WALPOLE — Neil Entwistle may follow several high-profile convicted murderers inside the walls of MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole eventually, but he won't begin serving his life sentence there.

Entwistle prison assignment could change in 6 months
 

By Jeb Bobseine/Daily News staff

WALPOLE — Neil Entwistle may follow several high-profile convicted murderers inside the walls of MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole eventually, but he won't begin serving his life sentence there.

Entwistle, 29, was convicted June 25 of two counts of first-degree murder for the Jan. 20, 2006, murders of his wife, Rachel, 27, and daughter, Lillian Rose, 9 months.

On Thursday, he was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole. He was sent to the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley on Friday, the only other maximum security facility in the state.

Past notorious inmates at the Walpole prison have included Albert DeSalvo, also known as the "Boston Strangler," who died there in 1973, Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, and John Salvi, the man convicted in a 1994 shooting spree at a Brookline abortion clinic.

Salvi committed suicide in 1996.

Media outlets as diverse The Boston Globe, The Sun (London) and Wikipedia incorrectly reported Entwistle was headed to Walpole rather than Shirley.

It will take at least six months before Entwistle is going anywhere, though, according to Diane Wiffin, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.

At six months, Entwistle, like any other maximum-security prisoner, will have a classification hearing to determine if he stays at Souza-Baranowski or transfers to Cedar Junction. This hearing will be repeated every six months.

Inmates serving life sentences typically start with two years at a maximum-security facility, Wiffin said.

Whether a transfer occurs depends on many factors, Wiffin said. Authorities consider the medical, physical, mental and program needs of a prisoner, as well as factors as mundane as bed availability in different facilities.

Regular assessment of prisoners is done to ensure their well-being, Wiffer said. "All prisoners are treated the same," she stressed.

At the two-year classification hearing, prisoners sentenced to a life term may be transferred to a medium-security prison, Wiffin said. Often, it is contingent on "institutional adjustment," she said.

"It depends on a lot of things," she said. A prisoner may continue to stay put, or may be transferred.

Maximum-security prisoners like Entwistle occupy their own cells at Souza-Baranowski and Cedar Junction, Wiffin said.

Upon transfer to a medium-security facility, he would be assigned a cellmate, she said.

The Walpole and Shirley prisons share inmate programs such as Emotional Awareness and Healing which is designed to foster emotional and spiritual growth. Various drug and alcohol recovery courses are also offered, as well as lessons on dealing with anger and its results.

Jeb Bobseine can be reached at jeb@walpoletimes.com or 508-668-0243, ext. 13.