WBSMBy Kate RobinsonMay 17, 2022 The state’s highest court has affirmed today that Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson is legally authorized to collect revenues for his office through phone service fees. A May 2018 lawsuit taken by four people against Hodgson and county telephone contractor Securus Technologies had claimed that payments from the contractor to the sheriff’s […]
Can sheriffs collect lucrative commissions from inmate phone calls?
Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments in case seeking to limit fees Commonwealth MagazineOctober 27, 2021By Shira Schoenberg FOR YEARS, Bristol County Sheriff Tom Hodgson’s office collected hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in telephone fees paid by family members, attorneys, and others who received calls from county jail inmates. Similar structures are set up across the state’s county […]
Costly Chicopee jail phone calls criticized; Officials say revenue provides educational services
MassLive February 5th, 2019 AP CHICOPEE, Mass. (AP) — Jennifer Thurston’s family spends up to $50 a week on phone calls to stay in touch with her while she is in custody. It’s a lot for a family struggling with poverty and poor health. “My husband’s on disability,” said Thurston, an Adams woman serving time […]
Bristol County Report On Inmate Suicides Leaves Out Key Details
WGBH and New England Center for Investigative Reporting March 18, 2018 By Chris Burrell and Jenifer McKim Nine months ago, Kellie Pearson was driving in Fall River when she got a frantic call from her daughter telling her to call the Bristol County jail immediately. Pearson dialed and got an officer at the jail. “I knew,” […]
Lawsuits add up over Bristol County jail inmate suicides
March 9, 2018 The Boston Globe By Jenifer McKim and Chris Burrell Barbara Kice wants justice for her son, who hanged himself in 2015 in the Bristol County House of Correction. The jail, all by itself, accounts for more than a quarter of county inmate suicides statewide, and Kice thinks she knows why so many die: […]
Mentally ill inmates sue Bristol sheriff over solitary confinement
January 9, 2018 The Boston Globe By Maria Cramer Three inmates with serious mental illness filed a lawsuit against officials at the Bristol County Jail Tuesday, alleging they were placed in solitary confinement for at least 22 hours a day while receiving little treatment for their conditions. “It should be obvious to defendants and to […]