Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 123A, § 2A (2026)

Transfer to a correctional institution; provision of voluntary treatment services

✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 2A. An individual committed as sexually dangerous and who has also been sentenced for a criminal offense and said sentence has not expired may be transferred from the treatment center to another correctional institution designated by the commissioner of correction. In determining whether a transfer to a correctional institution is appropriate the commissioner of correction may consider the following factors:

(1) the person's unamenability to treatment;

(2) the person's unwillingness or failure to follow treatment recommendations;

(3) the person's lack of progress in treatment at the center or branch thereof;

(4) the danger posed by the person to other residents or staff at the Treatment Center or branch thereof;

(5) the degree of security necessary to protect the public.

The department of correction shall promulgate regulations establishing a transfer board and procedures governing transfer, including notification of hearing, opportunity to be heard, written decision notification of decision, opportunity for appeal, and periodic review of placement.

The commissioner of correction shall make available to the remanded individuals a program of voluntary treatment services. An annual review shall be conducted of the current sexual dangerousness of each transferred individual and a report prepared which shall be admissible in a hearing under section nine of this chapter. Upon completion of said person's criminal sentence, he shall be returned to the treatment center and considered for participation in the community access program. Existing civil commitments to the treatment center shall not be vacated by the transfer to a correctional institution.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 1 case, 1996–1996 · leading case: Opinion of the Justices to the Senate, 668 N.E.2d 738 (Mass. 1996).
Opinion of the Justices to the Senate, 668 N.E.2d 738 (Mass. 1996). “The primary function of the statute now is the closing out of the system, see G. L. c. 123A, §§ 2A, 6A and 9, and, as before 1990, see Hill, petitioner, 422 Mass.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.