Find Middleton Release Records

Middleton Release Paths

Middleton is the Essex County Sheriff’s Department’s primary medium-security jail and house of correction. It holds people awaiting trial as well as people serving county sentences. That mixed role matters. A pretrial detainee may leave after bail, personal recognizance, a court release order, a time-served disposition, or a transfer. A sentenced person may leave at sentence expiration, after earned deductions, to probation, to parole when eligible, or to another authority. The words “released from Middleton” identify the end of one location or custody status. They do not always mean an unrestricted return to the community.

The first question is where the person went. A move to the Essex County Pre-release and Re-entry Center in Lawrence or the Women in Transition Center in Salisbury stays within the ECSD system. Placement at Barnstable, transfer to the Massachusetts Department of Correction, delivery to another sheriff, or a federal handoff also leaves the person confined. If the record shows community release, check whether probation, parole, pretrial conditions, or another form of supervision follows. The ECSD release entry best identifies what happened at the jail. The court docket explains the legal order and later obligations.

Confirm a Middleton Release

ECSD does not publish a verified public current roster or recent-release feed. A missing online name is therefore not an affirmative Middleton release record. The reliable method starts with the person’s full name, the approximate custody dates, and a booking number if known. Search the Essex criminal docket by exact docket number when possible, then request the existing Offender Management System entry from ECSD. OMS is the sheriff’s record system. It contains booking and release data, including the release date and release type.

1. Identify Middleton as the actual custodian rather than assuming every Essex arrest reached the jail.
2. Ask ECSD for the booking number, admission date, releasing facility, actual release date and time, release type, and receiving agency if maintained.
3. Read the originating MassCourts docket for bail, disposition, sentence, presentence custody time, probation, warrants, and later orders.
4. If the entry shows a transfer, check the named receiving authority. Use the MA DOC route only for state prison custody.
5. For a community release, verify any parole or probation through the agency named in the court or release record.

The full Essex County search and record sequence appears on the Essex County released inmates page. That sequence separates county, state, federal, and immigration custody. It is especially useful when a Middleton OMS entry gives a receiving agency instead of a community destination.

Middleton Release Record Requests

The official ECSD public-record request channel is the route for a durable release or discharge entry. Address a focused request to the Records Access Officer. Ask for existing public and nonexempt portions of the OMS booking and release history for one person and a defined date range. Useful fields include the ECSD booking number, booking date, releasing facility, release date, release type, transfer destination, receiving agency, and the public court or mittimus reference. A mittimus is the court paper that directs the jailer to hold the person.

Do not ask ECSD to create a new analysis or calculate facts it does not maintain. Request electronic records and describe the custody period with care. Massachusetts public-record law generally calls for production or a written response within ten business days, though exemptions, fees, and a production plan may affect delivery. Private identifiers, medical material, victim information, active investigative details, sealed material, juvenile information, and security data may be withheld or redacted. The official request can still return the segregable release facts.

For an operational bail amount and the bail clerk, the sheriff’s instructions direct callers to Records at extension 3400. That call is different from a written request for a past release record.

Middleton Jail Custody Profile

The official Middleton facility page identifies a medium-security site that opened in 1991. ECSD’s 2024 annual report lists an average daily population of 847 at Middleton. That number is an annual operating measure, not today’s count or the facility’s rated capacity. The report also groups release events as safekeep, pretrial, and sentenced events. Those categories show why a total event count cannot be read as a count of unique people who entered the community.

The official facility view below shows Middleton’s identity and contact details. It does not function as a person roster or release list.

View the source on the Essex County Sheriff’s Department website.

The screenshot supports the facility name, location, contact, and role; release of a named person still requires the OMS and court confirmation path.

Middleton Bail Release Clock

Middleton publishes specific bail-processing instructions even though ECSD has no public release feed. Bail is processed nightly at 8 p.m., and the person posting bail must arrive by 6:30 p.m. The sheriff accepts cash up to the stated ceiling, a bank check, a money order, or an approved card payment, and requires identification. Records at extension 3400 provides the bail amount and clerk information. These facts describe a pretrial route. They do not predict sentence discharge.

A paid bail does not by itself prove that the person walked out. Staff must process the release, and another warrant, sentence, transfer order, or legal hold may change the destination. Match the court’s bail order to the ECSD actual release entry. When timing matters, ask what release type was entered and whether a receiving authority is listed. Do not treat the nightly schedule as a promise that every eligible person leaves at the same hour.

Operational records can close gaps between the court order and the OMS entry. The bail clerk information identifies the amount and clerk involved, while the booking number ties the event to the correct admission. If two Essex cases exist, check both dockets because a release order in one case may not resolve the other. A narrowly framed inquiry should ask whether processing was completed, whether another legal basis kept custody in place, and which authority received the person if no community exit occurred. These questions remain factual and avoid turning the posted schedule into an estimate.

Property and account funds follow their own process after custody ends. Pickup of belongings at Middleton and retrieval of account funds can support a practical timeline, but neither record replaces the release type. A family member may know that property was collected without knowing whether the person went to supervision or another agency. Keep the release entry, court action, property receipt, and funds transaction as separate records.

Note: The jail’s bail clock is an operating schedule, while the OMS release date and type are the custody record.

Middleton Release and ICE

An immigration detainer and an ECSD release are separate legal questions. In a published statement applying the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s Lunn decision, ECSD said state officials cannot hold a person past the otherwise lawful release point solely on a federal civil immigration detainer. The same event showed that federal officers may act at or after the county release. It would be wrong to call Middleton an ICE facility or to describe an ECSD release as guaranteed community freedom.

When the OMS entry ends Essex custody but immigration custody is possible, search the ICE Online Detainee Locator System independently. ICE states that its locator includes current detainees and people released from ICE custody within the prior 60 days, with exclusions. A county release entry proves what ECSD did. An ICE result addresses a different custodian. If a transfer or federal arrest occurred, preserve both events instead of merging them into one “release.”

Middleton Release History

Middleton opened in 1991 and remains the central secure site in the three-part ECSD custodial and pre-release network. Its history contrasts with the much older Lawrence property, which began as a reform school and later became a lower-security step-down center. WIT serves a distinct women’s minimum-security and pre-release role. These differences help explain why a person can leave Middleton without leaving ECSD.

A location change should be recorded as a transfer until ECSD documents final release. Work release, community service, or electronic monitoring can permit movement outside a secure building while legal custody or another restrictive status continues. The key record is the final OMS event, not the last day someone was seen at Middleton. For property left behind, ECSD lists weekday pickup at Middleton from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Post-release account funds use extension 3402 and a weekday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. window.