Prisoners’ Rights Group Sues Bristol County Sheriff Over Segregation Cells

January 9, 2018 Rhode Island Public Radio By Lynn Arditi A not-for-profit prisoners’ rights group is suing Massachusetts Bristol County Sheriff’s Office for holding prisoners with serious mental illness in segregation cells. The class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday in Bristol County Superior Court, in Fall River, claims that prisoners with mental illness have been locked in cells […]

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 […]

Patients call Plymouth addiction center a mere jail

December 2, 2017 The Boston Globe By Maria Cramer and Felice J. Freyer In recent years, as the opioid crisis has deepened, the number of people who have turned to the court system for help has skyrocketed. Under a state law known as Section 35, a judge may commit into treatment anyone with an addiction […]

A Turnaround: At last, decency at Bridgewater

September 14, 2017 The Boston Globe By Yvonne Abraham Just like that. For decades, Bridgewater State Hospital was a hellhole, the heinous treatment of mentally ill inmates there the subject of countless exposes and lawsuits. Yet, though this place was the moral shame of Massachusetts, nothing ever changed. Until, quite suddenly, it did. Who knew this could […]

Inmate’s apparent suicide in Bristol County jail renews concerns about sheriff

June 15, 2017 Boston Globe By Chris Burrell and Jenifer McKim Bristol County officials are investigating the apparent suicide of a 47-year-old inmate at the county jail in North Dartmouth, prompting renewed criticism of the jail’s management under Sheriff Thomas Hodgson. The death of Michael Ray, of Fall River, on Saturday is the second suspected […]

Amid State House Debate, Play Confronts Solitary Confinement

March 24, 2017 WBUR By Deborah Becker Massachusetts is one of a handful of states that allows inmates to be held in solitary confinement for up to 10 years. But next week, lawmakers will review changing that. Amid that debate comes a play from a New York playwright that will be staged right on Beacon […]