The Detention Center
Bristol County House of Correction / Pre-Release Facility
- Operated byBristol County Sheriff's Office
- Office address400 Faunce Corner Road, North Dartmouth, MA 02747
- Phone(508) 995-6400
Source: Bristol County Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ―Who is in custody — not scored, the county names a page for this that could not be read
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ―What it costs taxpayers — not scored, the county names a page for this that could not be read
- ―Deaths in custody — not scored, the county names a page for this that could not be read
- ―PREA audits — not scored, the county names a page for this that could not be read
- ―Independent inspection — not scored, the county names a page for this that could not be read
- ―Who else it holds, and for how much — not scored, the county names a page for this that could not be read
- ―How to post bond — not scored, the county names a page for this that could not be read
- ―Phone, video and commissary rates — not scored, the county names a page for this that could not be read
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Paul Heroux
- 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 governmentStill a governmental unit. Bristol County Commissioners.
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Bristol County Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-09-20
The Judges
Not found
Bristol County Circuit Court
- Not found
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
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.
- The boardBristol County Commissioners →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- The Sheriff's Office publishes dated daily custody totals on its own front page, broken out by facility. On 14 September 2026 it recorded 252 people held pre-trial and 242 sentenced at the Dartmouth facility.
- Most of the site is built in a way an automated reader cannot enter, so several checks could not be judged and are recorded as not scored rather than as no.
- The Department of Public Health inspected this facility and published its report on 26 February 2025, for three facilities — the jail and house of correction, the Women's Center and the modular building. The county's own site does not link it.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Bristol County and what it costs the people who live here. Nationally, almost 77% of the people who died in local jails in 2019 had not been convicted of anything, and suicide was the leading single cause of those deaths (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Mortality in Local Jails, 2000–2019).
How much is your sheriff — and your judge — costing you?
Your VOTE is POWERFUL.
The sheriff who runs this jail is elected, to a six-year term. In eight counties there is no county board to elect at all.
Names verified 2026-09-20 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered