Search MCI-Norfolk Release Records

MCI-Norfolk Release Routes

MCI-Norfolk is an active medium-security state prison operated by the Massachusetts Department of Correction. It holds criminally sentenced men. Its location in Norfolk County does not make it part of Sheriff Patrick W. McDermott’s Norfolk County Sheriff’s jail system, and NCSO is not the custodian of an MCI-Norfolk state-prison release record.

A departure can be a release to the community, parole, expiration or discharge, a court-directed release, or a transfer within MADOC or to another authority. “Release institution” means the institution associated with the release date in MADOC’s record. It does not mean that every movement away from MCI-Norfolk ended state custody. The release type and destination category are needed to distinguish a community exit from continued confinement.

Check MCI-Norfolk Current Custody

MADOC’s official public page is called “Find someone housed in a Massachusetts prison.” It directs users to Massachusetts VINELink or the VINE phone service at 866-277-7477. Only MADOC participates in the Massachusetts VINE program. That makes it the right current-custody starting point for MCI-Norfolk, but not for the Dedham county jail, South Bay, or federal custody.

1. Select Massachusetts in VINELink and open the offender search.
2. Enter the full first and last name or MADOC commitment number.
3. Compare identity and custody details carefully before opening a result.
4. Record the exact status wording, institution, and date viewed.
5. If the person is missing or appears out of custody, seek the historical MADOC transaction rather than inferring release.

The public instructions do not promise a stable discharged-person profile, a post-release retention period, or a field that always states a past release date. A “not found” result means only that the search did not return a current public record. It does not prove a release date, destination, or parole status.

Note: VINELink is a current MADOC custody and notification tool, not a permanent MCI-Norfolk discharge archive.

Request MCI-Norfolk Release Records

For a former MCI-Norfolk prisoner, use the MADOC public-records request process or email doc.rao@state.ma.us. Identify the person, commitment number if known, MCI-Norfolk, and the approximate custody and release dates. Ask for the Certificate of Discharge/Release, release order or log entry, release institution, date, type, destination category, and final sentence-calculation material.

The request should also name ERD, ERD Max, maximum date, jail credits, earned deductions, and the controlling sentence when the date needs explanation. These fields may sit in calculation records rather than the discharge certificate. Ask for electronic delivery, a fee estimate, and any reasonably segregable public portion if a specific item is withheld.

Under G.L. c. 66, section 10, the custodian must answer a reasonably described request within ten business days by producing records or providing the required written response about exemptions, timing, fees, and appeal rights. State-agency production ordinarily uses a fifteen-business-day framework, subject to statutory extension procedures.

MCI-Norfolk Release Record Fields

The historical record should answer which state custody status ended, when it ended, and what happened next. A MADOC releases dashboard cannot answer those questions for one named person because it provides aggregate trends rather than a person-level certificate.

DOC 417 describes the Certificate of Discharge/Release as the final document releasing a person from custody. MADOC’s Central Date Computation Unit reviews sentence calculations, while Central Records helps identify the underlying state file. Operational contacts can route a question, but public disclosure still runs through the Records Access Officer.

MCI-Norfolk Record Retention

Massachusetts’ statewide records schedule gives historical inquiries a longer documentary path than VINELink. State booking records, central records, commitment and discharge logs, and the state six-part inmate folder are generally retained for twenty-five years after final release. State fingerprint cards and photographs are permanent. Inmate parole records are generally retained for twenty-five years after release, while specified transfer, release, death, escape, and notification records can follow a shorter four-year series.

Those periods are minimum retention rules, not promises that every part of a file is open to any requester. Medical or private material, safety information, victim information, investigatory content, sealing or expungement, and other statutes can support a lawful redaction or withholding. The custodian must identify the applicable basis and release reasonably segregable public material. If MADOC says an older MCI-Norfolk record does not exist, ask which schedule series it applied and whether Central Records searched the commitment number, old institution name, and approximate release year.

A record can also outlast the public locator. This is why an empty VINELink result and a retained MADOC file are not inconsistent. VINELink answers a current public custody question, while Central Records and the Records Access Officer handle the historical state transaction.

Verify MCI-Norfolk Parole Releases

Parole is conditional release governed by the Massachusetts Parole Board. A published decision may say granted, denied, deferred, rescinded, or another outcome. A grant is not necessarily the date the person walked out of MCI-Norfolk. An approved plan, conditions, a detainer, later rescission, and processing can affect the actual exit.

Use the Parole Board’s hearing and decision resources to identify the decision where public, then use the appropriate regional reentry center for current routing. Massachusetts has no open general-purpose statewide parolee name search. The MADOC release transaction remains the best proof of physical custody ending, while the parole record explains the supervision path.

The sentencing docket provides the legal structure. It may show the sentence, jail credit, later orders, or modifications, but it may not record the exact physical exit time. Compare the docket with the state release transaction instead of treating either source as complete by itself. The Norfolk County released inmate records path provides the wider agency-by-agency distinction when the original custodian is uncertain.

MCI-Norfolk Projected Release Dates

MADOC’s public VINELink instructions do not document a person-result field called “Projected Release Date” or “Tentative Release Date.” ERD is the earliest date a person may be eligible for release, including parole eligibility and deductions that may be earned. ERD Max looks to the maximum date of the controlling sentence and includes qualifying deductions while excluding parole eligibility. Neither is an unconditional promise.

Massachusetts does not impose a blanket rule that every state prisoner serves exactly 85 percent. Earned deductions are individualized under G.L. c. 127, section 129D, and sentence events can change the calculation. Loss or restoration of credits, a new sentence, a court order, a detainer, a parole decision, or an administrative review can alter the expected date.

Request the actual calculation sheet when a displayed or reported date changes. A court sentence end date, parole eligibility date, release-to-supervision date, ERD, ERD Max, and final discharge date can all differ for valid reasons.

Note: A projected date helps with planning, but only the final MADOC release transaction proves an MCI-Norfolk custody exit.

MCI-Norfolk Facility Contact

MCI-Norfolk’s official facility page identifies the active medium-security institution and its MADOC contact. The source page is also the correct place to check current facility notices before making an operational call.

The official MCI-Norfolk page confirms the facility identity and contact information.

The image helps distinguish MCI-Norfolk from the county correctional center in Dedham. Release and sentence records still belong with MADOC, not the Norfolk County Sheriff.

Old Norfolk Prison Release Records

Norfolk County contains two active MADOC institutions: MCI-Norfolk and Pondville Correctional Center. Old search results may also mention MCI-Cedar Junction or Bay State Correctional Center. MCI-Cedar Junction ended its prisoner operations in June 2023, and Bay State stopped holding prisoners years earlier. Neither should be treated as a current facility locator.

A historical release record may still name one of those closed institutions. Send that inquiry to MADOC Central Records with the old facility name, approximate dates, and known commitment number. The historical name is useful for locating the record, but it does not create a separate current search system. The MADOC location directory is the best check for active institutions.

This local distinction prevents an old “Norfolk” result from being misrouted to NCSO or to the current MCI-Norfolk phone line. Central state records, the sentencing docket, and parole material remain the proper historical chain.