Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title XVIII Chapter 125
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 125, § 1 (2026)

Definitions

✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 1. As used in this chapter and elsewhere in the general laws, unless the context otherwise requires, the following words shall have the following meanings:

(a) ''administrator'', chief administrative officer of a county correctional facility;

(b) ''commissioner'', the commissioner of correction;

(c) ''committed offender'', a person convicted of a crime and committed, under sentence, to a correctional facility;

(d) ''correctional facility'', any building, enclosure, space or structure used for the custody, control and rehabilitation of committed offenders and of such other persons as may be placed in custody therein in accordance with law;

(e) ''correctional institution'', correctional facility;

(f) ''county correctional facility'', any correctional facility owned, operated, administered or subject to the control of a county of the commonwealth;

(g) ''department'', the department of correction;

(h) ''gainful employment'', employment within or without any correctional facility including but not limited to labor for the operation and maintenance of any correctional facility;

(i) ''inmate'', a committed offender or such other person as is placed in custody in a correctional facility in accordance with law;

(j) ''institution'', facility;

(k) ''penal institution'', correctional facility;

(l) ''prison'', correctional facility;

(m) ''prisoner'', a committed offender and such other person as is placed in custody in a correctional facility in accordance with law;

(n) ''state correctional facility'', any correctional facility owned, operated, administered or subject to the control of the department of correction, including but not limited to: Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Cedar Junction; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Norfolk; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Framingham; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Plymouth; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Warwick; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Monroe;

(o) ''state prison'', any prison owned, operated, administered or subject to the control of the department of correction including, but not limited to: Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Cedar Junction; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Norfolk; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Framingham; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Plymouth; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Warwick; and Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Monroe;

(p) ''superintendent'', the chief administrative officer of a state correctional facility.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 36 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1958–2023 · leading case: Commonwealth v. Gillis, 861 N.E.2d 422 (Mass. 2007).
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Commonwealth v. Gillis, 861 N.E.2d 422 (Mass. 2007). · cites it 4× “We recognize that G. L. c. 125, § 1 (m), defines a prisoner potentially more broadly as “a committed offender and such other person as is placed in custody in a correctional facility in accordance with law.”
Commonwealth v. Donohue, 892 N.E.2d 718 (Mass. 2008). · cites it 5× “11 However, the judge continued, Donohue’s personal residence was neither a “correctional facility,” as defined in G. L. c. 125, § 1 (d), nor a “community release facility,” as defined in 103 Code Mass.”
MacDougall v. Commonwealth, 852 N.E.2d 1080 (Mass. 2006). · cites it 5× “276, § 52A, because it was not authorized by an order of a judge in the Superior Court, and because it was a transfer to the “state prison” (see G. L. c. 125, § 1 [o], “state prison” defined as “Cedar Junction”), rather than to a “correctional institution of the commonwealth.”
Commonwealth v. Graham, 445 N.E.2d 1043 (Mass. 1983). · cites it 2× “G.L.c. 125, § 1 ( o ). Thus, G.L.c. 218, § 27, bars imposition by the District Courts of sentences to M.”
Vining v. Commonwealth, 828 N.E.2d 576 (Mass. App. Ct. 2005). · cites it 2× “” See G. L. c. 125, § 1. 6 Moreover, the Legislature has made clear that the Act supersedes any contradictory law.”
McNeil v. Comm'r of Corr., 633 N.E.2d 399 (Mass. 1994). · cites it 2× “G. L. c. 125, § 1 (c) (1992 ed.) (defining “committed offender” as “a person convicted of a crime and committed, under sentence, to a correctional facility”).”
Commonwealth v. Raposo, 905 N.E.2d 545 (Mass. 2009). “119, § 52 (“[y]outhful offender”); G. L. c. 125, § 1 (c) (“committed offender”).”
Souza v. Sheriff of Bristol Cnty., 455 Mass. 573 (Mass. 2010). · cites it 2× “G. L. c. 125, §§ 1, 14. The commissioner is charged with the establishment, maintenance, and administration of all State correctional institutions, and must “establish and enforce standards for all [Sjtate correctional facilities.”
Massachusetts Prisoners Ass'n Political Action Comm. v. Acting Governor, 435 Mass. 811 (Mass. 2002). “” G. L. c. 125, § 1 (d), (l). “Prisons, by definition, are places of involuntary confinement of persons who have a demonstrated proclivity for anti-social criminal, and often violent, conduct.”
Commonwealth v. Gardner, 106 N.E.3d 642 (Mass. 2018). · cites it 5× “" The Commonwealth suggests that the all-purpose definition of "prisoner" is contained in G. L. c. 125, § 1 ( m ), which defines that term as "a committed offender and such other person as is placed in custody in a correctional **557 facility in accordance with law.”
Newton v. Comm'r of the Dep't of Youth Servs., 62 Mass. App. Ct. 343 (Mass. App. Ct. 2004). “However, G. L. c. 125, § 1, as inserted by St. 1972, c.”
Commonwealth v. Allen, 903 N.E.2d 231 (Mass. App. Ct. 2009). “Indeed, the Supreme Judicial Court has held that the definition of “prisoner” contained in G. L. c. 125, § 1 (m), as appearing in St.”
Show all 36 citing cases →
— Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 125, § 1(d) — 2 cases
Commonwealth v. Clay, 837 N.E.2d 725 (Mass. App. Ct. 2005).
Commonwealth v. Porter, 87 Mass. App. Ct. 676 (Mass. App. Ct. 2015).
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