Worried state and county correctional officials will plead for hundreds of millions of dollars in bond money next month to relieve a statewide inmate overcrowding crisis that threatens to unleash serious public health and safety hazards from behind locked doors.
“It’s a tinder box waiting to explode,” said Worcester Sheriff Guy W. Glodis, who is cramming 1,480 people into a West Boylston jail built for 820 detainees.
State reports show prisons and jails in every Bay State county are filled beyond capacity. Suffolk has been forced to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to ferry inmates to other counties, while other sheriffs say they must resort to housing inmates in mattress-strewn chapels, libraries, gymnasiums and receiving rooms.
In interviews with the Herald, county sheriffs, state officials and inmate advocates warned that overcrowding can lead to:
Skyrocketing daily operational costs
Increased chance for the spread of highly contagious diseases including tuberculosis and methicillin-resistant staphyloccus aureus (MRSA)
Risks of inmate escapes or violent eruptions
Heftier taxpayer bills to fund necessary and inevitable capital improvement projects.
“The state and county correctional facilities are overcrowded and have significant capital investment needs,” said a statement issued by spokesman Charles McDonald on behalf of the Executive Office of Public Safety and the Executive Office for Administration and Finance.
Glodis and other sheriffs are hoping for relief from a pending state bond bill that will come before the Legislature next month. The bill may include funding for jails and prisons - including a possible $50 million for a new 260-cell facility or $100 million for a new 100-cell jail in Worcester County. “We are desperately seeking help,” he said.
The implications are serious, for both prisoners and jail officers.
“An officer at the jail can now expect to oversee a single unit. That is not safe for detainees and officers alike,” Stan Andruszkiewicz, president of the Jail Officers and Employees Association of Suffolk County, told the Herald.
“In some units, there are as many as 65 detainees. Forcing two detainees into a space designed for one is only asking for trouble. There is bound to be a violent release and those violent altercations have a dangerous impact on officer safety.”
A solution is in the works, the Patrick administration insists.
Housing inmates on cots in non-housing areas such as chapels, libraries, infirmaries, and the like is extremley dangerous for both the staff and the inmates. However, it is common place in some facilities. It's disheartening to go in to your work area that is not designed to be a housing unit, and have to step over inmates cots on the floor to get around, but this is how the state has been operating for several years, yet these facilities retain their ACA accreditation. It's always puzzled me.
Posted by: co2
ACA IS A JOKE if you fail they come back the next day and pass you. Also the jail has to pay the ACA. And when they do come the jail moves the inmates around and give them extra rec so it dont lool overcrowded.
Posted by: hack1631
The thing with this is that it isnt anything new. Overcrowding is a major problem that effects jails and prisons all over the country. One major problem is that prisons are not built with "glass walls", meaning that unless your actually inside, you have no idea what goes on in there. As a c.o. I can atest to this. Civillians and legislators alike belive that prison is some magical and far away place that "bad guys" go to never be seen or heard from again. Problem being that recidivism rates are so high (from probation and parole revocation alone) that these buildings are pushed to and far beyond capacity. On a consertive note: building more prisons and jails is good, just for the simple reason that population and per-capita crimes increase, however, on a liberal note: prison administrators need to implement more programs, etc. at these facilities for the inmate population. The problem with these inmates is that there is no stepping stone. For example, on any given release date, any inmate can go from being locked in a cell to being on the street in a matter of a half-hour with no discharge planning or skill or anything, nothing to prevent them from returning except for the use of "good judgement". Judgement that they obviously dont hold to begin with or they would not be in prison in the first place.
It is sad to say, but nothing will be changed quickly unless someone (i.e. an Officer) gets severely injured...or worse because of these numbers in this "zoo-like" atmosphere.
Posted by: BB-59
I have to laugh every time I see posts like these. Why? Because it is a known fact that especially in the county system officers with as little as 2 weeks training are put into housing units with as many as 90 + inmates.
And the public (as well as some on this post) think only lightweights are held in the county system. All inmates before they are sentenced stay, sometimes for extended periods in the county system.
In Bristol County the combination of being the lowest paid and forced overtime (20 from 2nd to 3rd and 17 from 1st to second) is an almost every day occurance. An unlike our brothers (thats correct I said brothers) we get stuck with the same conditions for another shift.
Am I knocking police officers and their job? Absolutely not! At least I know what I am walking into everyday, when things like the shooting at the Foxy Lady happen I appreciate how tough police officers jobs can be.
If anything, I only ask for respect when people post on this site, remember they are not "guards" they are coreections officers, wether county, state, or Federal, (I am including miltary in Federal), I never allow my son to use the term cop but prefer the term police officer. Why? The way some people make the word "cop" sound it almost comes off as a slur.
Anyone who walks the line, (inside or outside), the wall or the street may work underpaid and most of the time short staffed, but at least they deserve respect, politicians and the public can't point to budget shortfalls in this area.
Stay safe, and remember we are all in this together.
Posted by: alphadog1
It's time for all of the county jails to be merged with the DOC. This will streamline corrections and get rid of the patronage and waste at the county jails. It's a win for the county correction officers who will attain civil service status. This will eliminate the hacks and return county jails to care and custody of inmates, not Sheriffs buying toys. The merger will eventually save the state millions.
Posted by: TopCop24
They should just ask the high and mighty sheriff of Middlesex county for some money....god knows he finds it
Posted by: gooday
How does civil service do anything for us if we obtain it. There is no benifet for us. Some say civil service protection, but there is no protection up there anymore. I would not want to be in there union and I would loose my seniority. It helps the cops because they think that we are going to be on the streets. Thats like saying why not merge the state police with all the towns and pay the state police at the rate of the towns. Now we can take all that extra money that we save by lowering there pay and put it into our correctional facilities. Besides if we all merged with the D.O.C the state would be putting out more money because they would be paying all the county guys more. Middlesex gets fed grants its a different ball game. We all get fed money for detaining I.N.S and feds. Suffolk even has there guys out working with I.C.E on the streets and jail the people they pick up for them.
Posted by: alphadog1
Civil Service is better than serving at the mercy of the Sheriff, especially when their running for re-election. How would you loose your seniority? You would keep your original appointment date from your county start date. We, the police do not want you on the streets. We want you to perform your functions as a correction officer (care & custody), just like the DOC corrections officers.
The state already subsidizes county facilities on the corrections side, not the toys. The Federal grants you refer to are for the "toys," that are wasting our tax money. So, you don't want the same benefits and pay as the DOC? Shame on you!
Posted by: kidiaz
i think some countys make more than DOC
Posted by: gooday
Civil service is not made up up of the old union boys it used to be, Mit put all corperate people in there from the private sector from what I was told.
Why would I want to work for the D.O.C and give up my 4-2 scedual for monday and tuesday off working 11-7. I'm all set. I also would not want thier union representing. No offence to the guys but many of the guys up there are disgruntled and fight with one another. That dont happen as much in the counties. Pluss just because I do a detail here and there for extra money to support my family does not mean I dont work inside and do my job. I do my job to the best of my ability. I actually did it tonight.
I agree the loosers that just get deputized suck and realy make us look bad. These people are not cop wannabes they are c/o wannabe's. Remember when people see these asses they think they work on the inside from the patch on there arm. How do you think we fail. We had to go to an academy and then put up with some violent shit bags with diseases everyday to earn our uniform and they prade around with it. Then you guys put us in the same catigory thats ugly.
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