmate using a smuggled firearm during an escape attempt. In the officers' memory, the Department of Corrections named their new supermax prison the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts . Pursuant to
SECTION 10
#1732895782028180-497: The prison was changed to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk in the mid-1950s. Famous civil rights activist Malcolm X was incarcerated at Norfolk, and he attended the prison school, where he furthered his education beyond the eighth grade. The prison school and library are where he picked up his love of reading and where he learned how to articulate and debate his points in an argument, as he
195-568: Was Malcolm X , who was also a member of the Norfolk Debating Society while incarcerated. MCI-Norfolk was founded in 1927 as the Norfolk Prison Colony , a "model prison community" conceived by sociologist and penologist Howard Belding Gill ( Harvard 1913, M.B.A. 1914), who was appointed its first superintendent in 1931. Gill was dismissed in 1934 after an escape by four inmates, and replaced by his deputy Maurice N. Winslow, who served as superintendent from 1934 to 1950. The name of
210-487: Was doused with liquid and grabbed through a food slot, and then the attacking inmate set items in his room on fire. During the COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts , inmates were only allowed out of cells in small groups to shower and make phone calls. Under these conditions, two inmates were stabbed in a fight on April 6, 2020. Norfolk Prison Colony Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk , or MCI-Norfolk ,
225-521: Was part of the Norfolk Debating Society. He has even stated that he began his education here by copying down an entire dictionary word for word, learning the words and refining his handwriting the whole time. During the 1950s, the Norfolk Debating Society, a team consisting of prison inmates, beat a number of university teams including the Oxford Union at Oxford University . A fraternity of lay Dominicans, some of whom have made their final profession in
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