WeVote
Log In

Bill

Bill

SD 2929

Worcester County Sheriff's Office Quarter 4 2024 Population Report

194th Legislature (2025-2026)

Codifies quarterly, standardized, nonidentifiable jail population reporting for Worcester County, delivering aggregated data to state officials to boost transparency and oversight.

Placed on file
0
WeVote Research Nonpartisan
Bill Summary · SD 2929

SD 2929 — Worcester County Sheriff's Office Quarter 4 2024 Population Report

Status: Placed on file
Introduced: May 27, 2025
Classification: Proposed bill

Purpose and scope

SD 2929 codifies and publicizes the quarterly population reporting requirements for Massachusetts jail and house-of-correction populations, specifically applying to Worcester County as part of the statewide framework. The bill aligns with the existing statutory provision (Massachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title XVIII, Chapter 126, Section 40) that requires sheriffs to record and report population data, and to deliver aggregated quarterly reports to designated state and legislative officials. The reported data are drawn from the Commonwealth’s Criminal Justice Cross-Tracking System and are intended to be non-identifiable at the individual level.

Key provisions and data elements

The bill reinforces a standardized data set to be collected for each person committed to a jail or house of correction, including (i) probation central file number (PCF), (ii) state identification number (SID) if available, (iii) race and ethnicity, (iv) offense-based tracking number (OBTN), (v) type of release, (vi) type of admission, (vii) length of sentence, (viii) jail credit from pretrial incarceration, (ix) earned time, (x) program participation and outcome during incarceration, (xi) case disposition, and (xii) bail amount or reason if no bail is set.

  • Reports must aggregate data for the entire quarterly period, with no identifying information about individual inmates.
  • Reports are to be delivered each quarter to the Secretary of Public Safety and Security, the chairs of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary and the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, and the clerks of the Massachusetts House and Senate.
  • The data source for the reports is the Commonwealth’s Criminal Justice Cross-Tracking System.

Data definitions, limitations, and important caveats

  • PCF Number: An internal identification number from the Massachusetts Probation Service; not based on fingerprint data.
  • SID: A fingerprint-based, ten-character identifier assigned by the Department of State Police via AFIS.
  • OBTN: A unique event identifier linking fingerprints to a specific arrest/custody event (an individual can have multiple OBTNs).
  • Important limitation: The data points of case disposition, bail amount, and bail reason originate with the Trial Court, not the Sheriff’s Office. As a result, these fields may lag or be incomplete; efforts are underway (in coordination with the Trial Court and EOPSS) to retrieve these metrics electronically from the Cross-Tracking System.

Data handling and privacy

  • All quarterly reports must exclude any identifying information about individual inmates.
  • The statute explicitly acknowledges potential data lag and transmission timing issues; some identifiers may be missing at intake and added later when available.

Who is affected and potential impact

  • Affects Worcester County Sheriff’s Office operations and reporting practices by formalizing the data elements and submission timelines.
  • Affects state and legislative oversight: Secretary of Public Safety and Security, judiciary and public safety/homeland security committees, and both houses’ clerks receive standardized, aggregated data for policy analysis and accountability.
  • Aims to improve transparency and interagency data collaboration for jail populations, while balancing privacy and data availability constraints.

Timeline and procedural notes

  • The bill’s action status is “Placed on file” as of May 27, 2025, indicating it is not enacted but has been recorded for potential future consideration. The quarterly reporting requirement references Q4 2024 data, consistent with the report content provided.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

Sign in to ask a question.