Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is calling for an investigation into the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office, citing concerns about suicides and allegations of “harsh or unhealthy” conditions at the two county-run jails that currently house some 1,005 pretrial and sentenced inmates.
Healey made the request citing stories by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting that ran in the Boston Globe and WGBH public radio showing that Bristol County accounted for nearly a quarter of all Massachusetts jail suicides between 2006 to 2016, even though it housed just 13 percent of the state's inmates.
Healey wrote a letter late last week to Daniel Bennett, secretary of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, urging the state to investigate and, if necessary, take action to enforce minimum state standards. She said “alleged failure” to meet health and safety standards should be a “significant concern” to the state and put taxpayers at risk of financial liabilities.
“Subjecting inmates to unnecessarily harsh or unhealthy conditions serves no valid public interest,” she said, offering help in an investigation. “My office stands ready to assist as needed.”
She also referred to lawsuits filed against the sheriff’s office alleging that mentally ill inmates are segregated for long periods of time, exposed to harsh conditions and denied services. She said lawsuits are “consistent” with reports from her office’s Civil Rights Division about issues related to “inadequate mental health screening and treatment, denials of medical care [and] unsanitary conditions,” among other things.
Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson dismissed Healey’s letter Wednesday, saying it is politically motivated and intended to intimidate “those who uphold the laws.” He said the state already audits the jail system and his facilities are accredited and inspected by national organizations and the federal government. He said Healey has never reached out to him with concerns and did not provide him a copy of the letter.
“It’s rank politics on the part of the AG,’’ he said in a phone interview. “She ought to be ashamed of herself.”
Hodgson, first elected in 1998, is the longest current serving county sheriff in Massachusetts and is known for his get-tough policies. He garnered national headlines for offering up inmates to build President Trump’s boarder wall. On Tuesday the Boston-based Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice filed suit against Hodgson and members of his staff, alleging they violated the constitutional rights of a man from El Salvador by holding him on a civil immigration detainer.
The call for an investigation was applauded by some local prisoners’ advocates. Bonita Tenneriello, a staff attorney with the Boston-based Prisoners’ Legal Services, said state officials should consider better oversight of all county jails. She said current state monitoring does not delve into details about how inmates are treated.
“Conditions and treatment of prisoners should not be left to the whim of any sheriff,” she said.
