Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Cedar Junction


The Massachusetts Correctional Institution—Cedar Junction, formerly known as MCI-Walpole, is a maximum security prison with an average daily population of approximately 800 adult male inmates under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Department of Correction. It was opened in 1956 to replace Charlestown State Prison, the oldest prison in the nation at that time. MCI-Cedar Junction is one of two maximum security prisons for male offenders in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
MCI-Cedar Junction also houses the Departmental Disciplinary Unit. During the 1970s, Cedar Junction was one of the most violent prisons in the United States. It is located on both sides of the line between the towns of Walpole and Norfolk, and has a South Walpole mailing address.
In 1955, Richard Cardinal Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, built Our Lady of the Ransom Chapel at the center of the prison. As of June 2009, MCI-Cedar Junction serves as the reception and diagnostic center, which receives all new male court commitments for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Department of Correction.

Uprising

In 1973, after the Attica Prison riot, a branch of the National Prisoner Reform Association was established. The NPRA, which became the prisoners' legitimate representative, organised committees which ran the prison for three months, monitored by neutral civilian observers and other volunteers from local communities. During that time the murder rate in Walpole fell from the highest in the country to zero. The strike ended in the prisoners' favor as the superintendent of the prison resigned. The prisoners were granted more visitation rights and work programs.

Notable inmates