Opinion: Regarding Robert E. Bouley's letter of Oct. 8

Oct 9, 2022

To the editor:

Mr. Bouley thinks Sheriff Hodgson's cruelty equals "rehabilitation over recreation." Bouley goes on to say, "Taxpayers pay a lot already for inmates’ food, medical care, programming and other things. We shouldn’t have to pay more to make jail more fun." In what upside-down-world does Mr. Bouley live in, to imagine that jail in any form is fun?

When Sheriff Hodgson was interviewed for a documentary called "American Sheriff" he boasted of giving inmates substandard food and inadequate rations, a boast that Standard Times reporter Jennette Barnes confirmed when she visited the jail. Families of Bristol County inmates have been gouged with commissary fees and phone charges they can't afford. If this is "rehabilitation over recreation," Mr. Bouley has managed to wrap himself up in a fact-free bubble.

Mr. Bouley also has trouble with basic facts. For instance, the Constitution not once mentions the word "sheriff," as much as so-called "Constitutional Sheriffs" like Hodgson may lay claim to their often repeated reminders that sheriffs are an "Anglo-American" tradition. Mr. Bouley insists that sheriffs are the "highest-ranking law enforcement officers in every town, city, and county." 

Not so.

The roles of sheriffs vary in different states. In Massachusetts they simply run jails, serve papers, and evict people. The State Judicial Court has even ruled that deputies are not policemen. Sheriffs in the Commonwealth do not patrol communities — that's why we have police — and they can't be considered law enforcement officials because they don't enforce any laws other than within the jails they operate.

Mr. Bouley wants a "law and order sheriff" who is "tough on crime"? Great. Elect a DA and hire a police chief in your town — but don't look to a sheriff to do that. 

And let's be honest. Tom Hodgson doesn't even want to actually run his jail, as evidenced by the fact that he spends much of his time galavanting all over the U.S., making speeches with white supremacists and lobbying for hate groups, rather than running the jail — a terribly managed one with suicide and recidivism problems. And Hodgson treats his inmates so cruelly that he has lost numerous lawsuits and managed to get his prized 287(g) program taken away from him by the Department of Homeland Security.

I hope that voters better informed than Mr. Bouley will finally elect a sheriff to do the job that sheriffs are supposed to do — run the jail professionally while not harming inmates and their families.

Elect Paul Heroux next month as our next sheriff. We simply can't afford another six years of Hodgson's failed jail management.

David Ehrens,

Dartmouth