Massachusetts Prison Communication Directory

Massachusetts operates a two-tier corrections structure that includes state prisons run by the Massachusetts Department of Correction and county-level facilities called Houses of Correction, which serve as the jail and short-sentence institution for each of the state's 14 counties. The House of Correction model is distinctive to Massachusetts and a small number of other New England states. It means that a family dealing with a pre-trial detainee or someone serving a sentence of less than two and a half years is dealing with a county House of Correction rather than a state DOC prison. Each House of Correction operates under the county sheriff and has separate provider arrangements from state prisons. A federal medical center in Devens adds to the state's correctional landscape.

JPay is used across Massachusetts Department of Correction state prisons for messaging, money transfer, and photo sharing. Securus and GTL provide phone and video services at state institutions and many county Houses of Correction. Suffolk County, which serves the Boston metro and runs the Suffolk County House of Correction on Deer Island, operates under its own provider contract. The Federal Medical Center Devens in Worcester County houses federal inmates with specialized medical needs from across the region and requires CorrLinks for electronic messaging. Families encountering the Massachusetts system for the first time are sometimes surprised to find that a pre-trial detainee in a facility called the Middlesex County House of Correction is in a county-operated institution with different provider access than a state DOC prison.

Massachusetts families navigating inmate communication often find that the House of Correction terminology and the division between county and state systems create confusion about which provider applies to their situation. The 14 county systems and the state DOC system operate independently and use different platforms. This directory organizes facility and provider information for Massachusetts so families can identify the correct communication service for their specific situation, whether it involves a state prison, a county House of Correction, or a federal facility, and get started without having to research each system separately.