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May 06, 2007
MA: County jails seen as dangerously crowded
Well, it looks like the push is on for more jails. In western MA for example, the women's jail in Chicopee isn't opened and Ashe has already asked for 56 more cells. How about bail reform which would free up more than a third of the jail cells. How about ending school zone sentencing "enhancements," or putting some money into drug treatment. If the sheriffs are so concerned with "life or death" they could start by not swallowing up hundreds of millions on more jails. Lois
County jails seen as dangerously crowded
By Peter Reuell/ MetroWest Daily News
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Calling the condition of the state’s county jails a “travesty,” Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration is joining with sheriffs to push for funding and improvements in the overcrowded, run-down facilities.
“This is one area where I’ve been shocked,” Jay Gonzalez, assistant secretary for capital finance and intergovernmental affairs, told state lawmakers last week. “It’s a travesty.”
Crowding at jails in the Metrowest and the Milford regions, for example, have reached dangerous levels, officials say, but fixing the problem could cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
With some facilities housing twice as many inmates as they were designed for, “This is an issue that’s a life-or-death issue,” Worcester County Sheriff Guy Glodis said.
“It’s about the long-term rehabilitation of inmates to make the state safer,” he said, noting that conditions at the West Boylston facility are “horrendous.”
“The jail was built for 822 people,” he said. “Now, we’re at 1,440. It’s very quietly become a crisis situation in the commonwealth, where most county facilities are literally bursting at the seams.”
The Middlesex County Jail, located on the top floors of the county courthouse in Cambridge, was built to accommodate 160 prisoners but today houses about 350, Sheriff James DiPaola said.
Space is so tight at the jail, another 250 Middlesex County prisoners awaiting trial are housed in institutions around the state, “because I don’t have room for them,” he said.
The Middlesex County House of Correction in Billerica, built to house 300 inmates, has 1,250.
In Norfolk County, Sheriff Michael Bellotti said, “our jail is probably the most overcrowded in the state.” Located in Dedham, the jail was built to house 302 inmates but today holds about 700.
“Inmates are sleeping on the floor in some housing units,” Bellotti said, adding that it could cost anywhere from $25 million to $30 million to deal with the overcrowding.
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=198816&format=graphic
this and other news about mass incarceration can be found at www.realcostofprisons.org/blog
Posted by lois at May 6, 2007 08:42 PM