Feb 7, 2008 11:34 pm US/Eastern
Jail Cell Doors Swing Open Across Massachusetts
Prison Overcrowding Crisis Prompts Early Criminal Releases
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
Hundreds of convicted criminals have been released in recent months as overcrowding in Massachusetts prisons reaches critical levels.
As the courts step in to deal with the problem by letting criminals go free, sheriffs and local police demand something be done before someone gets hurt.
Worcester County Sheriff Guy Glodis said politicians on Beacon Hill are not listening, and the alarm bells are blaring.
"So if you are dealing drugs, you are thinking maybe, I won't have to do the time," Glodis said.
"It is only a matter of time before some jails across the Commonwealth are forced to release an inmate early who should not be released, that goes and commits a dangerous and heinous crime," Glodis said.
In Worcester County over the past 90 days, Glodis has been forced by the federal courts to release some 300 inmates.
Why are the federal courts ordering the prisoner releases?
They say the conditions are inhumane. At one point, there were 1,500 inmates in a facility built for half that number, so the alternative is to let them out early.
"The message is you can commit the crime and not do the time, and that presents a problem for local police departments," said Worcester's police chief Gary Gemme.
Since inmates started walking out of jail in October, Gemme says crime has spiked.
Break-ins in the Vernon Street neighborhood have soared some 200 percent. In the Main Street neighborhood they've shot up 100 percent, and on Greenwood Street they're up 50 percent.
Even miles away in quiet neighboring Spencer, recently released inmates are being re-arrested by local police.
"From the standpoint of a local police chief, I pretty much feel like my hands are tied," said Spencer police chief David Darrin.
Around the state it's the same story. At the Middlesex County Jail in Cambridge, overcrowding is so bad that inmates now sleep in the work out room.
Extra bunk beds line the hallways, and the chapel is being dismantled to make way for more prisoners.
The Patrick Administration is vowing to spend $450 million over the next five years to avert a crisis. They admit the problem is huge.
"In Framingham, for example, in the women's facility we have a facility where women are awaiting trial is 300 percent over crowded, so this a real challenge across the state," said Lt. Gov. Tim Murray.
It's something Chief Gemme lives with and worries about everyday.
"Some of these people are dangerous individuals," he said.
That's the scary part, police say. Some of these people are dangerous. To be clear, this is not a new problem but has been simmering for decades.
While the Patrick administration has a long range plan to address overcrowding, the short term picture is not promising.
The fact is, going to jail has gotten a lot harder and the bad news is the criminals know it.
Police said judges are lowering bail on people who have been arrested because they know there is no place to put them. The Worcester police chief said recently that a car full of armed individuals were arrested and all released on relatively low bails the next day.
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