Suffolk County House of Correction Records

House of Correction Discharge Paths

The Suffolk County House of Correction, also called South Bay House of Correction, can end a custody episode through sentence expiration, parole, probation, a court release order, conditional community placement, or transfer. Those outcomes are not interchangeable. Expiration means the sentence reaches its lawful end after applicable calculations. Parole permits community supervision before full sentence discharge. Probation is court supervision and can follow a sentence or another court disposition. A transfer leaves SCSD’s South Bay placement but keeps the person in custody elsewhere.

Community Corrections can place a carefully selected participant at home or in a halfway house while SCSD custody continues. That transition may look like release from the building, yet it does not prove final discharge from the sentence. Ask HOC Records for the agency’s actual coded event and destination. Pair that answer with the sentencing docket, because the court record supplies the sentence or order that the department carried out.

Confirm HOC Release Records

SCSD does not provide a public named-person HOC roster or recent-release archive. Start with HOC Records, not Massachusetts VINELink. The Commonwealth says only Massachusetts DOC participates in state VINE. South Bay is an SCSD house of correction, so an absent VINELink result reveals nothing about an HOC discharge.

1. Confirm that South Bay held the person and gather the booking or commitment number if known.
2. Call HOC Records at 617-635-1000 extension 2017 and ask whether SCSD custody continues.
3. Request the actual event date, event type, and destination or receiving agency when releasable.
4. Read the sentencing docket for the term, order, probation, or other judicial basis.
5. Check the Parole Board, Probation Service, DOC, or another receiving agency only when the event points there.

The Suffolk County release search provides the broader decision path when records point beyond South Bay. Do not estimate a named person’s discharge from the typical sentence statistics. Jail credit, earned deductions, concurrent or consecutive terms, warrants, detainers, parole action, and court orders can all affect the result.

House of Correction Record Contact

HOC Records handles immediate status and discharge questions. Social Services can address service coordination, but its work does not certify release. For a durable record, submit a focused SCSD public-record request for the release or discharge entry, sentence and jail-credit material, booking identifier, actual date and time, event type, and destination. A request for existing records is more precise than asking the department to create a narrative.

The SCSD Records Access Officer receives written requests at 200 Nashua Street, Boston, MA 02114, by email at psullivan@scsdma.org, or by phone at 617-635-1100 extension 6373. No special HOC fee schedule, request form, or RAO hours are published on the cited department page. State public-record rules are the starting framework, and protected details may be withheld or redacted.

Note: Request both the release entry and computation material when the projected date and actual South Bay discharge date differ.

House of Correction Custody Facts

South Bay houses sentenced adult men and women serving terms of no more than two and one-half years, along with pretrial populations described by SCSD. The department reports an average HOC sentence of fourteen months. Those figures distinguish a county house of correction from Massachusetts state prison, but neither predicts a specific release date. A pretrial person may have no set discharge date because bail and future court action control.

The complex opened on December 26, 1991, replacing Deer Island. The official HOC page supplies the facility identity, Records contact, and discharge-planning context shown below.

The source confirms that records and planning functions sit with SCSD, rather than the statewide DOC locator.

HOC Release Date Records

A sentenced HOC person may have a calculated date, while a pretrial person may not. Massachusetts earned-time law permits qualifying HOC participation deductions within statutory caps. Parole eligibility for an aggregate HOC term of at least sixty days generally follows a half-term or two-year framework, whichever is shorter, subject to restrictions. Eligibility only opens the possibility of parole. It does not order release.

For a named person, obtain the official calculation and final event. Relevant materials can include the mittimus, sentence and jail-credit entries, earned-time awards or losses, warrant information, and release disposition. A corrected commitment, new court order, or receiving-agency hold can cause a gap between an early estimate and the completed discharge. HOC Records and the docket are the primary sources for explaining that gap.

HOC Discharge Planning

SCSD program pages describe discharge planning and continuity of care. The Richard Pacitti Reentry and Transitional Center reports monthly discharge panels for people about ninety days from release, help with identity and vital documents, transportation coordination, and follow-up with returning people and families. These are local support functions, not promises that every person receives the same plan.

Transportation may be coordinated to home, parole, or a residential treatment program in an eligible case. The HOC directions themselves use Andrew Station or Copley with the Route 10 bus, and parking is limited. Those travel notes should not be turned into a claimed release door or pickup zone. Verify custody first, then use the individual plan or supervising office for the destination.

Note: Discharge planning may begin before sentence completion and should never be used as proof that South Bay custody has ended.

HOC Release and ICE Records

Older South Bay descriptions can create a false lead about immigration custody. SCSD announced in 2019 that it ended its ICE detention contract and that ICE relocated detainees. The HOC should not be described as a current contracted ICE detention center based on old inspection reports or legacy unit text.

If an individual release entry identifies immigration as the destination, that event is a transfer to federal custody, not a community discharge. The ICE Online Detainee Locator can help check current detention, but it is not a historical Suffolk release archive. A negative ICE result can reflect release, transfer, removal, a search mismatch, or record limits, so preserve the HOC entry and follow the federal case-specific route.

House of Correction Release Fields

A South Bay discharge request should identify the HOC episode and ask for fields that separate calculation from outcome. Useful items include the booking or commitment number, admission date, sentence and jail-credit entries, releasing facility, actual discharge date and time, event type, destination, and transfer or supervision agency. If the event was parole, request the HOC release entry and then obtain the separate Parole Board record. If probation followed, use the sentencing court’s docket and probation office for that phase.

The statewide retention schedule lists House of Correction records for twenty-five years after release. It also lists mittimus files for ten years after release or termination of parole and an inmate admission or discharge index for Archives review. These periods are retention directions, not automatic rights of access. SCSD can still apply CORI, privacy, investigatory, juvenile, medical, security, or other lawful restrictions. Ask for all reasonably segregable nonexempt portions when part of a record is withheld.

Massachusetts public-record procedure generally requires production or a compliant written response within ten business days. The agency may seek clarification or provide a fee estimate. An electronic, date-limited request reduces search work. When a computation is disputed, request the existing sentence calculation, mittimus, earned-time entries, and final release disposition instead of asking SCSD to calculate a new date in response.

Keep the chronology in order: court sentence or pretrial order, HOC admission, jail credit and later computation changes, conditional placement or transfer if any, and the final event. South Bay’s mixed sentenced and pretrial population makes this sequence important. A sentenced record can culminate in expiration or parole, while a pretrial record may end through bail or another court order. The same facility name does not make the legal paths identical. Ask HOC Records to identify the population and event before choosing a follow-up system.