His letter bore the headline, False Narratives Surround Ash Street.
After a group of concerned members from Bristol County on the South coast of Massachusetts gathered, once again, in front of the Ash Street Jail in New Bedford that was built in 1888 and should have been razed by now calling for its closing because of its poor conditions in different areas, one of the participants wrote a letter to a local paper making it clear to readers what the issues were and explaining in detail what is known about the jail.
In his usual response to criticism, the sheriff of Bristol County, Thomas Hodgson, claims that this is, again, just another political attack leveled by a crazy minority of people. Unlike other such claims in the recent past, at least in this he has moved on somewhat by not also claiming it was anti-Trump, his favored deflection from 2016-2020.
Unable to kill the message about the old jail, he wrote a letter to the same paper in response, defending himself while misrepresenting documented reality, and the letter writer personally.
In a “what-about” deflection, he questioned why people like this letter writer and activists like her
“weren’t protesting on behalf of the children being taught in school buildings that had been around since Ulysses S. Grant was president. No, they wanted to provide a more aesthetic environment for people who judges and juries felt should be held behind bars.”
Apparently forgetting, ignoring, being unaware how these things work, or just never noticing the very public process that when these old schools are torn down the city has the money to replace them or can make money by selling the old buildings to help defray the cost, he glosses over the fact that the county spent its citizens’ tax dollars to replace the Ash Street Jail with the County House of Corrections campus the next town over with the plan to tear down the jail. Like is done with schools of which districts have more than one. You do not just tear a building down because it is old without planning for its replacement. You can be sure there would be public outrage at leaving kids without a school.
The public should be asking him why, if we paid for a replacement Jail and continue to pay for its upkeep, are we not only financially supporting the new one, but also paying to keep open the one that should have been razed or sold when we built the replacement.
Instead, he justified the added expense of running an outdated jail along with the new jail with this, bit of circular “reasoning”.
“Let me be clear on that point. Inmates live at the Ash Street Jail. They eat three meals a day. They bathe, sleep, exercise and attend programs every day. They’re joined by regional inmates, who are brought in by local police departments and spend the night before going to court.”
So, he defends the use of a jail that was supposed to be emptied over 30 years ago the argument that it has to be used because it is being used.
At least twice in his letter, not only did he deflect, but he avoided addressing the letter writer’s concerns, and that of a good majority of the county population, by attempting to draw false equivalencies, apparently because he has found this a useful tool to avoid responsibility in the past.
He repeatedly asserted that
“Any structure, whether it’s a jail, hospital, senior living complex, nursing home, anywhere where people live, eat, bathe, work etc. will occasionally fall short of DPH’s high standards. And these inspections give us and others the chance to see where we can do better, so I thank the DPH for highlighting areas for improvement,”
while having a history of rejecting every suggestion or recommendations to make things better in his facilities including those made by the office of his superior, the state’s Attorney general.
He once again relied on his A-1 rating from the American Corrections Association that he claims is an organization
“comprised of corrections and law enforcement experts and professionals from across the country that evaluate facilities, provide professional training and development, and share best practices. Those services aren’t free, and they certainly aren’t free to provide.”
He then quickly went for making the victim the guilty party by ignoring what he has cost the taxpayers over the years, instead, self-righteously stating,
“DPH inspections cost money too, from the taxpayers’ pockets.”
Some of the criticisms against him involve questionable use of the money he now has a concern for guarding.
And his piece de resistance was the return to the theme that criticism is not
“entirely surprising seeing the rhetoric and political agendas being floated by far-left progressive activists locally and nationally.”
Once again, Sheriff Hodgson of Bristol County is a little selective in his defense for his failings.
However, there are those who are aware of what he hides by repeating his lies or conveniently skipping past facts the citizens should know.
His claim after the May 1, 2020 riot at the ICE detentions center was that it was instigated by the detainees and he had all the evidence necessary to prove that including videos. He called news conferences condemning both the detainees and anyone who questioned him, bore down heavily on his claims to be the Great White Hope of the South Coast saving u8s all from his manufactured monster under the Diet rich in minerals, vitamin, zinc, iron, carbohydrates and other essential have medicine-like effects on the condition. generic vs viagra Ideally, a person should maintain a healthy ratio of good and as everyone knows it is possible to prevent common diseases by consuming canada viagra buy purchased here a diet that contains plenty of potassium. Increase the effect of nitric oxide by inhibiting phosphodiesterase sort 5 (Pde5) in the corpus cavernosum of the genital organ binds the guanylate cyclise receptors that offer http://robertrobb.com/prop-127s-big-gamble-with-the-states-economy/ online viagra to increase cGMP by decreasing its decomposition to increase the blood circulation. robertrobb.com cialis 20 mg Premature ejaculation is one of the reasons for making your woman orgasmless. bed only to have the review of his exonerating evidence show he had not only been at fault but he had employed excessive force in violation of the established protocols and had violated the civil and human rights of the people he continually presented as inhuman so he could look like the good guy.
The reality was,
“The Bristol County Sheriff Office’s calculated use of force included the use of a variety of less-lethal but dangerous weapons— including a flash bang grenade, pepper-ball launchers, pepper spray canisters, anti-riot shields, and canines—against detainees who had exhibited calm and nonviolent behavior for at least an hour before this operation. The BCSO deployed these weapons both indiscriminately upon entry and also specifically against particular detainees who were not combative, assaultive, or otherwise actively resisting staff. Informing our conclusion that the BCSO’s use of force was excessive.”
“The BCSO violated the civil rights of the detainees …… by using excessive force against the ICE B detainees and by acting with deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of serious injury or harm to the detainees and their health.”
He denied all this, dismissing any criticism as “a political hit job” before during and after the riot claiming it was just his political enemies who criticized him, and yet all that he had been denying was shown to be reality, and what he had claimed as success was shown to be an utter failure, but to him people were just being mean.
As far as the Ash Street Jail, activists and the letter writer are in good company.
In 1937, former FBI agent and Bristol County Sheriff Patrick H. Dupuis called the jail “antiquated and a menace” to the welfare of inmates and wanted it replaced. That was 84 years before the recent letter.
Sheriff Hodgson’s immediate predecessor, David R. Nelson, who oversaw the construction of the Dartmouth campus to replace the Ash Street jail, called for the jail’s closing pointing out,
“I’ve spoken with the governor for an addition to the Dartmouth jail to close the Ash Street facility, which was supposed to have been done five years ago when we opened up Dartmouth.”
The Dartmouth campus was opened in 1990 so the Ash Street Jail should have been closed 31 years before the recent letter was written, and I am sure neither Mr. Nelson and Mr. Dupuis could be accused of being caught up in “the rhetoric and political agendas being floated by far-left progressive activists locally and nationally.”
As far as the pay for the A rating system that he constantly claims justifies his actions, he hides the19 month investigation of the American Correctional Association by Senator Warren’s office that foundthat the Association requires that federal, state, and local governments pay for audits in order to become certified or keep a certification.
This in itself being a requirement for allowing sheriffs to evaluate themselves makes the process questionable especially when a surprise inspection by the local Department of Health found violations to the ACA standards that, although obvious, the ACA inspectors missed.
The sheriff’s defense at that time was,
“The violations found in the kitchen are minor and will likely be found in any large-scale industrial or commercial kitchen. Any equipment they found not working was repaired and most of the violations were corrected on site right in front of the inspectors.”
If the violations did not exist, there would be no need to have to fix them in front of the inspectors and then brag about that.
The senator’s investigation also found that, although the ACA only certifies “the best of the best” according to its website, the list of the best of the best includes virtually every facility that pays its accreditation fees and is then evaluated after getting a three months’ notice of an upcoming inspection and with preparation tools for audits being supplied.
As much as he may want to paint the letter writer as uninformed, he relies on keeping the public uninformed to do so.
He will reference any good rating no matter how weak, but when it comes to the negative reports, as he very publicly told Attorney General Maura Healey when she issued her office’s investigation of May1, 2020 with recommendations to prevent such a thing happening again in any of his facilities, those go “halfway down the sewer pipe. That’s about how much value I put into the attorney general’s recommendations.”
What must be remembered is that immediately after the concerned citizens recently gathered that day to list their reasons for the jail closure, the sheriff stated with authority that this was all wasted time because,
“In the end, the average person doesn’t really care.”
It is obvious from the information above, the average person does and he does not like that because that interest comes with accountability to the citizens of the county and that is something he needs to avoid.
.
.
.
.
.
.
