Massachusetts General Laws Part I. Administration of the Government (Ch. 1-182) Ch. 126, § 1

The county commissioners shall be inspectors of the prisons in their counties. They shall twice in each year, at intervals of not exceeding eight months, themselves or by a committee of two of their members, visit all the prisons in their county, and fully examine into everything relative to the government, discipline and police thereof; and as soon as may be after each inspection, the committee shall make and subscribe a detailed report to the commissioners of the condition of each prison as to health, cleanliness and discipline at the time of inspection, the number of prisoners confined there within the preceding six months or since the last inspection, the causes of confinement, the number of prisoners usually confined in one room, the distinction, if any, usually observed in the treatment of the different classes of prisoners, the punishments inflicted, any evils or defects in the construction, discipline or management of such prisons, the names of prisoners who have been discharged or pardoned or who have died or escaped, and any violation or neglect of law relative to such prisons, with the causes, if known, of the violation or neglect.