Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Norfolk
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Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk, or MCI-Norfolk, is a medium security prison in
Norfolk, Massachusetts Norfolk ( , locally ) is a New England town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, with a population of 11,662 people at the 2020 census. Formerly known as Wrentham, Massachusetts, North Wrentham, Norfolk broke away to become an indepe ...
under the jurisdiction of the
Massachusetts Department of Correction The Massachusetts Department of Correction is the government agency responsible for operating the prison system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The Massachusetts Department of Correction is responsible for the custody ...
. 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 Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
. On January 6, 2020, there were 1,251 inmates in general population beds. One of the notable inmates of MCI-Norfolk was
Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African American revolutionary, Islam in the United States, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figur ...
, who was also a member of the Norfolk Debating Society while incarcerated.


History

MCI-Norfolk was founded in 1927 as the Norfolk Prison Colony, a "model prison community"Johnsen, Thomas C.
"Vita: Howard Belding Gill: Brief Life of a Prison Reformer: 1890-1989"
,
Harvard Magazine ''Harvard Magazine'' is an independently edited magazine and separately incorporated affiliate of Harvard University. It is the only publication covering the entire university and regularly distributed to all graduates, faculty, and staff. The ...
, September–October 1999, p. 54.
conceived by sociologist and
penologist Penology (also penal theory) is a subfield of criminology that deals with the philosophy and practice of various societies in their attempts to repress criminal activities, and satisfy public opinion via an appropriate treatment regime for person ...
Howard Belding Gill (
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
1913, M.B.A. 1914), who was appointed its first superintendent in 1931.Conrad, John P., "A Lost Ideal, a New Hope: The Way toward Effective Correctional Treatment", ''Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1973-)'', Vol. 72, No. 4 (Winter, 1981), pp. 1699-1734. 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 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 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 The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest unive ...
at
Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
. A fraternity of lay Dominicans, some of whom have made their final profession in the order, has been formed through Sister Ruth Raichle, the Catholic chaplain in Norfolk.


Officer deaths at 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 A super-maximum security (supermax) or administrative maximum (ADX) prison is a "control-unit" prison, or a unit within prisons, which represents the most secure level of custody in the prison systems of certain countries. The objective is to ...
the
Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center (SBCC) is a supermax 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 ...
in
Shirley, Massachusetts Shirley is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately thirty miles west-northwest of Boston. The population was 7,431 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The town has ...
.


COVID-19 cases

Pursuant to 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 websit
here
for COVID testing and cases for each of the correctional facilities administered by the Department of Correction and each of 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 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
. On the day of his death, there were 41 prisoners reported with active cases.


Prison Address

MCI-Norfolk
2 Clark Street
PO Box 43
Norfolk, MA 02056


Notes


References

* * Diiulio, John J.
''Governing Prisons: A Comparative Study of Correctional Management''
Simon and Schuster, 1990. *Serrill, M. S., "Norfolk - A Retrospective - New Debate Over a Famous Prison Experiment," ''Corrections Magazine'', Volume 8, Issue 4 (August 1982), pp. 25–32. {{DEFAULTSORT:Massachusetts Correctional Institution - Norfolk Prisons in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Norfolk County, Massachusetts 1927 establishments in Massachusetts