Massachusetts plans to close MCI-Concord, the state’s oldest prison for men, as the statewide prison population continues to decline, reports The Associated Press. The announcement comes as a report from the Boston Foundation showed that Massachusetts nearly halved its incarceration rate in the past decade. Shuttering the facility will save the state about $16 million a year. "It’s at the lowest point it has been in 35 years,” Gov. Maura Healey said. The prison is only at about half-capacity and would need extensive repairs if it were kept open, said state Sen. Jamie Eldridge, and could close as early as June. The approximately 400 prisoners will move to other prisons. “If there was going to be a prison closed in Mass, MCI Concord was the one,” Eldridge said. He pointed to the state's efforts to reduce recidivism as the cause for a declining inmate population, such as decriminalizing some minors offenses and increasing provisions that would keep people out of the criminal justice system.
Eldridge also said that the money saved could be invested in stopping incarceration at the source, reports The Boston Globe. “That $15 million shouldn’t just be taxpayer savings, we should be investing that into communities disproportionately affected by mass incarceration," he said. "That’s how you decrease incarceration even further, and create a more just system.” Healey also said that closing the facility opens up the possibility to repurpose the property for housing, though she declined to say what she envisions.