Massachusetts General Laws Part I. Administration of the Government (Ch. 1-182) Ch. 126, § 37

On the request of said commissioners, the sheriff of the county shall remove to said farm such prisoners as in his opinion can advantageously be employed thereon in carrying out sections thirty-five and thirty-six, and on the order of the said commissioners the sheriff shall return any prisoner to the jail or house of correction from which he was taken, or to which he was sentenced. The superintendents of industrial farms shall have the custody of all prisoners removed thereto, and a prisoner who escapes or attempts to escape therefrom shall be punished therefor by imprisonment in a jail or house of correction for not more than one year. Permits to be at liberty shall be issued to the inmates of county industrial farms and revoked in the manner provided by law for the issuance or revocation of permits to prisoners in jails and houses of correction.