The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Originally, Hampden County Sheriff Michael J. Ashe Jr. wanted to build a 352-inmate jail when the project was proposed in 1996. But delays brought the cost of the project up, so the facility's capacity was decreased.

Now, corrections officials are asking state legislators and the state Department of Administration and Finance for extra money to add another 56 cells to the project - bringing it back to the originally proposed 352-inmate capacity. That would be a 47 percent increase in capacity over the existing construction plan.

Lawrence J. Lajoie, assistant deputy superintendent for the Hampden County Sheriff's Department, said yesterday that his department desperately needs to build an extra 56-cell wing to accommodate the burgeoning population of female inmates in surrounding counties.

"We will be overcrowded on opening day, without that (extra) wing," he said.

The Stony Brook jail in Ludlow currently houses 195 female inmates from Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties, with another 30 held in Berkshire County, Lajoie said.

Female inmates at the Ludlow jail are outnumbered 11 to 1 by male prisoners, according to Lajoie, and there is no room there for rehabilitation programs for them.

Ashe has said the new jail would offer female inmates comprehensive services, including substance-abuse treatment, job and educational training and "re-entry" preparation.

The Ludlow jail currently is 171 percent above capacity, Lajoie said, with 1,635 male prisoners in a medium-security facility designed to hold 962.

"As soon as the women leave Ludlow, those cells will be filled with males," he said. Since Feb. 18, 2005, he said, the Ludlow inmate population has experienced a "dramatic" 19.4 percent increase - 348 prisoners.

The extra prisoners require the jail to add 20 overtime correctional officer positions to the payroll, Lajoie said.

Area state legislators "have been dynamite" in supporting the request for the extra $6 million, Ashe said, including state Sens. Stephen J. Buoniconti, D-Springfield, and Michael R. Knapik, R-Westfield, and Reps. James R. Welch, D-West Springfield, Thomas M. Petrolati, D-Ludlow, and Joseph F. Wagner, D-Chicopee.

Wagner said yesterday that he has filed an amendment to the state's proposed 2007 budget asking to raise the state's borrowing limit by $6 million for the jail project. The current debt ceiling for prison and jail projects is already "maxed out," he said.

Even if the Legislature raises the debt ceiling, the state Department of Administration and Finance would have final say on whether the jail project would get money, Wagner said.

Lajoie said officials from the state agency have assured him "they would look favorably" on efforts to bring the women's jail project back to its original 352-inmate capacity.

"It makes sense to do it right the first time," he said.

"We feel it's been part of our permanent plans, right from the beginning," Ashe said. "This is something that is greatly important for us."

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