What looks to be almost like a college campus sitting on hill is Massachusetts Correctional Institution Shirley. The only thing stopping the prisoners from escaping into the woods or a getaway car waiting for them on the busy road are signs scattered around warning that if the inmates go beyond the sign then they are “Out of bonds”. Men covered in tattoos slowly walk around a green pasture, as other men tend to the prison gardens near the woods or they are playing a game of basketball by the busy road. Guards are scarcely in sight to watch over the prisoners, but unlike the two other state prisons in the distance, where barbed wire fences keep the prisoners inside of prison grounds and the guards sitting in the lookout towers closely keep their
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Shirley, Massachusetts has a population of 7,435 according to the United States Census bureau, with a total of 2,227 housing units. A median household income of 65,882 dollars is recorded, and about 14.8% of people are below poverty level in Shirley. The overall race of Shirley is White, and the minority race is Hispanic and African American. MCI Shirley was previously a Shaker colony, known as Shirley Shaker Village, the religious order sold the property to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1903. MCI Shirley Level 3 was opened in the early 1970's and then after that MCI Shirley Level 4 was opened to house inmates in July 1991. Then in July 2002 Level 3 and 4 joined together as one institution and currently holds two security level of inmates. As a result of the integration the number of Level 3 housing units and bed space was reduced. MCI Shirley was opened with a housing capacity of 969 inmates. Now MCI Shirley houses about a total of about 1500 inmates and includes a large number of units. MCI Shirley maintains 13 inmate housing units, a 28 bed full service hospital unit, a 59 bed segregation unit, gym, recreation areas, school, industries, laundry, …show more content…
“It would be easy to escape,’’ said Edwin Guadalupe, who is serving a five year sentence at the minimum security level section at MCI Shirley. Coming from a prisoner this should be a very alarming statement, especially that fact there are prisoners serving sentences as bad as 2nd degree murder at MCI Shirley. “Who wants to have to run for the rest of your life?’’ says Lawrence an inmate at MCI Shirley. “At this point, I don’t see the point in walking away.’’ He says to news reporters. Many prisoners seem to not care for escaping the prison, as they are almost done with their sentence and they are given a fair share of freedom. But, for instance in 2011 an inmate, Tamik Kirkland escaped the prison from an unbarred window during the night unnoticed. After escaping it is allegedly said that Kirkland went on a shooting spree in a Springfield barber shop, leaving one man dead. But it wasn’t until this happened that raised questions that an inmate like Kirkland should be held in a prison without walls. “If he wasn’t able to walk away so easily, that violence would have never taken place,’’ said Sergeant John Delaney of the Springfield Police Department. “It would have saved the city of Springfield a lot of heartache.’’ The blame of this incident is fully put on MCI Shirley as they allowed a prisoner to escape through there security unnoticed. Yet,
Shirley, Massachusetts has a population of 7,435 according to the United States Census bureau, with a total of 2,227 housing units. A median household income of 65,882 dollars is recorded, and about 14.8% of people are below poverty level in Shirley. The overall race of Shirley is White, and the minority race is Hispanic and African American. MCI Shirley was previously a Shaker colony, known as Shirley Shaker Village, the religious order sold the property to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1903. MCI Shirley Level 3 was opened in the early 1970's and then after that MCI Shirley Level 4 was opened to house inmates in July 1991. Then in July 2002 Level 3 and 4 joined together as one institution and currently holds two security level of inmates. As a result of the integration the number of Level 3 housing units and bed space was reduced. MCI Shirley was opened with a housing capacity of 969 inmates. Now MCI Shirley houses about a total of about 1500 inmates and includes a large number of units. MCI Shirley maintains 13 inmate housing units, a 28 bed full service hospital unit, a 59 bed segregation unit, gym, recreation areas, school, industries, laundry, …show more content…
“It would be easy to escape,’’ said Edwin Guadalupe, who is serving a five year sentence at the minimum security level section at MCI Shirley. Coming from a prisoner this should be a very alarming statement, especially that fact there are prisoners serving sentences as bad as 2nd degree murder at MCI Shirley. “Who wants to have to run for the rest of your life?’’ says Lawrence an inmate at MCI Shirley. “At this point, I don’t see the point in walking away.’’ He says to news reporters. Many prisoners seem to not care for escaping the prison, as they are almost done with their sentence and they are given a fair share of freedom. But, for instance in 2011 an inmate, Tamik Kirkland escaped the prison from an unbarred window during the night unnoticed. After escaping it is allegedly said that Kirkland went on a shooting spree in a Springfield barber shop, leaving one man dead. But it wasn’t until this happened that raised questions that an inmate like Kirkland should be held in a prison without walls. “If he wasn’t able to walk away so easily, that violence would have never taken place,’’ said Sergeant John Delaney of the Springfield Police Department. “It would have saved the city of Springfield a lot of heartache.’’ The blame of this incident is fully put on MCI Shirley as they allowed a prisoner to escape through there security unnoticed. Yet,