Berkshire County Jail & House of Correction Inmate Bail & Bonds

Three district courts decide release on weekdays: Pittsfield District Court, 24 Wendell Avenue, MA 01202, 413-499-0558; Northern Berkshire District Court, 111 Holden Street, North Adams, MA 01247, 413-663-5339; and Southern Berkshire District Court, 9 Gilmore Avenue, Great Barrington, MA 01230, 413-528-3520. Outside court hours an on-call bail magistrate handles it. State law, G.L. c. 276, section 58, presumes release on recognizance unless money is required to secure a return to court.

The Sheriff's Office coordinates bail at the jail lobby. Give the lobby officer: 1. The name of the person to be bailed. 2. A valid photo ID. 3. The bail amount, in cash or by surety. 4. The clerk-magistrate's fee of $40, in cash. The lobby officer notifies the clerk-magistrate, and once the money and paperwork are processed, the usual release steps follow.

Judges in Pittsfield, North Adams and Great Barrington may free a defendant on their own recognizance, require cash, accept a surety, or set terms like GPS monitoring, curfews, sobriety testing and orders to keep away from certain people or places. Before naming a cash figure, the judge must take into account what the person can afford.

Berkshire magistrates look at the nature of the offense and the penalty it carries, the Board of Probation record, past failures to appear, and community ties such as a home, a job or family in the county. Open cases, supervision status and, in abuse cases, the risk to the alleged victim are part of the review too.

Pittsfield Police at 39 Allen Street and the other town departments in the county may hold a person in station cells until a bail magistrate rules. If the magistrate orders custody, the person goes to the Cheshire Road jail or straight to arraignment. Our inmate search page lists police contacts.

Bail at Cheshire Road applies to one case. Another court's warrant, a probation violation hold, a parole detainer or an ICE request keeps the person at the jail until that matter is resolved. Release on GPS conditions may wait for probation to fit the device when court reopens.

Yes, on qualifying charges. The Berkshire District Attorney's Office, 7 North Street, MA 01201, 413-443-5951, may seek a section 58A hearing, and a judge who finds that no set of conditions can keep the public safe can order detention for up to 120 days ahead of trial.

Yes. A petition goes to the Berkshire County Superior Court, 76 East Street, MA 01201, clerk's office 413-499-7487, where a judge reviews the district court's order from the start and may reduce it, increase it or leave it unchanged.

On the first court day in any of the three Berkshire district courts, probation reviews income, and an eligible defendant is assigned a lawyer through the Committee for Public Counsel Services. The Pittsfield District Court probation office, 413-442-1441, answers questions about that screening.

Berkshire district courts keep cash bail until the case is finished. When the defendant made every appearance, the person who posted it asks the clerk's office that closed the case for the refund. A default can lead to forfeiture by court order. Northern Berkshire District Court probation is at 413-663-5369.

Cheshire Road settles the account balance and returns stored property when someone is released, so check on both at the lobby. The Cheshire Road lobby takes cash for an account during weekday office hours; see our deposit page for other options.

Berkshire defendants charged federally see a U.S. magistrate judge, who sets the terms, at the federal courthouse at 300 State Street, Springfield, MA 01105, 413-785-6800. The BOP inmate locator lists where someone is placed after a federal sentence.

Bail and an ICE detainer are separate matters at the Berkshire County jail. Staff there treat the detainer, Form I-247A, as a separate federal request, and 8 CFR 287.7(d) lets that request run for no more than 48 hours beyond the Berkshire release date. The ICE detainee locator shows custody, and the Boston Field Office takes calls at 781-359-7500.

The Cheshire Road jail keeps pretrial detainees and men sentenced to a house of correction term, which in Massachusetts tops out at 30 months. Longer sentences go to state prison; see the Department of Correction lookup and our Massachusetts state prisons list, plus our court guide for each courthouse.