Berkshire County

The Detention Center

Berkshire County Jail and House of Correction

• Operated byBerkshire County Sheriff's Office
• Office address467 Cheshire Road, Pittsfield, MA 01201
• Phone(413) 443-7220

Source: Berkshire County Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-09-20

• ✓The jail is named
• ✗Who is in custody — not published
• ✗Beds and daily population — not published
• ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
• ✗Deaths in custody — not published
• ✓PREA audits
• ✗Independent inspection — not published
• ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
• ✓How to post bond
• ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Berkshire County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-09-20. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

The Building

You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.

• Year builtNot found
• Original costNot found
• Paid for byState appropriation through the Legislature
• BedsNot found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Thomas N. Bowler

• Runs the jailYes — the sheriff has custody and control of the jail and house of correction (MGL ch. 126 § 16)
• How the office is filledElected county sheriff, six-year term (MGL ch. 37 § 1)
• County governmentAbolished. The sheriff and the house of correction are managed by the state Executive Office of Public Safety. There is no county board.

Source: Berkshire County Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-09-20

The Judges

Not found

Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-09-20

The Legislature, and in six counties a county board

The state pays for the jail. The elected sheriff runs it.

• What they controlThe appropriation. Massachusetts abolished county government in eight of the fourteen counties — Berkshire, Essex, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Middlesex, Suffolk and Worcester — and their sheriffs and houses of correction are managed by the state Executive Office of Public Safety and funded by the Legislature. Six counties still function as governmental units: Barnstable (as Cape Cod Regional Government), Bristol, Dukes, Nantucket, Norfolk and Plymouth.
• What they don'tDay-to-day operations. The sheriff is separately elected to a six-year term (MGL ch. 37 § 1) and has custody and control of the jail, the prisoners and the staff (MGL ch. 126 § 16). The Department of Public Health inspects the facilities and publishes the reports.
• NoteMassachusetts abolished this county's government. There is no county board. The Legislature appropriates the jail's money and the state Executive Office of Public Safety manages the office.
• The boardNo county government
• Where the jail money is decidedNot found