Bill
HD 5991
quarterly, non-identifying population data from Hampden County Jail to inform policymakers and oversight bodies about custody trends and characteristics.
Title: A communication from the Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association (see Section 40 of Chapter 126 of the General Laws) submitting the aggregate data on the population of the Hampden County Correctional Facility for the third quarter of calendar year 2025
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts
Author/Sponsor: Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association (MSA)
Status: Bill appears to be an annual reporting mechanism required by statute; the document provided is a specific quarterly population report (Q3 2025) from Hampden County Correctional Facility prepared in compliance with existing law.
Purpose and intent
- Facilitate lawful recording and reporting of jail and house of correction population data.
- Provide aggregate, non-identifying data to policymakers and oversight bodies about who is in custody, changes over time, and related characteristics.
- Comply with General Laws Part I, Title XVIII, Chapter 126, Section 40, which mandates quarterly population reporting from each jail/house of correction.
- Improve coordination by sharing data with key legislative and executive bodies (secretary of public safety and security; chairs of the Judiciary and Public Safety/Homeland Security committees; clerks of the House and Senate).
- Note: The report is produced in partnership with the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) and relies on the Cross-Tracking System data.
Key provisions and content
- Data elements to be recorded for each person committed to a jail or house of correction:
- Probation Central File (PCF) number
- State Identification Number (SID) from AFIS (fingerprint-based)
- Race and ethnicity
- Offense-Based Tracking Number (OBTN)
- Type of booking/admission
- Type of release
- Length of sentence
- Jail credit from pretrial incarceration
- Earned time
- Program participation and outcomes during incarceration
- Case disposition
- Bail amount or reason if no bail set
- Aggregate reporting:
- Data from each jail/house of correction must be compiled into a quarterly report covering the entire quarter.
- Reports must be delivered to:
- Secretary of Public Safety and Security
- House and Senate Chairs of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary
- House and Senate Chairs of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security
- Clerks of the House and Senate
- Data privacy/handling:
- Reports must contain no identifying information about individual inmates or detainees.
- Data definitions and disclaimers are provided to clarify measurement and data availability.
- Data limitations:
- Important data points such as case disposition, bail amount, and bail-absence reasons originate with the Trial Court and may not be population-friendly for direct population reporting.
- Sheriffs’ Offices may not always populate SID, PCF, and OBTN immediately due to lag times in FBI/AFIS data; data is added as information becomes available.
- The statute recognizes data lags and manual entry limitations; footnotes indicate efforts to refine retrieval from the Cross-Tracking System with Trial Court and EOPSS collaboration.
Who is affected
- Hampden County Sheriff's Office (the reporting sheriff’s office for Hampden County).
- Aggregate data users: Secretary of Public Safety and Security, chairs and clerks of the Judiciary and Public Safety/Homeland Security committees in both the House and Senate.
- State-level agencies relying on Cross-Tracking System data (and data sharing with Trial Court and EOPSS).
Procedural and timeline aspects
- Frequency: Quarterly reporting, covering the entire calendar quarter.
- Report recipients: As specified above (legislative and executive offices, clerks).
- Data source integration: Cross-Tracking System data is used to compile the quarterly population report; ongoing data harmonization with Trial Court and EOPSS is noted.
- The document refers to the third quarter of calendar year 2025 (Q3 2025) for Hampden County, indicating a routine, recurring reporting cycle.
Impact and interpretation
- Enhances transparency around jail populations while protecting individual privacy.
- Enables legislative and executive branches to monitor trends in admissions, releases, sentence lengths, program participation, and other custody-related metrics.
- Acknowledges and documents current data limitations and the ongoing process to standardize data elements (e.g., disposition and bail-related fields) that are not within the Sheriff’s direct control.
Note: The bill mainly codifies and publicizes the quarterly Hampden County facility data pursuant to existing statutory obligations, rather than creating new substantive penalties or authorities.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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