Superintendent – Suffolk County Jail

In over 28 years of service, Michael Colwell has served in a variety of ranks and roles with the Sheriff’s Department. Superintendent Colwell joined the Department in 1991 as a Jail officer and, throughout his career, served as a front-line supervisor in the ranks of Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain and Shift Commander.

While a Lieutenant, Superintendent Colwell received training as an instructor in the principals of Direct Supervision at the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections in Longmont, Colorado and has completed instruction in the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center’s Incident Command System as well as the Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association Education & Training Council’s (MSAETC) Train the Trainer program. As a guest speaker at SAETC conferences, Superintendent Colwell has presented material on various industry-relevant topics.

Since 2005, Superintendent Colwell has assisted the Department’s Training Division by creating and delivering a course of instruction for new supervisors that aims to explore the challenges of leadership and peer management.

In 2011, Superintendent Colwell was assigned to provide technical support and assistance during the filming of MSNBC’s documentary program Lockup: Extended Stay: Boston.

For several years, Superintendent Colwell has assisted the Human Resources/Recruitment division through his participation in the screening of new Correction Officer applicants, and he has served on command staff promotional interview panels for both neighboring county Sheriffs’ Departments and the Massachusetts Department of Correction.

Superintendent Colwell serves as the Suffolk County Jail’s point of contact for the Massachusetts DOC Standards & Compliance division, meeting regularly to discuss changes to laws and regulations relative to their impact on annual DOC compliance audits.

In 2016, Superintendent Colwell successfully oversaw a comprehensive national accreditation effort by the American Correctional Association as the Accreditation Manager for the Suffolk County Jail. Superintendent Colwell credits the dedicated professionalism of both uniform and civilian staff in achieving a near perfect compliance rating.