Hope is growing in Hampden County — and it's rooted in something unexpected: trees. Jose Hernandez, was recently released from the care and custody of the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office. But unlike many returning citizens, Jose isn’t facing the uncertainty of reentry alone. Thanks to the Arborist Apprenticeship Program offered through the Hampden County Sheriff's Office, he already has a job lined up with the City of Springfield as a tree specialist. He’s one of hundreds who have gone...

This March, the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office unveiled a game changer in the way we think about older inmates' incarceration conditions, across the country. The office debuted the Older Adult Re-Entry (OAR) unit within the jail, for those in custody who are 55 and older, which makes up about 10 percent of the Middlesex jail's population. Staff noticed these inmates have different needs than others who get released into the community. That’s when the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office created a...

The Middlesex Sheriff’s Office has become the first Sheriff’s Office in the Commonwealth to install a naloxone vending machine, making...