Hampden County, Massachusetts — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Hampden County Jail; Western Mass Regional Women's Correctional Center; Stonybrook

Operated byHampden County Sheriff's Office
Office address627 Randall Road, Ludlow, MA 01056
Phone(413) 858-0000

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

Transparency rating

3/10Closed

✓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 — not published
✓Phone, video and commissary rates

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Hampden 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

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Nicholas Cocchi

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.

Still needed

Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail

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

The Judges

Not found

Hampden County Circuit Court

Not found

Still needed

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.
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

Notes on the record

Massachusetts abolished this county's government. The sheriff and the house of correction are managed by the state Executive Office of Public Safety and funded by the Legislature; there is no county board.
The Sheriff's Office publishes the fullest Prison Rape Elimination Act record found anywhere on this site: its policy document, ten annual data reports covering 2015 through 2024, and ten audit reports across three facilities.
It also publishes a deposit fee table in actual dollars — $2.95 for a card deposit under $20, $6.95 by telephone, $3.00 at the lobby kiosk. Telephone call rates and commissary prices are not published.
The research page carries release reports going back to 2006 and recidivism studies going back to 2005. It carries no population count, no capacity figure and no budget.
The page headed Bids for Goods and Services carries background about a 2016 statute and a link to the Inspector General. No solicitation or contract is posted on it.
The Department of Public Health inspected this facility and published its report on during 2026. The county's own site does not link it.

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Hampden 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