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Posted by: PBC FL Cop

October 12, 2007

Judge blasts Glodis

Request federal help, sheriff told


By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF


Sheriff Glodis



WORCESTER— A state court judge took Sheriff Guy W. Glodis to task yesterday for refusing to accept a dozen pretrial detainees from Worcester District Trial Court Tuesday night. The judge suggested jail officials plead their case before U.S. District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel if they are unable to comply with a federal consent decree placing a cap on the inmate population

'A July 23 modification to the 1989 consent decree, which was spawned by a class-action civil rights lawsuit brought by five inmates, limited the number of prisoners who may be housed at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction in West Boylston to 1,451 as of Oct. 1. That number will drop to 1,351 Nov. 1 and again to 1,251 Dec. 1.

At risk of exceeding the cap Tuesday night, Sheriff Glodis refused to take a dozen prisoners from the new courthouse at 225 Main St., forcing court officers to keep them in custody in a basement lockup that is not designed to accommodate prisoners overnight. By 9:30 p.m., five hours after the courthouse had closed for the day, a judge had ordered the release of half the inmates and the rest were picked up by the sheriff’s department.

Judge John S. McCann told the sheriff during a hearing yesterday in Worcester Superior Court that his actions were “outrageous” and placed court personnel and inmates, alike, at risk of harm. He said the inmates were picked up only after Worcester police officials agreed to take them overnight and bill the sheriff’s department for their stay.

Judge McCann said he was informed by court security personnel Wednesday that the sheriff planned to again “abandon” pretrial detainees at a dozen courthouses throughout Worcester County in order to comply with the consent decree. That plan, described by Judge McCann yesterday as “inappropriate” and “problematic,” was averted when the judge ordered Sheriff Glodis Wednesday afternoon to “get the vans rolling again” and pick up the prisoners being held on court-ordered bail.

“To abandon prisoners in these courts in the manner in which they were, to me, is outrageous,” Judge McCann said during yesterday’s court session.

In an effort to stay within the federally mandated cap, jail officials presented Judge McCann Tuesday with a list of sentenced prisoners they considered candidates for early release. Since the early 1990s, Worcester Superior Court judges have periodically ordered the release of groups of pretrial detainees not deemed a risk to public safety to ease crowded conditions at the county jail.

For reasons he said he could only speculate upon, that practice ceased a year or two ago and the jail population grew from about 1,200 inmates to a record high of more than 1,500 last month, according to Judge McCann. Sheriff Glodis has been seeking state funding to enlarge the jail in West Boylston, and he has criticized the administration of Gov. Deval L. Patrick for placing a moratorium on such projects pending a $500,000 study of correction needs statewide.

Noting that the list given to him Tuesday contained the names of inmates convicted of crimes ranging from armed robbery to assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, the judge said he did not believe he was authorized to release any of them before they had completed their sentences.

To do so, he said, would be to change a sentence imposed by another judge. “Frankly, I have concluded that that’s just not legal,” Judge McCann said.

The judge told the sheriff and his lawyers that the modified consent decree allowed them to return to federal court and seek additional relief, including the implementation of a “prisoner release plan,” in the event they were unable to comply with Judge Zobel’s order. While the modified decree resulted from a threatened complaint for contempt by lawyers representing jail inmates, Judge McCann said jail officials were unlikely to be found in contempt if they were able to make a convincing case that the decree was jeopardizing public safety.

“Frankly, it’s my opinion that if the people in the sheriff’s department wish to deal with these issues, they need to deal with Judge Zobel,” Judge McCann said, adding that the state courts were not parties to the federal case. In the meantime, he said, he was ordering the sheriff to continue to take pretrial detainees into custody and to hold sentenced prisoners until the completion of their sentences.

The judge concluded the hearing after abruptly denying Deputy Jail Superintendent Jeffrey R. Turco’s request to be heard.

“In some ways, I’m relieved by the court decision. The last thing I want to do is release any criminal prematurely,” Sheriff Glodis said later in the day. “But, today’s hearing seemed more like an orchestrated finger-pointing session rather than a solution session,” said the sheriff.

“The judge consistently told us what we can’t do, but he didn’t tell us how we can get around a federal court order forcing us to release inmates,” the sheriff continued. “I don’t understand the logic of one court defying another court’s order. It seems like everyone, including Superior Court, is running for cover,” he said.

The sheriff said he had been warning people of the “crisis situation” developing at the jail since being elected in 2004, and he said he had fought to get the federal cap increased from 788 to 1,251 inmates.

Mr. Turco, who is also a lawyer, accused Judge McCann of “grandstanding” and said he would be filing an emergency motion asking the judge to reconsider his order. He said language in the order requiring the sheriff to hold inmates “in his facilities” would prohibit the transfer of prisoners to other penal institutions and force the return of more than 60 inmates on electronic monitoring back to the jail

Jail officials have arranged for the transfer of about 76 sentenced prisoners to other county jails by Nov. 1 in an effort to stay in compliance with the federal court order. The state Department of Correction has agreed to take another 30 inmates now being held at the West Boylston facility.

Mr. Turco said the jail was denied due process when Judge McCann refused to allow him to address the court.

In addition to asking Judge McCann to reconsider, Mr. Turco said he had arranged a conference call Monday to apprise the federal court of the state court order and to “seek guidance” from Judge Zobel.

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Posted by: Irish Wampanoag

Guess what Judge McCann should tell Judge Zobel that his actions are outrageous. Last time I checked US district court supersedes Worcester District Trial Court and last time I checked Worcester was part of the United States. So the sheriff has done the right thing....

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Posted by: j809

Get Rid Of The Sheriff Department. Have Doc Do Everything

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Posted by: nirtallica

Quote:

Originally Posted by j809 Get Rid Of The Sheriff Department. Have Doc Do Everything

Word is it's coming so stand by!!!!!!!

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Posted by: 94c

and what will become of all the Majors and Generals in the Sheriff's Dept?

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Posted by: kwflatbed

Quote:

Originally Posted by 94c and what will become of all the Majors and Generals in the Sheriff's Dept?

C M P S A

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Posted by: BB-59

DOC does not want the sheriffs, period. Not to mention the political shockwaves that would cause.

How does a state judge supersede the ruling of a Federal judge?

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Posted by: Inspector71

Quote:

Originally Posted by BB-59 DOC does not want the sheriffs, period. Not to mention the political shockwaves that would cause. How does a state judge supersede the ruling of a Federal judge?

DOC does not need the Sheriffs, your RIGHT! They only need to transfer in the C.O.'s (union headache) and other professional staff. It CAN be done, look no further back than 1991.

The state Judge didn't supercede the ruling of a Federal Judge. He simply told the Sheriff to "pick-up" and not "abandon" detainees. But that's O.K. at least the local P.D. stepped up and shamed the goober sheriff.

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Posted by: USMCTrooper

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwflatbed C M P S A

The Corrupt Mockery of Political Sheriffs Association???

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Posted by: Delta784

Glodis is an arrogant windbag, but what the hell is he supposed to do? He can serve a contempt sentence in a state or federal facility....pick your poison.

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Posted by: rg1283

CT did one thing right when they got rid of their Sheriff's and the state took the DOC and paper serving over.

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