November 18, 2005
 
SJC to rule on jail transfers
Conte vs. the state prison system

By Milton J. Valencia TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
 
WORCESTER— Disagreements between the district attorney’s office and the state prison system will head to Massachusetts’ highest court, with state correction officials arguing a judge has no authority to force county jail inmates onto the state prison system.

The state Department of Correction is challenging Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte’s use of state law to send inmates who meet a certain criteria to state prison, to ease overcrowding at what has been called a bursting-at-the-seams Worcester County Jail and House of Correction. Under the law, inmates who are awaiting trial can be sent to a state prison if they have already served a felony sentence in the state system.

Mr. Conte’s office invoked the state law in August, after the county jail’s population swelled to more than 1,400 inmates at the West Boylston facility. Jail officials had first asked the district attorney to consider allowing inmates charged with minor crimes to be released on lower bail or personal recognizance, to free up space. The request came after a weekend that saw a sudden spike in the jail’s population, forcing the jail to have inmates sleep on mattresses on floors.

Jail officials embraced Mr. Conte’s plan to invoke the state law, and the measure was approved by Superior Court Judge John S. McCann without a hearing.

State prison officials appealed the next day, however, arguing a judge has no authority to force the inmates onto a state system they said has its own overcrowding woes. The state DOC abided by the initial order to transfer 40 inmates, for what were called security reasons, but sought an injunction in Superior Court. After a hearing, Judge McCann reaffirmed his ruling, and then did so again after the state asked him to reconsider in a separate hearing.

Jeffrey A. Turco, deputy superintendent of the jail, said yesterday that the state appealed the judge’s ruling and that a single justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court referred the case to the full bench. A hearing is scheduled for January, he said.

“Obviously, in light of the overcrowding, it is critical to the safety and security of the running of this operation that this decision brought by the district attorney and our office prevail in” the SJC, Mr. Turco said.

Since the law was first invoked in August, 102 inmates have been transferred to the state system, Mr. Turco said. Under an agreement with state officials, a cap has been set so that no more than 60 county jail detainees are housed in the state system at one time. Mr. Turco said state officials have contested the use of the law but have agreed for security reasons to accept the inmates while appeals are processed.

Still, the jail’s population yesterday was 1,413 inmates; its rated capacity is 822 inmates.

State officials were not available for comment yesterday, but had previously argued that neither the county jail, district attorney’s office nor a judge has the authority to force the inmates onto the state system. They said the law gives the state commissioner of corrections the prerogative to accept inmates who meet the criteria, but that it is the sole discretion of the commissioner.

In rejecting the argument, Judge McCann said the use of the law was acceptable because of the “critical mass” of overcrowding the Worcester County jail faced.
 
September 18, 2005
 
Jail transfers 25 more inmates

WORCESTER — Another 25 pretrial detainees at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction were transferred to the state prison system last week under court order.

The transfers, approved Tuesday by Superior Court Judge Kenneth J. Fishman, were requested by Sheriff Guy W. Glodis and District Attorney John J. Conte as part of an effort to relieve the crowded county jail in West Boylston. The prisoner population at the jail, designed to hold 822 inmates, swelled last month to more than 1,400, an all-time high.

State law allows for the transfer to the state prison system of inmates awaiting trial at a county jail who have previously served state time.

The district attorney said the state Department of Correction, which opposed the Aug. 16 court-ordered transfer of 40 pretial detainees from the jail, has since agreed to accept up to 60 such inmates at a time. Of the 40 prisoners transferred to the state system last month, five have either been released from custody or their cases were resolved in court, leaving room for the additional 25 inmates transferred this week, Mr. Conte said.

Sheriff Glodis is seeking state funds for a major jail expansion project.
 
August 27, 2005

Judge explains inmate transfer ruling -
‘Critical mass' in overcrowding at jail


Author: Richard Nangle, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
 
WORCESTER - A Superior Court judge who allowed the overcrowded county jail to transfer some of its inmates to state prison says Massachusetts law permits a Superior Court judge to order the state to accept any pretrial inmate who has already served time in a state prison on a felony conviction.

In a six-page memorandum explaining his ruling on the transfers, Judge John S. McCann said longstanding overcrowded conditions at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction in West Boylston have reached "critical mass."

He disagreed with the state commissioner of correction's argument that she had the sole authority to decide whether to accept or remove pretrial detainees.

"A plain textual reading of the statutory language does not support the commissioner's interpretations," Judge McCann said in the memo, which was released Wednesday. The statute in question was most recently amended in 1973.

Judge McCann on Monday reaffirmed his order that the state prison system accept 40 county jail prisoners who were transferred from the West Boylston jail last week. All were awaiting trial and all had previously served time in state prison. The jail, with a capacity of 822, had seen its population balloon to 1,402 inmates on Aug. 15.

District Attorney John J. Conte sought the court order from Judge McCann after expressing concerns about releasing inmates to ease overcrowding. Inmates were forced to sleep on blankets and on floors until the sheriff could buy new mattresses.

Sheriff Guy W. Glodis reacted to the ruling by asking state lawmakers to approve a $45 million to $90 million jail expansion, arguing that the Worcester County Jail is the only one in the state not to expand its housing capacity in the last decade.

The state Department of Correction appealed the order, arguing that it has the discretion to reject the transfers and has its own overcrowding issues. Judge McCann denied the commissioner of correction's objection, however, and said his reasons would be explained in a Memorandum of Decision, now released.

Paul J. Henderson, a spokesman for the state Department of Correction, said the commissioner is reviewing the memorandum and will have a statement on Monday or Tuesday.

Sheriff Glodis met with state legislators from Central Massachusetts yesterday to discuss adding money to a capital bond bill for one or two new units. Each unit would cost about $45 million and house 250 prisoners who need to be segregated for disciplinary lock-ins, suicide watch or protective custody.

Sheriff Glodis had warned that if the project did not make it into this year's capital bond bill, it might have to wait two years.

"It was a very productive meeting," Sheriff Glodis said, adding that there was bipartisan support from lawmakers throughout Central Massachusetts for funding two new units.

Area state representatives will meet with the speaker of the House shortly after Labor Day to lobby for the jail expansion.

Sheriff Glodis said two new units would eliminate overcrowding while the addition of a single unit, "would alleviate it and bring it to a more manageable condition."

The jail has tried to reduce its numbers by quintupling those released with ankle bracelet monitors from 15 to 75; increasing the use of seven-day furloughs; and holding more video court bail review hearings.

Last week was the first time since Sheriff Glodis took office in January that the jail has sent detainees to the state prison system. In previous years, the jail routinely sent 30 to 35 eligible detainees to state prisons through an administrative process. But when Sheriff Glodis took office, the commissioner's office said the state facilities were too crowded to take any more detainees voluntarily, according to Deputy Jail Superintendent Jeffrey R. Turco.

The jail has compiled a list of 11 more inmates who could be transferred to the state system, and may seek again to invoke state law on the matter.

The transfer of county inmates into the state system prompted Ronal C. Madnick, head of the Worcester chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, to suggest that state prison was an inappropriate option for detainees who have not been sentenced. He called for more drug counseling sessions and programs and lower bail for nonviolent offenders.

Contact Richard Nangle by e-mail at rnangle@telegram.com.

Monday, September 12, 2005
 
Lawmakers must address overcrowded prisons

 editorial Worcester telegram
 
Sheriff Guy W. Glodis, District Attorney John J. Conte and other officials alarmed over overcrowding at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction caught a break last week when Superior Court Judge John S. McCann correctly reaffirmed his order allowing the transfer of 40 county jail inmates to the state prison system.

On Aug. 16, the day after the jail’s population reached 1,402 — the highest ever, and nearly double the facility’s capacity of 822 inmates — Mr. Glodis and Mr. Conte properly invoked a state law allowing the transfer of pre-trial detainees who previously served a state prison sentence for a felony. Since then, the state Department of Correction has sought unsuccessfully to nullify the order.

The fact is, the county jail is part of the state prison system. It makes perfect sense to make inmate transfers within the system to ease severe overcrowding. For the safety of guards and prisoners alike, it also is not a bad idea to get some of the potentially dangerous criminals out of the West Boylston facility.

The judge’s decision buys some time, but chronic overcrowding needs to be addressed. Whether there is a need for the full $100 million jail expansion Mr. Glodis has proposed remains to be determined.

In the short term, several approaches to overcrowding may ease the situation. In some instances, where public safety is not an issue, alternatives to incarceration may be appropriate. Mr. Glodis already is exploring alternatives such as moving inmates into community correction programs or mental-health programs.

Given that a large majority of inmates at the jail are pre-trial detainees, aggressive efforts in the courts to speed up the pre-trial process would help. (Other “solutions,” such as arbitrarily reducing sentences after convictions and releasing inmates willy-nilly, would not.)

Alternative sentencing and other expedients may help. However, adding and maintaining adequate jail capacity must be part of the mix.
 
Thursday, September 1, 2005

State asks judge to reconsider inmate transfers

WORCESTER— While Sheriff Guy W. Glodis seeks legislative support for a $100 million expansion of the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction in West Boylston, the state Department of Correction is asking a judge to reconsider his order allowing the transfer of 40 jail inmates to the state prison system.

William D. Saltzman, a lawyer for the department, and Special Assistant Attorney General Nancy Ankers White filed a motion yesterday in Worcester Superior Court asking Judge John S. McCann to reconsider his denial of a department request that he vacate an Aug.16 order authorizing the transfer of 40 pretrial detainees at the county jail to the state system.

The 40 inmates had all served time in state prison. The sheriff and District Attorney John J. Conte sought the transfers in an effort to relieve overcrowding at the West Boylston facility.

At an Aug.17 hearing on the department’s motion asking Judge McCann to rescind his order, Mr. Saltzman argued that the law gave the commissioner of correction the discretion to accept or reject such transfers. Assistant District Attorney Ellyn H. Lazar-Moore disagreed with Mr. Saltzman’s interpretation of the statute and argued that the law gave judges the authority to order the transfer of pretrial detainees from one institution to another “to remedy emergency situations such as the one faced by the jail currently.”

In denying the Department of Correction’s request that he lift the transfer order, Judge McCann rejected Mr. Saltzman’s reading of the statute in question and said overcrowding at the county jail had reached “critical mass.”

Mr. Saltzman and Ms. Ankers White argue in the motion for reconsideration that an analysis of the legislative history of the law warrants the conclusion that the Legislature did not intend to give Superior Court judges the “administrative authority” to compel the commissioner of correction to accept the transfer of pretrial detainees from county jails into the state prison system.

A court spokesman said yesterday that Judge McCann had been given a copy of the motion and had not decided whether he would hold a hearing on it.

Sheriff Glodis has asked legislators to add up to $100 million to a pending state capital bond bill for two modular housing units at the county jail that would hold a total of 500 inmates. The population of the West Boylston facility, designed to hold 822 inmates, reached an all-time high of 1,402 two weeks ago, jail officials said.
 
August 23, 2005

Judge backs jail transfers
State ordered to take county inmate overflow

By Jacqueline Reis TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER— Hours after a Superior Court judge ruled yesterday that the state prison system must accept prisoners from the overcrowded Worcester County Jail and House of Correction, Sheriff Guy W. Glodis said that he will ask state legislators for $45 million to $90 million for an expansion at the West Boylston facility.

Superior Court Justice John S. McCann ruled yesterday that the state prison system must accept 40 Worcester County Jail and House of Correction inmates who were transferred out of West Boylston last week. The detainees were all awaiting trial and previously had served time in state prison.

Judge McCann had ordered them transferred last Tuesday at the request of Assistant District Attorney John J. Conte and Sheriff Glodis after the jail population reached 1,402, well over its capacity of 822 inmates.

The state Department of Correction appealed the order, arguing that it has the discretion to reject the transfers and has its own overcrowding issues. Yesterday, Judge McCann denied the commissioner of correction’s objection. The brief order did not give the judge’s reasoning, but said his “reasons will be explained in a Memorandum of Decision that will be issued forthwith.”

Paul J. Henderson, a spokesman for the state Department of Correction, said the department would not comment on the issue until the judge issues his memo.

Sheriff Glodis said he is grateful for the ruling. “We’re the most overcrowded county jail in the state,” he said. “It’s an option that we like to have in crisis situations.”

Last week was the first time the jail exceeded 1,400 inmates, and it forced officials to buy mattresses from Middlesex County corrections supplies, Sheriff Glodis said. “This is the only county jail that has seen no expansion or addition to their housing in the last decade, but at the same time, our inmate population has spiraled upward,” he said.

Because of that combination, he said, Judge McCann’s ruling will not set a precedent for other facilities in other counties to ship their prisoners into the state prison systems. “Those systems are not in the dire need that Worcester County is,” he said.

Sheriff Glodis plans to meet with state legislators from Central Massachusetts on Friday to discuss adding money to a capital bonding bill for one or two new units, each of which would cost approximately $45 million and house 250 inmates who need to be segregated for disciplinary lock-ins, suicide watch or protective custody. If a project does not make it into this year’s capital bond bill, it might have to wait two years for the next bond bill, Sheriff Glodis said.

Adding capacity is “a last resort tactic,” he said. The jail already has tried to reduce the population through measures such as quintupling the number of people released with ankle bracelet monitors, from 15 to 75; increasing the use of seven-day furloughs, and increasing the use of video court to make bail review hearings easier, Sheriff Glodis said.

Mr. Conte said Judge McCann’s ruling “temporarily eases a tremendous burden at the jail,” but that the real solution lies in more beds at the jail, more programs, and more attempts to reach people at a very young age.

“We’ve had intense law enforcement and prosecution for a number of years now, so the overcrowding is not going to slow down. As a matter of fact, many people who go to the neighborhood crime watch groups… get the message that there should be more people incarcerated, not less,” Mr. Conte said. “We have a scarcity of beds, we have a scarcity of programs, and we have some unrealistic programs out there that aren’t working. That’s the real situation.”

He noted that the district that the jail serves has gained 78,000 residents in the last five years, which adds to the jail’s burden.

The 40 detainees who were transferred are awaiting trial on charges that range from murder to receiving stolen property, according to the district attorney’s office.

Last week was the first time since Sheriff Glodis took office in January that the jail has sent detainees to the state prison system. The jail routinely sent 30 to 35 eligible detainees to state prisons through an administrative process before this year, but when Sheriff Glodis took office, the commissioner’s office said the state facilities were too crowded to take any more detainees voluntarily, according to Deputy Jail Superintendent Jeffrey R. Turco.
 
August 21, 2005

Inmate levels bedevil officials
Jail festers with overcrowding
 
WEST BOYLSTON— The transfer of inmates to the state prison system may be a Band-Aid for overcrowding woes at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction, but the move will do little to remedy what has been a longstanding problem at the West Boylston jail, officials said.

With inmates forced to sleep in receiving rooms and use blankets as mattresses last week after a spike in the jail’s population, inmate advocates are now probing an issue known all too well by jail officials: the need for a long-term plan to house prisoners.

“If the sheriff’s even concerned about it … it shows there’s a serious problem,” said Jim Pingeon, a staff lawyer with the Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, an inmate advocacy group. He said reported conditions in the jail — that inmates are sleeping on floors and are double-bunked in small cells — are “troubling.”

“It’s a violation of constitutional principles,” he said

The American Civil Liberties Union has raised the concerns before. In March, Ronal C. Madnick, director of the Worcester County chapter, sent a letter to jail officials calling for other methods to sentence inmates, such as home confinement or stringent probation, to free space at jail, which he noted has a history of overcrowding.

Last week, Sheriff Guy W. Glodis and District Attorney John J. Conte achieved a quick-fix to a recent surge in the jail’s population, a spike the sheriff said threatened public safety, by invoking a state law allowing for the transfer of inmates awaiting trial to the state prison system. The inmates who fall under the law must have served time for a felony in state prison and be held awaiting trial on separate charges.

On Tuesday, after being contacted by the jail, Mr. Conte secured a court order to transfer 40 inmates who met the criteria. It was a quick-fix for a jail faced with housing 1,402 inmates, its highest-ever population — close to double its capacity of 822 inmates.

The plan has already run into controversy, however. The day after the law was invoked, the state Department of Correction appealed the order, arguing the court had no authority to impose the law on the state system.

A lawyer for the state argued the commissioner of correction has the sole discretion to reject or accept the transfers, and said allowing the court to impose an order would cause an undue hardship on a jail system facing its own overcrowding.

Judge John S. McCann is expected to make a ruling this week. In the meantime, the prison system, abiding by the initial order while the appeal is pending, has accepted the 40 inmates to assist in what a state official said is a public safety issue.

County jail officials said that, if the ruling is in their favor, they will continue to transfer inmates to the state prison system who meet the state law criteria, as a remedy to reduce overcrowding.

Still, officials acknowledge the state law will only serve as a temporary measure to help at a jail Sheriff Glodis said is “bursting at the seams.”

A jail official and District Attorney John J. Conte said Friday even if their use of the law stands, they may resort to an initial plan the sheriff had to ask the court for personal recognizance or a reduction in bail for nonviolent detainees awaiting trial, to free space at the county jail.

Mr. Conte and probation officials opposed the plan last week, saying inmates had been ordered incarcerated for a reason, and they shouldn’t be released simply because of a problem in the jail system.

“It’s just that people don’t want these criminals in their community,” said Mr. Conte, explaining his opposition to the plan to ask for a bail reduction and his desire, instead, to invoke the state law.

However, he acknowledged the jail still faces overcrowding even with the transfers to the state, and measures need to be taken.

A jail official said Friday that the population was 1,349 inmates, not including the 40 detainees who were already transferred.

Of that number, 484 were sentenced inmates, and 865 were detainees awaiting trial.

“It’s an untenable position,” said Jeffrey Turco, deputy superintendent of the jail.

Mr. Conte and jail officials said there must be a long-term plan to construct a new facility. Mr. Turco said a 1,000-bed expansion would be necessary to handle the overcrowding and the forecast need for more space.

Inmate advocates have opposed the construction of a new facility, saying it will fill up with inmates just as quickly. They proposed long-term plans to help rehabilitate inmates, noting drugs and alcohol play a role in most of the crimes that put the inmates in jail.

Mr. Madnick, the ACLU director, said the courts should play a role in helping to reduce the jail’s population by ordering quicker trials and using alternative sentencing measures, such as drug counseling instead of jail time.

In the letter he sent in March, Mr. Madnick said a new facility would do nothing to cut down on the number of prisoners at the jail.

He noted that in 1989 the capacity was 478 prisoners, but there were still 659 at the county jail.

When he wrote the letter in March, the capacity was 822, but the jail still had 1,306 inmates.

“The history of the (jail) is that new buildings are filled to overflowing levels, resulting in the same overcrowding that existed before,” Mr. Madnick said in the letter.

Mr. Madnick warned then, too, “prisoners can not easily be transferred to other prisons in the state because they are also overcrowded.

“The best solution is to reduce the prison sentences at the (county jail),” he said, calling for funds for other programs, such as drug counseling, he said will cut down on recidivism.

But jail officials and Mr. Conte said even with modern jail reform and intensive drug counseling, there will still be a need for beds.

Most prisoners have been through the counseling process already, Mr. Conte said, calling jail the “tail end of the system.”

“There are very few people with minor charges,” he said. “The jail is the tail end of the system. Quite honestly, most of the people in jail have been through the system.”

He also said there’s a scarcity of the type of drug counseling programs inmate advocates have cited.

“That’s not going to solve the problem. The problem is critical and the solution is more beds,” Mr. Conte said.

Contact Milton J. Valencia by e-mail at mvalencia@telegram.com.
 
August 19, 2005

Judge won’t alter prisoner transfers

 By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
 
WORCESTER— The fate of 40 county jail inmates transferred to the state prison system under court order Tuesday remained unclear yesterday, as a judge took no action on a Department of Correction request that he rescind the ruling.

At the request of District Attorney John J. Conte, Superior Court Judge John S. McCann issued an order Tuesday that allowed the transfer to the state prison system of 40 pretrial detainees at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction in West Boylston who had previously served time in a state prison. The district attorney sought the transfers on behalf of Sheriff Guy W. Glodis to ease overcrowding at the county jail.

William D. Saltzman, a lawyer for the state Department of Correction, filed a motion Wednesday asking Judge McCann to vacate the transfer order. Mr. Saltzman said the state prison system is facing its own overcrowding problems, and argued that the law under which the transfers were made granted the commissioner of correction the discretion to accept or reject such transfers.

Assistant District Attorney Ellyn H. Lazar-Moore disagreed with Mr. Saltzman’s interpretation of the statute, and asked that the transfer order stand. The assistant district attorney, who received a copy of Mr. Saltzman’s motion just before Wednesday’s hearing, was given until the end of the day to file her written opposition.

Judge McCann gave Mr. Saltzman until yesterday to file a supplemental brief if he chose to do so.

The judge did not rule yesterday on the correction department’s request to vacate the transfer order.
August 18, 2005

State asks to undo jail transfers
40 inmates moved to state prison system
 
By Gary V. Murray and Milton J. Valencia TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
 gmurray@telegram.com
 
WORCESTER— The state Department of Correction asked a judge yesterday to rescind his day-old order allowing the transfer of 40 inmates awaiting trial at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction to the state prison system to ease overcrowded conditions at the West Boylston facility.

Judge John S. McCann took the request under advisement after a hearing in Worcester Superior Court, saying he expected to issue a decision today or tomorrow. He declined to stay the order, pending a ruling in the case.

The order issued Tuesday at the request of District Attorney John J. Conte and Sheriff Guy W. Glodis allowed the transfer to the state penal system of 40 pretrial detainees at the county jail who had previously served time in state prison. All 40 were moved into the state prison system. The transfers were sought because the population at the jail, which was designed to hold 822 inmates, had swelled to more than 1,400 as of Monday, creating what the sheriff called a public safety threat. Inmates were forced to sleep in receiving rooms and the jail’s medical facility, and used layered blankets as mattresses.

The request for the transfers was seen as an alternative to asking the court to release pretrial detainees on reduced bail or personal recognizance, previously considered by jail officials as a last resort. A probation official and the district attorney opposed that move, and on Tuesday, Mr. Conte invoked the state law allowing for the transfer to the state system with court approval.

During yesterday’s hearing, William D. Saltzman, a lawyer for the Correction Department, and Ellyn H. Lazar-Moore, an assistant district attorney, offered conflicting interpretations of the statute under which the transfers were ordered.

Mr. Saltzman argued that the law gives the commissioner of correction the authority to accept or reject the transfer to the state prison system of inmates awaiting trial at a county jail who have previously served state time.

In support of his argument that such transfers are discretionary under the statute, Mr. Saltzman noted that the Legislature used the word “may” in reference to transfers from a county jail to a state institution and “shall” in reference to court-ordered transfers from one county jail to another.

While the Department of Correction has voluntarily taken pretrial jail detainees into state custody in the past, the court lacks the authority to order it to do so, Mr. Saltzman told Judge McCann.

Mr. Saltzman said allowing courts to decide if transfers should take place will allow county sheriffs across the state to use the law as solutions to their own overcrowding.

He also told the judge that the timing of the transfers, which have already taken place, was “horrendous,” given the overcrowding problems faced by the state system.

Accompanying the motion to vacate the order was an affidavit by Acting Commissioner of Correction James R. Bender in which he cited “overcrowded conditions” in the state prisons that he said were compounded by the recent forced closure of the Department Disciplinary Unit at the state prison in Walpole because of a malfunctioning cell-door locking system.

Ms. Lazar-Moore disagreed with Mr. Saltzman’s interpretation of the law. When read as a whole, she said, the statute conveys to judges the authority to order the transfer of pretrial inmates from institution to institution “to remedy emergency situations such as the one faced by the (county) jail currently.”

Because the assistant district attorney did not receive Mr. Saltzman’s motion until just before yesterday’s hearing, Judge McCann gave her until the end of the day to file her written opposition. In the meantime, the Department of Correction has accepted the county jail’s 40 detainees to abide by Judge McCann’s initial order.

Sheriff Glodis has complained of overcrowding at the jail before, and sought help from Mr. Conte’s office Monday after the population swelled to 1,402 inmates, the highest the population has been at the jail. The sheriff said the increase was a sudden spike and the transfers were an emergency.

The jail’s population was 1,350 on Thursday night. By Friday night, it increased to 1,392. And by Monday, it was 1,402. Sheriff Glodis said he was told by the previous administration that the jail was in critical stages when it has 1,330 inmates.

The sheriff has worked to reduce the jail’s population since taking office in January, placing more inmates in community corrections programs and mental health facilities. He has also sent letters to area trial judges asking them to consider the jail’s population when setting bail or sentencing an inmate, saying there should be consideration for home confinement or other probation measures.

The sheriff and Mr. Conte have also called for expanding the jail, saying that even with home confinement measures and jail reform efforts, such as more drug counseling programs, more space will be needed. The last expansion of the jail was 11 years ago, and officials have said the West Boylston jail is the most overcrowded in the state.

In 1989, a consent decree was approved in federal court capping the number of inmates that can be housed at the county jail, the result of a civil rights case brought on behalf of inmates.

Jeffrey Turco, deputy superintendent of the jail, said the decree is antiquated because it was approved before the expansion 11 years ago and covers only a fraction of the current facility. He said jail officials plan to petition the federal court to modify or vacate the decree.

Still, he acknowledged yesterday that the jail has not followed the decree, and that some of the units covered under the federal agreement now house double their capacity. There’s still no space, he said.

Before Tuesday’s hearing, jail officials initially proposed personal recognizance for 20 inmates held in lieu of relatively low cash bail while awaiting trial, or to have their bail reduced. The list of potential candidates for release included inmates charged with crimes ranging from disorderly conduct to breaking and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony.

However, the proposal was opposed by Mr. Conte and a probation official who were concerned about placing inmates ordered incarcerated on probation instead because of overcrowding.

Hearings similar to the one jail officials initially proposed were common in Worcester Superior Court in the early 1990s, when crowded conditions forced then-Sheriff John M. Flynn to routinely ask that pretrial detainees be set free so that the jail could remain in compliance with the consent decree.

Some inmates released at that time were later charged with committing new offenses while out of custody, including one who was charged with murder.
 
August 17, 2005

Jail sends 40 to state prison
Law cited to reduce crowding
 
By Gary V. Murray and Milton J. Valencia TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
 
WORCESTER— Sheriff Guy W. Glodis and District Attorney John J. Conte invoked state law yesterday to transfer 40 county jail inmates still awaiting trial to the state prison system, to ease overcrowding the West Boylston facility.

The sheriff’s office first proposed reducing bail or considering personal recognizance for inmates charged with minor crimes, to release them to free space in the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction.

It was considered a final option after the state Department of Correction refused to voluntarily accept inmates, citing its own overcrowding. But Mr. Conte, opposing the release of any inmates ordered held on bail, cited state law giving his office and the jail the right to seek a court order for the transfer.

Judge John S. McCann allowed the request without a hearing.

“They’re incarcerated for a reason,” Mr. Conte said.

Under the law, a person in custody awaiting trial who has previously served a state prison sentence for a felony may be transferred by the commissioner of correction to a state institution.

When yesterday’s request was made, 40 pretrial detainees met the criteria, and their transfer was approved. However, the Telegram & Gazette learned last night that the Department of Correction plans to appeal the order. State officials asked the jail to transfer only 20 inmates last night, so accommodations could be made for the other 20 and while the appeal is pending.

Still, jail officials said the law is clear and they expect to transfer the remaining 20 inmates today. Also, the sheriff’s office expects to continue working with the district attorney to transfer any inmate who comes to the county facility and meets the criteria under the law.

At issue is a recent spike in inmates awaiting trial being sent to the county jail. Sheriff Glodis has raised concerns of crowding before, but said the population Monday night was 1,402, the highest ever at the jail and close to double its capacity of 822 inmates.

Since taking office in January, the sheriff has worked to reduce the jail’s population, placing more inmates in community corrections programs and mental-health facilities. In January, there were 14 inmates in the community corrections program — where inmates are supervised by a citizen sponsor and wear monitoring bracelets — and now there are 52. Inmates have been added to a work release program, too. And the sheriff has sent letters to area trial judges, asking them to consider the jail’s population when setting bail or sentencing an inmate.

Still, the sheriff has stressed the overcrowding continues and creates a public safety threat, lumping inmates together and creating a tense atmosphere. A fight that led to an inmate’s death recently was blamed in part on overcrowding, with the sheriff saying inmates are stressed from being crammed into cells and facilities are understaffed.

The sheriff has pushed for the construction of new facilities, saying that even with the implementation of programs typical of modern jail reform, such as drug counseling for inmates and an increase in community corrections for minor offenders, there will still be a need for new beds.

“We need emergency action now,” the sheriff said yesterday. “It’s a very dangerous environment, and becoming more and more of a public safety crisis.”

He said the jail was recently forced to cram inmates into receiving rooms and the jail’s medical center. Inmates slept on layers of blankets over the weekend until mattresses were brought in from the Middlesex County sheriff’s office on Monday.

The jail’s population was 1,350 on Thursday night. By Friday night, it was 1,392. And by Monday, it was 1,402.

“We take the population as it comes,” said Jeffrey Turco, deputy superintendent of the jail. He said the problem was taken to Mr. Conte’s office Monday.

Jail officials initially proposed personal recognizance for 20 inmates held in lieu of relatively low cash bail while awaiting trial, or to have their bail reduced. The list of potential candidates for release that was provided to the court included inmates charged with crimes ranging from disorderly conduct to breaking and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony. The list was forwarded to Mr. Conte and Thomas A. Turco III, chief probation officer in Worcester Superior Court, for their review before the scheduled hearing.

However, the proposal met opposition from Mr. Conte and Mr. Turco of probation.

It was anticipated that at least some of the inmates chosen for release would be placed on pretrial probation, a move that Mr. Turco said would put a strain on his department, as well as other probation departments in Worcester County that would be responsible for their supervision. He noted the conditions placed by judges on pretrial probationers were often more stringent than those imposed on people who are put on probation after being convicted.

Mr. Conte opposed releasing people charged with crimes, and said the state law that was invoked was favorable to all aspects of the criminal justice system.

“The alternative is to release these criminals to the streets,” he said, “and I don’t think anybody wants that.

“We in the district attorney’s office oppose the release of criminals back to the community who have been incarcerated.”

Ronal Madnick, head of the Worcester Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said he opposes the transfer to state prison, because detainees face a harsher system, particularly because those transferred still haven’t been sentenced.

He said the ACLU has pushed for more drug counseling sessions and programs and lower bail for nonviolent offenders. Also, he opposes the construction of new jails, saying they will be overcrowded as quickly and there will be no effort to address the long-term problem of drug and alcohol abuse that led to incarceration.
 
August 1, 2002

 Court blasts Worcester DA for failing to imprison rapist

by Jack Sullivan

The state's highest court yesterday lambasted Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte for botching the case of a convicted rapist who has not spent a day in prison despite being sentenced in 1988 to 10 years behind bars.

In the ruling denying a motion by the victim in the case asking that her attacker be forced to serve his time, the Supreme Judicial Court said James J. Kelly should have been imprisoned while his appeal was running its course.

But the court laid the blame for the delay squarely in Conte's lap, citing the ``tortured procedural history of the case.''

``The record provides no plausible excuse for a delay,'' Justice Robert Cordy wrote in the opinion. ``(I)t is incumbent on the Commonwealth to take some action to resolve the case. The rights of the victim and the public to finality demand more than the Commonwealth has produced here.''

Debra Hagen, the victim who now lives in Florida, said she felt vindicated that the SJC rapped Conte's office for how they treated her while coddling the defendant.

``It infuriates me,'' said Hagen, who was raped 16 years ago by Kelly, her uncle through marriage and her father's best man. ``I'm glad (the SJC) at least said (Conte) did wrong. They did mess up, badly. I really hope this doesn't happen to anybody else.''

Assistant District Attorney Harry D. Quick III said he did not see the criticism directed specifically at Conte's office but rather the entire court system. Quick said prosecutors have accepted some blame for the delays in the appeal as well as the case getting ``lost in the cracks'' for three years and the lapse in filing to revoke the stay of execution.

Kelly, 73, of Leominster was convicted in October 1987 of raping Hagen in a cemetery after driving her there under the guise of visiting his father's grave.

He was sentenced to two concurrent 10-year terms and a five-year term at MCI-Concord.

Kelly, whose attorney did not return a call for comment yesterday, continued to get stays as his appeal foundered in the system and at least twice, judges cited his failing health as a reason for him remaining free.

Last summer, the Herald photographed Kelly doing house work and yard work without use of the walker he brought into one court appearance as well as smoking cigarettes despite claiming heart problems.

But between 1988 and June 2001, Conte's office did not file motions to revoke Kelly's stay of sentence. Last fall, Kelly was denied a motion for a new trial and has appealed that decision.

In part of the ruling affirming Hagen's rights, Cordy wrote that ``victims should be permitted an opportunity to address the court directly.''

Wendy J. Murphy, Hagen's attorney, called the decision a ``watershed moment for victims' rights'' despite not getting the result she asked for.

``This is day one of a whole new approach to the criminal justice system where the victim will have a place at the table,'' said Murphy. ``The most important thing is for victims to be heard. The court has held open a welcome seat at the table for victims.''

But while Hagen said she was pleased to lay the groundwork for future victims, she still wants to see Kelly serve his time. She said she is anxious about what the Appeals Court will decide.

``That one scares me,'' she said yesterday.

``But I can't give in now. He would win. Every night I've lost sleep for the last 17 years will have been for nothing.''