Southbridge, MA — The state Department of Correction is lowering the minimum age requirement to become an officer from 21 to 19 in hopes of expanding recruitment while the workforce continues to confront dangerous conditions.
Officials announced the age adjustment as the officers’ union slammed the department for reaching a financial settlement of over $6 million with prisoners who violently assaulted staffers at Souza-Baranowski, the state’s maximum-security prison in Shirley.