SECTION 1. There shall be a commission to study the issue of prison overcrowding, the threat overcrowding poses to public safety and to make recommendations for the reduction in the population of the commonwealth’s prisons, houses of corrections and jails.  The commission shall include and be co-chaired by the senate and house chairs of the joint committee on public safety.  The commission’s other members shall be the secretary of public safety, the commissioner of the department of corrections, the president of the Massachusetts Sheriff’s Association, and a representative of the Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services.  

SECTION 2.  Chapter 276, as appearing in the 2014 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out section 42 and inserting the following new section:-  

Section 42.  If it appears that a crime has been committed and that there is probable cause to believe the prisoner guilty, the court or justice shall, if final jurisdiction is not exercised, admit the prisoner to bail, if the crime is bailable and sufficient bail is offered; otherwise, except as provided for in section 16 of chapter 125, such prisoner shall be either committed to jail or placed under electronic supervision by the sheriff until trial.  If a prisoner cannot offer sufficient bail, the court may place them under electronic supervision by the sheriff as an alternative to being committed to a jail.

SECTION 3.  Section 57 of chapter 276, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting in line 10 after the words “or witness to bail” the following words:- or electronic supervision by the sheriff

SECTION 4.  Section 57 of chapter 276, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting in line 14 after the words “to take bail” the following words:- or placed on electronic supervision