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Massachusetts
Massachusetts closes another correctional facility, this time a minimum security prison in Bridgewater
Local News
The Massachusetts Department of Correction said all inmates will be transferred out of Old Colony Correctional’s minimum security facility by November.
Massachusetts is closing another correctional facility, in the latest change to the state’s prison system amid its declining population.
The Massachusetts Department of Correction announced Thursday that Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater will no longer house inmates due to the facility’s condition and renovation needs. The state said not renovating the facility will save about $2.6 million.
OCCC-Minimum, constructed 40 years ago, is a minimum security men’s facility that focuses on mental health located on the same campus as a medium security facility, Bridgewater State Hospital, and the Massachusetts Treatment Center, all of which will stay open.
OCCC-Minimum, which has 160 beds, currently has 70 people incarcerated there, the DOC said. Those individuals will be transferred to other minimum security facilities, including Boston Pre-Release Center, Northeastern Correctional Center, and Pondville Correctional Center. Overall, those facilities are operating at 59 percent capacity, according to the department’s weekly inmate reports.
The 26 staff members will be reassigned to OCCC’s medium security facility on the same campus, MADOC said. While the state did not say exactly when the facility will close, all inmates will be transferred out by Oct. 31.
DOC’s declining population
The announcement to shutter OCCC-Minimum comes just a month after the closure of MCI-Concord, the state’s oldest prison. Its closure saves about $16 million annually. The state dissolved housing at maximum-security facility MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole last year.
“The historically low population within the DOC allows us to assess our facility needs in order to be a fiscally responsible partner in the state of Massachusetts,” Shawn Jenkins, DOC’s interim director, said in a statement. “The DOC will continue to empower our housed individuals to succeed upon release and we believe the closure of this facility and relocation of the current population will help them flourish.”
Massachusetts’s prison population has declined over the last decade. In 2014, the department reported more than 11,700 inmates. Earlier this month, the DOC said there are 6,050 inmates across their 18 facilities.
BOSTON (WWLP) – A group of senators, including Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren, is leading 32 members of Congress in pressing DHS to investigate ICE.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico), along with U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) and U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Illinois), led 32 other members of Congress in urging the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General to investigate failures in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) detainee locator system. The lawmakers contend that without a functional system, the DHS is effectively causing “disappearances” on U.S. soil.
The group of lawmakers requested an evaluation of the Online Detainee Locator System (ODLS), citing reports of inaccuracies that hinder legal representation and increase the risk of deportations.
The DHS Online Detainee Locator System allows the public to determine if a person is in ICE custody and their location. ICE policy mandates updating the ODLS within 8 hours of a person’s arrival at a facility. However, reports indicate individuals are not being accurately added for days and sometimes weeks, with increasing inaccuracy noted since January 2025.
The failure of the ODLS impacts detainees’ ability to obtain legal representation. Attorneys have reported difficulties filing habeas petitions due to unknown client locations, leading to an increased risk of detainees missing court hearings or case deadlines.
Families have also experienced distress, with some reporting that their loved ones were deported before their location was ever recorded in the system. Massachusetts resident Any Lopez Belloza was deported under such circumstances.
The current scale of detention exacerbates the ODLS issues. There are more than 70,000 people in ICE custody, an 80% increase since December 2024. The Trump administration is detaining people at an unprecedented scale, according to the lawmakers.
Frequent transfers of detainees make ODLS updates more challenging. Matters are further complicated by individuals being held in unconventional settings, including military bases, state-run facilities like “Alligator Alcatraz,” ICE field offices and, soon, warehouses built for storing packages.
Some experts expressed concerns that these issues could be intentional, used by ICE to remove people from jurisdictions with more protective laws or favorable judges. One ICE agent reportedly told a detainee being transferred from California to Indiana that it was “thanks to the laws in California.”
In their letter, the lawmakers formally requested the DHS Inspector General to address several points to understand the scope of the problem. They specifically asked for information on why the ODLS system has reduced its timeliness, the types of information ICE does not add to the system and the practices ICE employs for updating location information.
The lawmakers concluded their letter by requesting that the DHS Office of Inspector General conduct an evaluation of the matter to understand the problem’s full scope, the reasons for reporting gaps and the impacts on detainees and their families.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by WWLP. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by WWLP staff before being published.
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Massachusetts
5 firearms seized from Massachusetts home after report of second grader bringing gun to school
Five firearms were seized from a Swansea, Massachusetts home after police investigated a report that a second-grade student may have brought a handgun to an elementary school.
On Monday night, Swansea police were notified that the student may have brought a gun to Mark G. Hoyle Elementary School and showed it to at least two other students on a previous day.
After an investigation, officers developed probable cause to get a search warrant for the student’s home in Swansea, which was issued by the court and executed Tuesday afternoon.
During the search of the home, police said they found five firearms and ammunition. The guns were not registered and were stored unsecured, police said. No one who lives in the home had a valid Firearms Identification Card, according to police.
“The firearms were seized as part of the investigation, and Swansea Police plan to file an application for criminal complaint in Fall River District Court on Wednesday charging two residents with weapons-related offenses,” Swansea police said in a press release Tuesday night.
The names of the residents have not been released by police.
Police and Swansea Public Schools took additional safety precautions at the school Tuesday morning while officers investigated the report. After the firearms were discovered in the home, a police K-9 unit trained in firearms and ammunition detection swept the school Tuesday night, but nothing was found.
Swansea police do not believe there is an active threat to the school community, but there will be an increased presence at the Hoyle Elementary School on Wednesday. The investigation remains ongoing.
Food insecurity is rising in Massachusetts while assistance programs are falling short, according to the latest annual report from the Greater Boston Food Bank and Mass General Brigham. The sixth annual Massachusetts Food Access Report finds that a record 40% of Massachusetts households experienced food insecurity during 2025. According to the authors, that equates to 1.1 million households across the Bay State. Additionally, the report finds that 25% of households report regularly missing meals or going hungry. Their conclusions are based on a survey of more than 3,000 adults across the state. The authors said the survey was conducted from October through December in three languages. “Our results are sobering: more people are struggling, and while they report accessing food and nutrition assistance programs like food pantries, SNAP, and WIC, they also say these programs are not enough. Every population—from families with young children to seniors—is struggling to afford food,” Dr. Lauren Fiechtner, who advised the research, wrote in a statement. Affordability remains a key challenge, with 88% of food-insecure households reporting difficulty paying for at least one basic expense and needing an average of $500 more per month to meet basic needs, according to the report. The report found 75% of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants said they still need additional food support, while 78% receive less than $300 per month in benefits, according to the report. Meanwhile, the authors state that charities are playing an “increasingly essential role,” serving more than half of the state’s food-insecure households. “The call to action is clear: we must continue to invest in our emergency food system to meet this urgent and growing demand. And we must work together on implementing long-term solutions to poverty to empower everyone to live better, healthier, and more productive lives,” the Greater Boston Food Bank’s outgoing CEO, Catherine D’Amato, wrote in a statement. Among the recommendations included in the report are calls to increase state funding for nutrition programs, strengthen food insecurity screenings through the health care system, investments in local food systems and legislative changes to address societal issues that contribute to hunger, including income and housing inadequacy.WCVB partners with the GBFB for an annual day of giving.
BOSTON —
Food insecurity is rising in Massachusetts while assistance programs are falling short, according to the latest annual report from the Greater Boston Food Bank and Mass General Brigham.
The sixth annual Massachusetts Food Access Report finds that a record 40% of Massachusetts households experienced food insecurity during 2025. According to the authors, that equates to 1.1 million households across the Bay State.
Additionally, the report finds that 25% of households report regularly missing meals or going hungry.
Their conclusions are based on a survey of more than 3,000 adults across the state. The authors said the survey was conducted from October through December in three languages.
“Our results are sobering: more people are struggling, and while they report accessing food and nutrition assistance programs like food pantries, SNAP, and WIC, they also say these programs are not enough. Every population—from families with young children to seniors—is struggling to afford food,” Dr. Lauren Fiechtner, who advised the research, wrote in a statement.
Affordability remains a key challenge, with 88% of food-insecure households reporting difficulty paying for at least one basic expense and needing an average of $500 more per month to meet basic needs, according to the report.
The report found 75% of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants said they still need additional food support, while 78% receive less than $300 per month in benefits, according to the report. Meanwhile, the authors state that charities are playing an “increasingly essential role,” serving more than half of the state’s food-insecure households.
“The call to action is clear: we must continue to invest in our emergency food system to meet this urgent and growing demand. And we must work together on implementing long-term solutions to poverty to empower everyone to live better, healthier, and more productive lives,” the Greater Boston Food Bank’s outgoing CEO, Catherine D’Amato, wrote in a statement.
Among the recommendations included in the report are calls to increase state funding for nutrition programs, strengthen food insecurity screenings through the health care system, investments in local food systems and legislative changes to address societal issues that contribute to hunger, including income and housing inadequacy.
WCVB partners with the GBFB for an annual day of giving.
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