Press Release  Grand Opening of Woburn Community Corrections Center

Woburn, MA — The Massachusetts Probation Service and Bay State Community Services hosted a Grand Opening for its new Woburn Community Corrections Center, located at Tower Office Park, Suite 55, recently. The new 18,000 square foot center, which will also provide transportation service, is in close proximity to two courthouses, the Woburn District and Middlesex Superior courts.

Probation Commissioner Edward J. Dolan, Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Ralph Gants, Chief Justice Paula Carey, and Woburn District Court First Justice Marianne Hinkle addressed the Woburn center audience at the opening. Among those in attendance were Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan; State Representatives Michelle Ciccolo and Richard Haggerty; Woburn Police Chief Robert Rufo; Chief Counsel Anthony Bennedetti; and Deputy Chief Counsel Randy Gioia from the Committee for Public Counsel Services CPCS. 

One of 17 centers statewide, the Woburn center is designed to serve more than 300 individuals each year. Those who are sent to the Woburn Community Corrections Center will receive counseling, drug testing, and may study for their Hi-Set, the high school equivalency degree. The center will also support 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 (OCC) is working in partnership with Bay State Community Services which will manage the site. OCC is a division of the Massachusetts Probation Service.

“The collaboration is in line with the various contributions that are made to this work,” said Probation Commissioner Edward J. Dolan.

“We believe in this community. We believe in the City of Woburn and we believe we can have an impact on the City of Woburn by changing the lives of people that come before the court because of poor decision making and struggles with substance use disorder,” said Vincent Lorenti, OCC Director.

Lorenti said staff is working to make the center’s services “innovative and motivational by engaging in Evidence Based Practices like cognitive behavioral treatment.”

He added, “We want to help people address their substance use disorder and their decision making. To be innovative, we will use cognitive behavioral treatment like MRT (Moral Reconation Therapy) and technology-assisted care. Clients will be able to work through a computer program and do it remotely. To be motivational we will acknowledge their good choices and help them make good choices by mastering skills.” 

Moral Reconation Therapy or MRT seeks to decrease recidivism among both juvenile and adult criminal offenders by increasing their moral reasoning. 

From left to right: Vincent Lorenti, Director of the Office of Community Corrections (OCC); State Representative Richard M. Haggerty; Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court Ralph Gants; State Representative Michelle Ciccolo; and Probation Commissioner Edward J. Dolan.

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