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Middlesex Jail in Cambridge MA: Prisoner crowding is cited after riot. Population is up fivefold since 1980

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

Prisoner crowding is cited after riot Population is up fivefold since 1980 By Jonathan Saltzman The Boston Globe / July 7, 2009 The weekend riot at the Middlesex Jail in Cambridge has put a spotlight on overcrowding at Massachusetts jails, where the total population has soared more than 500 percent since 1980 and has pushed many institutions well beyond their capacity. The Middlesex Jail, which occupies the 17th through 20th floors of the otherwise vacant 22-story former courthouse on Thorndike Street, was built for 161 people but has long exceeded that population. Last September it held 415 detainees, nearly 2 1/2 times its capacity, according to the state Department of Correction?s most recent quarterly report on overcrowding at prisons and jails...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on July 07, 2009 (boomark / email).