The Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office serves the citizens of Norfolk County and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by enhancing public safety through the operation of a safe, secure, and humane correctional facility that establishes structure and accountability for offenders and focuses on re-entry programs and community based programs that promote crime prevention, citizen awareness, education, youth development, elderly assistance and law enforcement support. These efforts are accomplished by a highly trained and dedicated workforce and through collaborative agreements with public and private stakeholders.
We accomplish our mission by:
Maintaining a safe, secure direct supervision correctional facility while upholding all national standards, laws, and judicial decisions
Exploring innovative and cost effective community correction alternatives to incarceration that ensures the efficiency of the Sheriff’s Office.
Pursuing the fair and equitable treatment of inmates while respecting the rights and dignity of all persons.
Creating a just and fair environment that encourages positive behavior from criminal offender.
Promoting education, treatment and social responsibility in an effort to successfully integrate criminal offenders to society.
Developing public safety initiatives, volunteer and support programs for the prevention of criminal activity and providing the community with the pertinent information.
EFFECTIVE CONTROL
The managers must be in total control of the facility at all times. There cannot be areas under de facto control of offenders.
EFFECTIVE SUPERVISION
Staff must be in direct contact with offenders and rely heavily on personal interaction with offenders for supervision. Manageable staff-offender ratios arc critical for effective supervision.
COMPETENT STAFF
Recruitment, training, and leadership by management are necessary for direct supervision to operate as intended.
SAFETY OF STAFF AND OFFENDERS
The basic mission of a jail is to keep offenders safe and secure and not expose staff to undue risk.
MANAGEABLE AND COST EFFECTIVE OPERATIONS
Running a less dangerous institution allows for more architectural options, at reduced cost, providing an incentive for offenders to maintain acceptable standards of behavior.
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Frequent communication between staff and offenders and among staff is critical.
CLASSIFICATION AND ORIENTATION
Offenders should be closely observed in the first 48 hours of confinement (when suicide risk is greatest) and oriented to the operation of the setting. A key to-being able to provide expectations of positive behavior is identifying and selecting out individuals who will not conform to behavior norms of the living unit.
JUSTICE AND FARINESS
Conditions of incarceration must respect inmates’ constitutional rights. Inmates must believe that they will be treated fairly and that there are administrative remedies for disputes.