Gaming Commission tours Western Mass. Recovery and Wellness Center [Video]

SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) – Members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission took a field trip Tuesday as they traveled to western Massachusetts to tour the Hampden County Sheriff’s Western Massachusetts Recovery and Wellness Center, which was forced to move when MGM Springfield moved in.

The center provides treatment education, community involvement, and employment opportunities for those seeking to transform their lives after incarceration. Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi, whose office runs the facility, told Western Mass News that the key is to focus on rehabilitation rather than punishment in order to prepare residents for the next step.

“…Which is going to the community and met with making decisions without any supervision or without anybody guiding them and we want them to make the best decision they possibly can to live that productive law abiding life when they get back into society,” Cocchi said.

The story for the center began in 1985 …