Ad Hoc Committee to Hold Sheriff Hodgson Accountable

Concerned citizens, and members of the Coalition for Social Justice, Marching Forward, and We Won’t Go Back have been meeting and sharing their research into Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson’s troubling behavior. We have testified at the State House in support of House bills 3033 and 3034, introduced by Rep. Tony Cabral. One would stop Hodgson from using taxpayer funds to recruit local people to work with ICE; the other would prevent him from sending prisoners to build the Mexican border wall–with or without their consent.

Sheriff Hodgson’s nativist views on immigration, repugnant as they are, are only one of the most troubling issues of concern with the current Bristol County Sheriff’s Office, (BCSO). Aside from his frequent absences from work, his political grandstanding and his cruelty (chain gangs, proposing to send inmates to build a Mexican wall, charging prisoners $5 per day), the sheriff recently unveiled a plan to deny families face-to-face contact with incarcerated loved ones and to replace visits with video contact only—no touching or physical contact of any kind. Families will later receive a bill for that “service,” which we see as cruel inhuman treatment.

BCSO inmates frequently report that the BCSO has starved them, withheld prescription meds, denied access to religious services, arbitrarily placed people in solitary confinement, refused air-conditioning to female prisoners, and subjected people to intense overcrowding. Now we hear the Sheriff has been targeting and harassing immigrants, and we want the proper officials to look into this abuse.

Meanwhile, the Boston Globe reports that Bristol County leads the 13 Massachusetts county jails in the number of inmate suicides. BCSO’s share of the state suicide rate is 25%, an astounding amount; the other 12 jails share the rest. The sheriff won’t release any data on the suicides, insisting on hiding behind “confidentiality,” which denies any real accountability for these deaths of people who are our community’s neighbors, children, family, and friends.

We intend to ask Attorney General Maura Healy to investigate the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office for mismanagement by a sheriff who seems to have many political priorities far more important than efficiently and humanely running a detention facility. In order for the request to reflect the broadest support of the community, we are asking members of humanitarian political and religious groups to come together to call for a fair investigation of the wrongdoings of this elected official, who is violating the oath he took when he was elected.

We are convening a planning meeting on September 5th at 6:00pm at 800 Purchase St., New Bedford (BCC, lower level) and hope you and members of your organization will attend. Please spread the word and respond to either Marlene Pollock, Pollock929@gmail.com (or call 508-982-8751), or Maria Fortes, beebeefortes@aol.com (or call 508-415-8685). Or just show up!!!

Please join us,
The Ad Hoc Committee to Hold Sheriff Hodgson Accountable.