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| Mass. Sheriff Offers Inmate Work Crews as Towns Struggle with Budgets |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 01/27/2003 |
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Massachusetts officials met with Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson last week to discuss a proposal to use inmate work crews and deputies to help communities make up cuts in state aid. Hodgson, a Republican who has come under fire from civil rights advocates and labor unions for reinstituting chain gangs, said the current economic situation made it important for government agencies to share resources. ''There's a lot of creative things we could be doing,'' Hodgson said. ''We've got to lean on each other.'' Towns and communities could lose up to 10 percent of their state aid under a plan proposed by Gov. Mitt Romney to help close a projected $450 million to $600 million shortfall. Officials from eight Bristol County towns attended the meeting to discuss everything from sharing bulk purchasing to the use of inmate work crews for certain municipal tasks. They agreed to meet again early next month. Hodgson said deputies, who are required by contract to perform at least eight hours a year of community service, could help communities bridge some gaps in services brought on by budget cuts. Michael Gagne, Dartmouth's executive administrator, said the town will be careful to avoid having inmates or deputies do work covered by collective bargaining agreements. But he said he would accept an offer by Hodgson to rehabilitate two recycling trucks the town was given by the state. He said the work, if done by inmates, will save the town from $6,000 to $10,000. The town would lose about $600,000 if 10 percent of local aid is cut for the rest of the year, he said. About 1,100 inmates are housed at the jails operated by the Bristol County Sheriff's Department. Of those, about 150 are eligible to participate in work programs. About 125 inmates are part of prerelease crews, which are made up of people near the end of their sentences, while about 30 are in tandem crews, more heavily supervised groups made of inmates who are in for longer sentences but have no history of violent or sexual crimes. Last year the crews worked on 288 projects, including painting and landscaping, for a total savings to communities of just over $2 million, according to Hodgson's office. Labor officials said they continue to oppose the inmate work program. Inmate participation on the work crews is voluntary. |
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