Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson on Saturday morning said that he was angered members of his staff were put at risk during an altercation Friday between correctional officers and detainees that left a detention center facility “uninhabitable.”
The sheriff also criticized Congressman Joe Kennedy III, who has called for an independent investigation of the incident. Hodgson during a press conference said that the congressman has not reached out to him to find out what happened.
Hodgson said that 10 detainees of the B wing in the C. Carlos Carreiro Immigration Detention Center in North Dartmouth reported to medical personnel that they felt multiple symptoms of COVID-19.
The detainees refused to go to the medical unit for testing, according to Hodgson, who said the detainees “rushed violently" at him and corrections officers, barricading themselves inside the facility, ripping washing machines and pipes off the wall and breaking windows.
“These are the same people who have been calling their attorneys, advocate groups, saying that they need to be released because they’re going to get contaminated and it’s dangerous in here," Hodgson said during the live-streamed press conference.
Hodgson said the detainees acted out as a tactic and were encouraged by advocacy groups.
“My staff, who leave their homes every day and put themselves at risk, taking care of very difficult populations in this institution, are put in a situation where they’re going to be at a higher risk of having harm done to them and also the detainees and that inmates that were charged with protecting," he said.
However, advocates and attorneys have described another scene, in which terrified detainees were attacked.
Organizers from the Fang Collective wrote in a statement that the detainees in the B wing were assaulted and pepper-sprayed after requesting to remain in their own unit to be tested for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
The sheriff said that he was in the facility asking the detainees to go and get tested at the medical center. One person who had reported symptoms was on the phone did not respond to calls to go get tested. Hodgson said he reached out to grab the phone and that the detainee, who he described as a “con man,” started to yell, “stop hitting me, stop touching me.”
That’s when chaos ensued, according to the sheriff. Special response team members and the K-9 unit responded to the center.
Hodgson said that the testing needed to happen in the detention center in line with CDC and state department of public health guidelines.
Three detainees were taken to the hospital, one for symptoms of a panic attack, one for a pre-existing medical condition and one for another medical incident after being removed from the ICE wing. All three are expected to be fine, the sheriff’s office said. No Bristol County personnel were injured during the incident.
“What really troubles me more than anything is not just the fact that these advocates and these attorneys are pushing for these people to go back out into the community, but we’ve got judges that are encouraging these people to be released,” Hodgson said.
Kennedy has called for an independent investigation into the incident and has asked for public release of any surveillance footage. The congressman is also demanding that detainees in the unit during the incident receive immediate access to counsel.
“Given the conflicting reports coming from all involved, there needs to be an immediate, independent investigation into what occurred last night at the Bristol County House of Corrections," Kennedy said in a statement Saturday. “All people held at this facility deserve to be treated with humanity and dignity. We need an independent investigation and the release of surveillance footage to ascertain exactly what happened and ensure accountability.”
Hodgson said he thought Kennedy “ought to be ashamed of himself.”
“The only investigation that ought to be done right now is of people like Joe Kennedy and these members of Congress who’ve actually encouraged these people and supported them to come into the country illegally and then defended them as though they have a right to walk around our neighborhoods when they know that they’ve committed crimes against innocent people,” Hodgson said.
Hodgson said Kennedy did not call him to ask about what happened at the facility and encouraged Kennedy, who is running for Senate, to reach out.
Attorney Ira Alkalay said he was on the phone with a client during the incident.
While on his first phone call, Alkalay said his client seemed “pretty panicked” and started crying out like he was in pain.
Other clients also called Alkalay and several said things like, “they’re gonna kill us,” according to the attorney. Alkalay said his clients sounded terrified.
“From my perspective,” Alkalay said, “the sheriff directs these overreactions and provokes a situation where he can make it look like they have a reason to go in there and start pepper spraying everybody.”
Alkalay said the unit is one enclosed room.
“It’s mindboggling to me that the sheriff needs to go in there and start pepper spraying people during a global pandemic," Alkalay said, adding that one of his clients in the unit has a medical issue with his heart, and others in the unit have asthma.
Alkalay said his message for the sheriff is to “stop taking these situations and trying to escalate them into something that feeds his narrative that these people are a danger."
In the meantime, the sheriff’s office said it has moved detainees to single cells in the special housing unit, pending disciplinary action, COVID-19 testing and criminal charges.
Alkalay said he feels that decision risks the further spread of coronavirus.
“It will just mean more people moving around and interacting more and that’s not the wisest course of action right now,” Alkalay said.
It’s unclear if the COVID-19 testing has happened yet.
Hodgson said he’s never had a problem at the detention center before and said the incident unnecessarily tied up three ambulances.
“We commend the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office staff who responded rapidly and professionally to de-escalate a volatile situation, limiting injuries and further damage to the facility and restoring order," said Todd M. Lyons, the acting field office director, enforcement and removal operations, of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in Boston.
“We thank the BCSO staff for quickly restoring order at risk to their own safety and for protecting other detainees and correctional staff whose safety was put at risk by the hostile actions of this small group of detainees,” Lyons continued. “We continue to maintain our strong confidence in the professionalism of the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office staff, a vital partner in our effort to keep the community safe.”
Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, has also called for an independent investigation.
“Matters like these require transparency in order to ensure trust in government during a pandemic. That is particularly true where the leader of that institution has been accused of personal misconduct during the incident," Rose said in a statement. "The ACLU of Massachusetts also calls on Governor Baker to use his executive powers to establish safe, humane, and transparent protocols to make universal testing available for all jails, prisons, and ICE detention facilities throughout the state. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has an obligation to ensure basic human rights of people it holds in detention. During this time of pandemic infection, the state should allow people to safely self-isolate by releasing them or arranging for home confinement.”
A federal judge hearing a class action lawsuit has ordered some detainees of the unit to be released amid the pandemic. Other detainees have been voluntarily released by ICE.
So far, 48 detainees have been released, according to Lawyers for Civil Rights, which represents detainees involved in the suit.
“Sheriff Thomas Hodgson has long deployed inhumane tactics at [the Bristol County House of Correction], provoking frequent conflicts with inmates, lawsuits, and investigations, far more so than other jails in the Massachusetts Department of Correction system,” Lawyers for Civil Rights said in a statement Saturday. “His volatile leadership has once again created jeopardy for detainees and staff at BCHOC.”
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