Inside Souza-Baranowski: The 2020 Attack, Lawsuit, and Reforms

The Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center is Massachusetts’s only maximum-security prison, located at 1671 Shirley Road on the Lancaster-Shirley line. It opened on September 30, 1998, at a cost of $105 million, holds more than 1,000 maximum-security cells, and serves as the Department of Correction’s reception and diagnostic center for every newly incarcerated man entering DOC custody.¹² Since it opened, the facility has been the site of riots, inmate homicides, high-profile deaths, federal civil rights investigations, and a class-action settlement that reshaped how Massachusetts uses force behind prison walls.

Who the Prison Is Named For

The facility takes its name from James R. Souza and Alfred J. Baranowski, two prison workers killed on July 31, 1972, at Norfolk State Prison. Souza was a 29-year-old corrections officer with six years on the job. Baranowski was a 54-year-old civilian industrial instructor who had worked for the department for 20 years. Both were shot by an inmate whose wife had smuggled two guns into the visiting room. A third worker was shot but survived; the inmate killed his wife and himself after a five-hour standoff.³

Deaths and Violence Inside the Walls

Serious violence began almost immediately. Within a year of opening, the superintendent was stabbed by an inmate. Guards were injured in separate assaults in May 2001 and June 2012, and in November 2013 a guard was stabbed in the neck with a makeshift knife.⁴

In August 2003, defrocked Catholic priest John Geoghan, a central figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal, was strangled in his cell by another inmate who jammed the cell door shut to keep guards out. His killing prompted a leadership shake-up within the DOC and drew scrutiny to how vulnerable prisoners were being placed in maximum security.⁵ The same month, two prisoners beat a 72-year-old murder convict to death.⁴

In 2014, white supremacist Keith Luke died by suicide at the prison. That same year, 72-year-old inmate William Sires was ambushed and beaten to death in a closed cell after a corrections officer remotely shut the cell door on another inmate’s request without confirming who was inside. Three inmates were convicted for their roles.⁵

On April 19, 2017, former NFL player Aaron Hernandez, serving a life sentence for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, was found dead in his cell around 3 a.m. after hanging himself with a bedsheet.⁴ Earlier that year, a dispute between two gang members grew into a riot involving 46 prisoners. They destroyed property, smashed sprinklers and cameras, and turned furniture and fire extinguishers into weapons before a special operations unit used pepper spray to regain control.⁶

The January 2020 Attack and the Lockdown That Followed

On January 10, 2020, a group of inmates attacked corrections officers at SBCC, seriously injuring four and sending them to the hospital. As of February 2020, only one had returned to work. A Worcester County grand jury returned 109 indictments against 16 inmates under a joint venture theory, charging assault and battery causing serious bodily injury and assault and battery on a corrections officer, with several defendants also facing aggravated kidnapping and assault with a dangerous weapon.⁷

The prison was placed on lockdown until February 6, 2020.⁸ What happened during those four weeks became the subject of years of federal litigation. Inmates who were not involved in the initial attack alleged that officers and tactical teams carried out what one federal complaint described as a “violent, weekslong retribution campaign.” The allegations included beatings, kicking, eye-gouging, smashing faces into walls, stun guns, pepper ball guns, chemical agents, and K-9 dog bites. Officers were said to have worn “Punisher” skull decals on their helmets, and inmates were forced to kneel for hours in stress positions while shackled at the hands and ankles.⁹ Black and Latino prisoners alleged they were specifically targeted, with dreadlocks and braids ripped out and racist slurs directed at them.¹⁰

The Diggs v. Mici Class Action and $6.75 Million Settlement

In January 2022, Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts and Hogan Lovells filed a federal class action, Diggs v. Mici (No. 4:22-cv-40003), in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The complaint brought Eighth Amendment excessive force claims and equal protection claims on behalf of a subclass of Black and Latino inmates, naming participating officers, senior DOC officials, and former Commissioner Carol Mici.¹¹¹⁰

On September 30, 2024, Judge Margaret R. Guzman certified two classes: a broad class of everyone subjected to uses of force at SBCC between January 10 and February 6, 2020, and a damages subclass of the Black and Latino individuals subjected to force in the same period. On May 21, 2025, the DOC announced a $6.75 million settlement covering roughly 150 current and former inmates. Class representatives received $25,000 incentive payments, the average payout was about $38,591, and individual distributions ran between $10,000 and $40,000. Judge Guzman granted final approval on October 24, 2025, and the court retained jurisdiction to enforce the terms.¹¹¹²

No corrections officers were criminally charged in connection with the 2020 events.¹² Separately, in January 2026, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office charged two SBCC officers with allegedly beating an inmate serving a murder sentence. Both were suspended.¹³

Reforms Required by the Settlement

The settlement required the DOC to make a series of operational changes at SBCC, some of which the department said it had begun before the agreement was finalized.

The DOC amended its use-of-force regulations for the first time since 2009, adding enhanced de-escalation training, a duty to intervene, clearer restraint guidance, and a prohibition on stress positions such as forced kneeling while shackled.¹⁴
Activation of the Special Operations Response Unit now requires the Commissioner’s approval and automatically triggers a video response team. Officers found to have used excessive force must be removed from the unit and barred from reapplying for three years, and SORU members must wear highly visible nametags.¹⁴
Patrol canines are restricted to major disorder situations, must be muzzled, and require the Commissioner’s approval to deploy.¹⁵
Officers must record critical incidents on body-worn cameras, including assaults, uses of force, suicide attempts, and escalating interactions. Failure to record triggers progressive discipline.¹⁴
A Professional Standards Unit reporting directly to the Commissioner now investigates staff misconduct, an anonymous tipline lets employees report problems, and diversity and implicit bias training is mandatory at the academy and in annual staff training. Incarcerated people now self-report their racial identities during booking.¹⁵

Solitary Confinement Under Different Names

Massachusetts’s 2018 Criminal Justice Reform Act limited restrictive housing to six months, but advocates and some legislators argue the DOC circumvented the law by creating new units under different names. The Secure Adjustment Unit at SBCC and Behavioral Assessment Units at SBCC and other facilities are described by critics as functionally indistinguishable from solitary confinement.¹⁶

Inmates in the SAU at SBCC report very limited out-of-cell time. One described receiving two and a half hours per day: 90 minutes in an outdoor “cage” of 200 to 300 square feet with no sky visibility, and one hour inside while handcuffed to a table. Inmates also report being cut off from educational programs, reentry services, and phone calls, and say the required 90-day progress reviews rarely happen.¹⁶

Elosko Brown, charged in the January 2020 attack, was placed in isolated housing afterward and remained there four years later, moved from the Department Disciplinary Unit at MCI-Cedar Junction into the SAU at SBCC. In October 2023, Brown and at least 18 other men in the SAU launched a hunger strike and petitioned the Attorney General to investigate.¹⁷ In January 2024, the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security heard testimony from incarcerated people over video conference for the first time in legislative history.¹⁶ Conditions inside the SAU and BAUs at SBCC are the subject of a separate class action, Evelyn v. Jenkins, filed in Suffolk County Superior Court. The class was certified on April 15, 2025, and represents roughly 200 prisoners.¹⁸

Suicides and Federal Mental Health Oversight

Six inmates died by suicide in Massachusetts prisons in 2025, up from zero the year before. Three were housed in Behavioral Assessment Units at MCI-Norfolk and SBCC, and a fourth died the day after being transferred out of a BAU. All three deaths inside BAUs involved hanging by bedsheets from window bars.¹⁹ An apparent suicide was reported at SBCC on November 2, 2025.²⁰ As of March 2026, the DOC was investigating another apparent suicide at SBCC on March 6, 2026.²¹

An independent review by clinical psychologist Dr. Sharen Barboza, released in January 2026, found that mental health contacts in BAUs often lasted less than one minute, described the units as “non-therapeutic,” and identified BAU placement and synthetic cannabinoid (K-2) use as key factors in the deaths.¹⁸ Investigators also found unsecured electrical cords in BAU cells, a hazard federal standards require to be removed for inmates in mental health crisis.¹⁹

The DOC issued a 22-point response plan. It set up an after-hours wellness hotline that took 172 calls between January and early April 2026, equipped clinicians with tablets for real-time health record access, began diverting K-2-intoxicated inmates to detox units rather than BAUs, vacated the upper floors of the MCI-Norfolk BAU, and set minimum lengths for clinical contacts. Commissioner Shawn Jenkins said BAUs are not punitive.²¹

The DOC has been operating under a separate federal agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice since December 2022, reached after a DOJ investigation concluded that conditions for prisoners in mental health crisis violated the Eighth Amendment. The agreement calls for revised mental health watch protocols, competency-based suicide prevention training, annual staffing plans, and at least three daily out-of-cell mental health contacts within one year.²² As of March 2026, the DOC had reached substantial compliance with only 51 of the agreement’s 125 provisions, and a court-appointed monitor reported it was “not possible” for the prisons to meet year-end compliance deadlines.¹⁹

Recent Incidents

On September 18, 2024, three inmates attacked corrections officers in a separate incident. Prosecutors alleged that Jose Crespo, already serving life, hid in a cell doorway and repeatedly stabbed Officer Stephen Adams in the back, chest, and neck with a sharp bladed instrument. Jeffrey Tapia, also serving life, allegedly jumped on Adams and held him down, and Heriberto Rivera-Negron allegedly ran from a recreation area to join in. All three pleaded not guilty at their January 23, 2025 arraignment and were held without bail by Judge Karin Bell.²³²⁴

On October 3, 2025, an inmate died after a medical emergency. Staff administered life-saving measures and called 911, but the individual was pronounced dead. Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the Worcester County District Attorney’s office opened an investigation, and the DOC’s preliminary finding was that the death was health-related.²⁵

1
SouthCoastToday. New Prison Opens in Shirley
2
Mass.gov. Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center
3
Telegram & Gazette. Souza-Baranowski Prison: A Tribute to Two Slain Prison Workers
4
CBS News. Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center Has Had Share of Troubles
5
WGBH News. A Murder in Souza Prison Highlights Hazards for Older Inmates
6
MassLive. Violent History Plagues Shirley Prison
7
Worcester County District Attorney’s Office. 16 Souza Inmates Indicted in Attack on Officers
8
MassLive. Agreement Reached in Lawsuit Over Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center Assault
9
Telegram & Gazette. Souza-Baranowski Prisoner Abuse Settlement
10
Hogan Lovells. Hogan Lovells Represents Souza-Baranowski Prisoners in Class Action Lawsuit
11
Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. Diggs v. Mici
12
WBUR. Massachusetts Souza Prison Violence Settlement
13
Telegram & Gazette. Souza-Baranowski Prison Guards Charged With Beating Convicted Murderer
14
Mass.gov. Massachusetts Department of Correction Reaches Agreement in Class Action Lawsuit
15
Corrections1. Mass. to Pay $6.75M to 160 Inmates, Implement Reforms After Lawsuit
16
Bolts Magazine. Massachusetts Solitary Confinement
17
Massachusetts Legal Aid and Counseling. Reforms to Solitary Confinement Just Renamed, Massachusetts
18
Prison Legal News. Spike in Massachusetts Prisoner Suicides Blamed on Isolation, K-2, and Spotty Mental Healthcare
19
MassLive. Photos Reveal Stark Isolation Inside Mass. Prison Units Tied to Suicides
20
Prisoners’ Legal Services. Answers Demanded After Rash of Unexpected Deaths in Mass. Prisons
21
Boston Globe. Mass. DOC Prison Suicides
22
U.S. Department of Justice. MDOC Agreement
23
MassLive. 3 Souza-Baranowski Inmates Pleaded Not Guilty Following September Prison Fight
24
WHDH. Inmates Charged in Souza Prison Attack Appear in Court
25
Boston 25 News. Death of Inmate at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center Under Investigation