Expansion of the Middlesex County House of Correction

The Middlesex County House of Correction on Treble Cove Road, opened in 1931 (see Opening of the Middlesex County House of Correction), grew from the late 1980s, and in 2014 the Commonwealth enlarged it by 496 beds to take the pretrial detainees of the Middlesex Jail in East Cambridge, which was emptied on June 28, 2014.

From the late 1980s the growth of the jail became a question of water, sewer and money. In 1991 town meeting asked whether the town could put a lien on the county property for unpaid water bills, and Town Counsel said it could not; that year's revenue estimate counted $100,000 as a partial payment of the water bill the county owed. The selectmen took up "the planned Billerica House of Correction expansion" in 1992. In 1995 Middlesex Sheriff Brad Bailey told town meeting of the plans "to relieve the overcrowding and the sewerage problems," and the study of the town water plant warned that an enlarged jail on the town system could raise demand by as much as 500,000 gallons a day. Through 1996 the town negotiated with the state and the jail to connect the prison to the municipal sewer, on which a $1,000,000 Community Development Action Grant to sewer the Republic, Sterling and Esquire Road industrial area depended. On May 13, 1999 a special town meeting voted 179 to 0 to convey about 5.85 acres on Treble Cove Road, with a town-owned house and barn, to the Commonwealth for the sheriff's administrative and training offices, the land to come back to the town if not so used; the transfer was to help the town receive about 72 acres from the Commonwealth for its new water treatment plant. State Representative William G. Greene Jr. explained the article with the jail's director of operations and the sheriff's counsel.

From 2000 the selectmen kept a Prison Expansion Committee of Selectman James F. O'Donnell Jr., joined in 2001 by Selectman Michael S. Rosa. New housing units, a central core facility, a warehouse and a visitor center were built about 2005, and in 2006 the jail opened a new facility with a culinary arts training kitchen, for which Shawsheen Tech helped set up a 300-hour course. In late November 2013 the town learned that the Commonwealth meant to add 496 beds. The office of Town Manager John C. Curran and the selectmen "expressed great concern," telling the sheriff that "there were significant issues with siting the expansion in Billerica." The $37 million addition, a two-story concrete pod of 256 beds and a one-story dormitory of 240, was to hold pretrial detainees from the overcrowded Middlesex Jail in East Cambridge. Town officials argued that the added load on water and sewer "simply cannot be accommodated" in a town where about 30 percent of residents still used septic systems, and complained that the state, which pays no property tax on the jail, had kept them largely uninformed. In 2014 the Commonwealth signed an agreement with the town that the town report valued at $6,509,664: a sewer connection fee of $1,529,664, a capital infrastructure fee of $1,080,000, full cost recovery rates for water and sewer worth $1,200,000, $200,000 toward a study of a regional public works facility and $200,000 for traffic lights and road work, besides a $2.3 million MassWorks grant. The state also agreed to support legislation taking "Billerica" off the facility's signs, and the town dropped its appeal of a state sewer permit. The Cambridge jail was emptied on June 28, 2014, when the last of its 220 detainees were moved to Billerica.

People

• William G. Greene Jr.: State representative who explained the 1999 conveyance of 5.85 acres to the Commonwealth for the Sheriff's Department.
• James F. O'Donnell Jr.: Selectman on the town's Prison Expansion Committee from 2000.
• Michael S. Rosa: Selectman on the town's Prison Expansion Committee from 2001.
• John C. Curran: Town manager whose office opposed the 496-bed expansion in 2013 and reported the 2014 mitigation agreement.

References

1. Billerica town report 1991, town meeting: $100,000 counted as partial payment of the water bill owed by the County for the House of Correction.
2. Billerica town report 1995, annual town meeting: Middlesex Sheriff Brad Bailey on plans to relieve overcrowding and sewerage problems at the House of Correction.
3. Billerica town report 1996, Board of Selectmen: $1,000,000 CDAG grant for the Republic, Sterling and Esquire Road area tied to connecting the prison to the town sewer.
4. Billerica town report 1999, special town meeting of May 13, 1999: 5.85 acres on Treble Cove Road to the Commonwealth for the Sheriff's Department, voted 179 to 0.
5. Billerica town report 2013, Town Manager: in late November the town learned of the Commonwealth's plan to add 496 beds; concerns voiced to the Sheriff.
6. Billerica town report 2014, Town Manager: agreement for 496 new beds in a two-story pod; mitigation totaling $6,509,664 and a $2.3 million MassWorks grant.
7. Boston Globe, Jan. 5, 2014: $37 million Billerica jail expansion of 256-bed pod and 240-bed dormitory for Cambridge detainees; town objections and concessions.
8. Boston Globe, June 28, 2014: Middlesex Jail in Cambridge closes; 220 detainees moved to the Billerica House of Correction over two days.