PRISONER CROWDING IS CITED AFTER RIOT

Population Is Up Fivefold Since 1980

The weekend riot at the Middlesex Jail in Cambridge has put a
spotlight on overcrowding at Massachusetts jails, where the total
population has soared more than 500 percent since 1980 and has pushed
many institutions well beyond their capacity.

The Middlesex Jail, which occupies the 17th through 20th floors of the
otherwise vacant 22-story former courthouse on Thorndike Street, was
built for 161 people but has long exceeded that population. Last
September it held 415 detainees, nearly 2 1/2 times its capacity,
according to the state Department of Correction's most recent
quarterly report on overcrowding at prisons and jails.

"The fact of the matter is the jails are brutally overcrowded in
Middlesex County,'' said David W. White Jr., a Boston lawyer who
chaired a Massachusetts Bar Association task force that released a
study in April on overcrowding.

While the cause of Sunday's riot appeared to stem from detainees'
concerns about a possible swine flu outbreak, prisoner advocates and
jail officials said severe overcrowding is also creating tremendous
stress in detention centers across the state, making violence more
likely.

"We have a facility that was built for 160, and yesterday we had
403,'' Scott Brazis, superintendent of the jail, said yesterday. "When
you have a place that is just so overpopulated . . . [disturbances]
can happen at any facility at any time across the country, and this
facility is no different.''

Other county facilities whose populations last September were well
beyond capacity included the Bristol County jail in Dartmouth, the
Essex County jail in Middleton, and the Nashua Street jail in Suffolk
County, according to the state's quarterly report.

Bristol was at nearly four times its capacity, with 1,173 inmates;
Essex was more than 2 1/2 times its capacity, with 1,355 inmates; and
Nashua Street was more than 1 1/2 times its capacity, with 756
detainees, according to the report.

"It's obviously reached crisis proportions,'' said Leslie Walker,
executive director of Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, which
provides legal services to people in jail and prisons. She is among
several critics of the situation who contend that overcrowding stems
from state laws that impose mandatory minimum sentences for certain
drug-related crimes.

The number of pretrial detainees at county facilities and convicted
inmates at county houses of correction rose 522 percent from 1980 to
2008, according to the April study. The state prisons are also
grappling with overcrowding, with their population rising by 368
percent in the same period.

All told, more than 25,000 people are incarcerated in Massachusetts
jails and prisons.

State Senator Cynthia Stone Creem, a Newton Democrat, has filed a bill
for the third time that would seek to relieve overcrowding in houses
of correction and prisons by relaxing mandatory minimum sentences of
five to 10 years for people convicted of nonviolent drug crimes.

Under her bill, such inmates would be eligible to apply for supervised
parole once they completed two-thirds of their sentences. The
Massachusetts Sheriffs' Association has endorsed the bill in the past,
she said.

But the bill has garnered a mixed reaction from district attorneys.
Berkshire District Attorney David F. Capeless, president of the
Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, said it would do little
to relieve overcrowding.

He said statistics he recently saw from the state prison system showed
that only 3 percent of the convicted criminals sent to prisons and
houses of correction in 2007 had received mandatory minimum drug
sentences. Instead, he said, overcrowding stems from rising crime in
general. A more effective remedy, he said, would be to provide more
treatment for people with substance abuse problems who are responsible
for many crimes.

"I don't think the reaction to overcrowding is to let out people who
have been properly sentenced to incarceration,'' Capeless said.
"They're there for a reason.''

The riot at the Middlesex Jail on Sunday, say top officials there,
appeared to stem from concerns about swine flu.

On June 30, a detainee was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital
complaining of flulike symptoms. The detainee was treated and told in
discharge papers that he most probably had H1N1 influenza, or swine
flu. On his return to the jail, he was quarantined and given Tamiflu
and over-the-counter medicine.

Ten more detainees showed flulike symptoms Saturday and were moved to
a quarantine unit and treated with Tamiflu. Two correction officers
have also been diagnosed with flu. But none of the 13 cases was
confirmed as swine flu, said jail officials.

On Sunday, nine detainees apparently upset about the flu outbreak
"started acting out, throwing paper and trash,'' and then tore down
sprinkler heads and pipes on the 18th floor, Middlesex Sheriff James
V. DiPaola said. Water flooded several floors of the jail and cascaded
through elevator shafts to the basement.

Last spring, during a tour of the jail - which at the time housed 427
people - DiPaola called overcrowding a "consistent issue'' that has
plagued his 12-year tenure as sheriff. Prisoners are not only packed
tightly into cells but also sleep in corridors, a recreation center,
and a chapel. He has lobbied the state unsuccessfully to build a new
jail.

As a result of the flooding on Sunday, 193 of the most dangerous
detainees were evacuated and bused to the Middlesex House of
Correction in Billerica and to jails in Essex, Norfolk, Plymouth and
Suffolk counties, said Michael Hartigan, a spokesman for the sheriff.
About 200 detainees remained at the jail yesterday.

Authorities turned off the electricity at the jail Sunday because of
the flood. They restored power yesterday but were still repairing
water damage. The flood knocked down ceiling tiles and disabled elevators.