Press Release  Framingham Community Corrections Center’s grand opening to take place January 17

Boston — The grand opening of the Framingham Community Corrections Center will take place Friday, January 17, 10 am, at the center’s 7,800-square foot facility located at 298 Howard Street, Suite 100, in Framingham.

The event will feature remarks by the Massachusetts Senate President, Trial Court officials and representatives from local government and community organizations. A tour of the facility will follow.  Among those scheduled to attend are Massachusetts Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland), Probation Commissioner Edward J. Dolan, and Massachusetts Trial Court Chief Justice Paula Carey, Trial Court Administrator Jonathan Williams, Framingham District Court First Justice David W. Cunis, and Vincent Marturano, President/CEO, Social Services Network, Inc.

One of 18 centers across the state, the Framingham Center will offer clients counseling, drug testing, and the opportunity to study for the Hi-Set exam, the high school equivalency degree. The center also supports Probation as a venue for thousands of visits per year by probationers and for check-in during evening hours, drug and alcohol screening and pretrial services. The Office of Community Corrections is working in partnership with Social Services Network, Inc., which manages the site. 

“Everyone deserves a chance to succeed and with the opening of the Framingham Office of Community Corrections those in our criminal justice system will have an outlet and resources to do so. Thanks to this new Community Corrections Center, this vulnerable population will have access to education and employment supports as well as mental health and substance use treatment programs to help improve their lives,” said Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland).

“The Framingham OCC opening marks the addition of an important resource to the work of the Trial Court and the Massachusetts Probation Service in serving the supervision, rehabilitation and public safety needs of the greater Framingham community. The Center provides a critical service hub for a variety of criminal justice populations including Probation pre trial, sentenced and reentry caseloads but also paroled and DOC and HOC discharge populations,” said Massachusetts Probation Service Commissioner Edward J. Dolan.

The Framingham site opened last summer. It houses the Averhealth Probation Testing site and serve as an after-hours reporting site for the Electronic Monitoring Program. The center will play a role the Recovery and Veteran Court teams. The Framingham Center also offers transportation and is centrally located. It is 1.5 miles from the court, one block from the commuter rail station, and is in the same complex as the Department of Transitional Assistance. It is also in the same two –block radius as several social service agencies.

Vincent Lorenti, Office of Community Corrections Center Director, said of the upcoming grand opening, “The Community Corrections Centers are about making the community stronger. This center will make a difference in Framingham by giving people that come before the court-- because of bad decision making and struggles with substance use disorder-- the opportunity to change their lives through treatment, education, employment, and accountability. The centers will help the courts, probation, parole, Department of Corrections, and sheriff's departments collaborate to address the needs of those in the criminal justice system so that they can be a vibrant part of Framingham and surrounding communities.”

OCC, according to Lorenti, is planning to open a new and 19^th center in the Franklin County area this year.

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