DCAM: Massachusetts correctional portfolio aging, $1B backlog and multi‑billion decarbonization need

State and county correctional facilities in Massachusetts carry substantial deferred maintenance and climate‑related upgrade needs, Department of Capital Asset Management officials told the Special Commission on Correctional Consolidation and Collaboration on Oct. 17.

The commission heard that corrections make up about one‑sixth of DCAM’s portfolio and include dozens of campuses with many buildings that are older than their intended useful lives. Commissioner Adam Bakke, who led the presentation for the Department of Capital Asset Management (DCAM), summarized the portfolio and the tradeoffs facing the commonwealth: “We are responsible for a variety of things from fundamental real estate.”

Bakke told commissioners DCAM tracks about 61 million square feet and some 1,700 state buildings overall; roughly one‑tenth of that (about 10.5 million square feet) is correctional property across Department of Corrections and sheriff facilities. DCAM identified 36 correctional sites in its portfolio — 19 properties associated with the DOC (12 of which currently hold an active population) and 17 sheriff’s facilities (some counties operate more than one campus). Bakke said the portfolio’s buildings are old: “the average age of those buildings is is over 50 years,” and many structures built in periods of rapid growth were constructed quickly and with lower durability, increasing near‑term replacement and repair needs.

Why it matters: DCAM told the commission there is roughly $1 billion of documented deferred maintenance across the corrections portfolio and that achieving the governor’s decarbonization goal (eliminating roughly 95% of fossil fuel use in state assets by 2050) would add portfolio‑scale costs…