'Dangerous' Bristol County inmates held in cells without locks prior to incident
DARTMOUTH - The 20 inmates identified as "agitators" in the hours-long standoff and lockdown two weeks ago at the Bristol County House of Correction were "a dangerous group."
Three quarters had been held at the House before.
Three were awaiting trial on murder charges.
Nine were awaiting trial on assault and battery charges.
Three were awaiting trial on firearms charges.
One was awaiting trial on fentanyl trafficking.
One was awaiting trial on cocaine trafficking.
One had stabbed another inmate 20 times in December and had been released from segregation prior to the incident.
Sheriff Paul Heroux went down the list Friday while taking state officials and media through a tour of the two units where the incident occurred, causing an estimated $100,000 to $200,000 in damages.
Heroux noted the list was representative of the typical population where more than half the inmates are awaiting trial. The other inmates are held for crimes with sentences of 2 1/2 years or less.
Yet the units where they were being held - GB and GA - don't have cell locks.
On the day of the incident, four correction officers were on duty at GB, which can hold a maximum of 98 prisoners in 49 cells, including one handicapped cell. GA has an identical layout.
GB was holding 75 inmates at the time, including 17 of the agitators. The protest started when an attempt was made to move them to another unit so that work to make the unit more suicide resistant could go on.
They were going to another portion of the jail that does have locked cells, Heroux said.
That morning, the four correction officers barely got out prior to the lockdown after two inmates charged at them and jumped a barricade, Heroux said.
Most of the damage was done to GB. The second unit involved, which held 63 inmates - three considered agitators - was not involved in the move that morning and rose up in support of the first unit.
The 20 agitators have been shipped to jails outside Bristol County while their role is investigated and charges prepared for the District Attorney.
The cells don't have locks because they don't have toilets. Heroux said a 1998 judge's ruling found it cruel and unusual punishment to lock up inmates without toilets.
Heroux said he agrees with that ruling, but disagrees with the reaction. Instead of putting in toilets, they took out the locks. All told, 11 of the HOC's 22 units don't have toilets in cells, and therefore don't have locks.
Part of the work that was to have been performed included adding toilets. Heroux said adding toilets would cost $500,000 per unit or $5.5 million for all 11. He didn't have an estimate on adding locks, but said it would be expensive.
The Sheriff's Office has about $1.5 million for the work to add toilets to the two units, and maybe a third.
He said Friday's tour was a way to demonstrate to officials the need for money to complete the work.
State Reps. Tony Cabral, D-New Bedford, Carol Doherty-D-Taunton, and Adam Scanlon, D-N. Attleboro, took the tour.
Heroux also showed 2 1/2 minutes of video from the hours logged showing the "professional way" in which officers from the state Department of Correction and five other county jails re-took possession of the units without excessive force.
Officer Nathan Medeiros, who is also a union steward, was an intermediary between the sheriff and the inmates. The inmates, some brandishing makeshift weapons, covered their faces to avoid identification. One threatened Medeiros that he would be stabbed if he attempted to enter.
Medeiros said cell locks was also a security issue for the correction officers. Bristol County has one of the highest rates of assaults on COs in the state, he said. Typically, it's just one CO stationed per unit in the evening, and two during the day.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Officials view Bristol County House of Correction incident damages
