OWNERSHIP
CONDITONS
CONTEXT
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
DESIGN ISSUES
SOCIAL ISSUES
PLANNING PROCESSES
TESTIMONIES

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OWNERSHIP:
State of Massachusetts -- Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM).
(The State plans for the Department of Corrections to use the site for a new Boston Pre-Release Center)

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CONDITIONS:
The site is on Canterbury Road, much of which has been closed to traffic in recent years, and is situated next door the Judge Connelly Youth Center -- a State-run Department of Youth Services (DYS) facility for juvenile detainees. Before construction began, this site was part of what the Boston Natural Areas Network calls "Canterbury II urban wild," which is just upland of a Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) parking lot and the Greenleaf Compost operation.

As of winter of 2002, DCAMM had carried out remediation in preparation for the building of the new Boston Pre-Release Center. The land has been cleared of all vegetation. Evidence of the remediation work is found in an infiltration system consisting of a large bowl in the land that is covered with rocks. The new Pre-Release Center opened its doors on October 31, 2003. It received its re-accreditation in May 2003 by the Commission of Accreditation for Corrections (ACA). The Center's Health Service Unit is also accredited by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC).

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CONTEXT:
The former Boston Pre-Release Center -- a 100-bed State-run low-security Department of Corrections facility -- was relocated from the western campus of the Boston State Hospital site to the Canterbury parcel. Future plans for the State Hospital site do not include the Pre-Release Center.

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ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES:
According to remediation expert John O'Donnell from the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM), fill material that was dumped on this site had elevated concentrations of several toxic compounds. In 2001, in response to this problem, DCAMM carried out a $1 million remediation effort next to the future site of the Pre-Release Center. They created a bowl in the land and an infiltration system for the water. DCAMM is responsible for this remediation under the Massachusetts Contingency Plan through the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

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DESIGN ISSUES:
Community members living on the Walk Hill side of Canterbury Street have protested the original plan that the prison would be accessed by Walk Hill Street as opposed to Morton Street. In January 2002, the State agreed that the facility would be accessed from Morton Street, where there are no residences, and not by Canterbury Street, which is in the vicinity of a neighborhood.

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SOCIAL ISSUES:
One youth advocate from Lena Park Community Development Corporation expressed concern about having the two detaining facilities so physically close to one another such that young detainees could come in contact with adult law offenders.

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PLANNING PROCESSES:
Plans for the new 150-bed, $12.5 million, 45,460-square-foot facility with 76 parking spaces were in development for a decade, but residents were unaware of these plans. DCAMM owns and controls the 20-acre property, 4.8 acres of which would be dedicated to the new facility. Legislation passed in 1998 allocated money for the construction.

Surrounding communities were not made aware of this decision until after plans had been made and construction had begun. At a January 2002 meeting, community members expressed concern about more traffic coming through on Walk Hill Road and about a concentration of inmates who are free to move in and out of the surrounding communities for work. Community members were also upset about not having a say in where the facility is placed. There was talk of building the facility at the Morton Street side of Canterbury, which would have been preferable to many residents, but the State abandoned this idea in favor of having it right next to the DYS facility.

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TESTIMONIES:
"Kids will look across the way at the adult prison and figure they've seen their future" (James Hill, Lena Park Community Liaison from Dorchester).

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