Find Dukes Jail Releases

Dukes Jail Release Destinations

The Dukes County Sheriff’s correctional division performs three roles at one Edgartown site. It acts as a regional police lock-up for the six Martha’s Vineyard towns, holds people before trial, and houses county-sentenced men. The path out depends on which legal status ends. A person in the regional lock-up may go to court, post bail, receive personal recognizance, or enter jail custody. A pretrial detainee may leave after a court order, dismissal, time-served disposition, bail, or recognizance. A sentenced person may reach an adjusted sentence end, receive parole, or transfer to another custodian.

“Released from Dukes” therefore describes the end of this sheriff’s control. It does not always mean that the person went home. The receiving destination may be the community, the Massachusetts Department of Correction, another county, a warrant-holding agency, federal authority, or immigration custody. Ask for the release category and receiving agency. Those two fields distinguish a true community return from a transfer that continues confinement elsewhere. A court entry can confirm the order, but the jail record is the better source for the time when staff completed the release.

Confirm a Dukes Jail Release

The sheriff does not publish a searchable current roster or recent-release archive. A missing web result cannot prove release because there is no official Dukes name-search to begin with. For an urgent present-custody question, call the control desk. For a past event, request an existing booking or release record. The full Dukes County released-inmate search path also explains how to pair the sheriff record with state, court, and federal sources when the custody trail continues.

1. Call 508-627-5173 to ask whether the named person is presently held at the Edgartown facility.
2. Send a narrow request to records@dcsoma.org with the full name, known date of birth, approximate booking and release dates, and booking number if known.
3. Ask for the existing release sheet or log entry, release date and time, legal category, case number, and receiving agency.
4. Check the matching MassCourts docket for the bail order, disposition, sentence, probation term, warrant, or later change.
5. If the record names MADOC, BOP, ICE, Barnstable, or another custodian, continue with that agency instead of treating the transfer as community release.

A current-custody phone answer is useful but temporary. The release record lasts beyond the moment and gives a better basis for later confirmation. If staff cannot locate a person, ask whether the name, booking date, or agency is wrong before drawing a conclusion. A court docket and sheriff record answer different questions, so the strongest check uses both.

Dukes Jail Release Records Contact

The sheriff’s Public Records Requests page identifies Special Sheriff Kayla Pachico as Records Access Officer. Written requests are recommended for accuracy, though the office says writing is not required. Massachusetts law generally requires a response as soon as practical and within ten business days. That response may provide records, request clarification, quote a reasonable fee, give a production schedule, or cite a legal reason for withholding. It is not a promise of full production within ten days.

Ask for records that already exist. Useful items include the booking sheet, release sheet, release-log entry, legal release authority, destination or receiving agency, and a booking photograph if needed. The sheriff posts no fixed release-record or photo fee. Request electronic delivery and a fee estimate before costs above a chosen limit. If material is redacted, the response should identify the exemption supporting that decision.

Dukes Jail Release Record Fields

Dukes County has not posted a blank release form or public data dictionary. Still, state definitions and records maintained by the facility support a focused request for the fields that resolve custody. A correction-officer posting says staff make admission and release entries and collect fingerprints, photographs, and other booking data. That does not guarantee public access to every system field. It does show why a request can name the data sought instead of asking the office to research a new narrative.

The statewide retention schedule gives house-of-correction records a minimum of 25 years after release and non-criminally sentenced detainee records three years after final release. It lists other periods for photographs, mittimus files, removal orders, and property records. These are offline record-series rules, not online display promises. Access still depends on the exact record, exemptions, sealing, expungement, and any court order.

Dukes Jail Custody Roles

The sheriff describes a maximum of 40 male detainees and sentenced people. It also reports more than 940 admissions in fiscal year 2019. Admissions are events, not unique people, and the figure must not be recast as a release count. Even so, it shows why one small facility can produce many distinct booking and custody events. Sentenced men may serve county terms of up to two and one-half years. Pretrial and regional-lock-up stays follow different legal paths and may end much sooner.

The Mass.gov facility listing confirms the address, phone, fax, and administrative hours. Staff transportation duties include trips to Dukes courts, other courts, other correctional facilities, and health-care sites. That movement matters when a release entry is actually a transfer. The court docket may show why the move occurred, while the sheriff’s institutional record shows when staff carried it out.

The official facility page shown below summarizes the operation’s lock-up, jail, and house-of-correction roles.

Those combined roles explain why the legal status must be identified before selecting a release record or follow-up office.

Why Is Dukes Jail Unusual?

The Edgartown complex is a rare multifunction island correctional site. It is a regional police lock-up, a pretrial jail, and a house of correction in one place. Official sources disagree on whether the old core dates to 1873 or 1875, so the accurate description is that it dates to the 1870s. A state design notice describes the old core, later modular additions, and ongoing capital needs. The mix of old granite cells and modern units reflects a long local role rather than three separate facilities.

Geography also separates parts of a record trail. The jail sits less than a mile from the Edgartown courthouse, but a transfer may lead off-island. Women connected to Dukes cases may be held at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility in Bourne. No state prison, federal prison, or public ICE detention center was identified within Dukes County. The physical custodian that made the release record may therefore be outside the county even when the court case remains in Edgartown.

Dukes Release Planning Services

DCSO Human Services develops individual care plans and works with island providers and volunteers. Published programs include HiSET preparation, educational tablets, mindfulness, reading, parenting, mental-health presentations, addiction-focused support, anger management, self-help, and road-crew activity. These are in-custody services and planning contacts. They do not guarantee a certain release destination, supervision result, or date.

Major Amanda Cimeno, RN, is the published Human Services contact at 774-549-6083 and acimeno@dcsoma.org. Contact the program office for its current procedures. The sheriff does not publish a standard discharge hour, family waiting area, release door, ride program, or weekend administrative schedule. Nearby public transit may help after a community release, but no official source says the sheriff transports a released person to a bus or ferry stop.

Edgartown District Court is served by Vineyard Transit Authority Routes 1, 6, 8, and 13, and Route 1 connects Edgartown with Vineyard Haven. Those routes are nearby travel options, not part of the jail’s discharge process. Confirm the live VTA schedule before travel. A release record will not normally describe a bus connection, and the published sources do not identify a sheriff-provided ride.

Note: Release planning services and the legal release record serve different purposes and should be confirmed through their respective offices.