Options for Ash Street Jail closure up for debate

No definite decision has been made on the future of the Ash Street jail, Heroux said, but the best option may be one that the Dartmouth police chief does not support.

Heroux wants to close the 138-year-old Ash Street Jail in New Bedford in a money-saving effort.

His original plan was to move the inmates to the Dartmouth jail. But this would not be possible without state funding, which so far has not been approved. 

One of the roles of the Ash Street is to hold those who were arrested in 19 of the 20 Bristol County communities who are awaiting arraignment and either released on bail or held elsewhere to await trial. Only Acushnet has their own lockup.

With Ash Street closed, these individuals would be moved to the police stations in their respective communities. Dartmouth Police chief Brian Levesque said that placing them in the Dartmouth station would add extra costs to the department. 

Heroux has requested $10 million in grant funding from the state for upgrades to the Bristol County House of Corrections and Jail in Dartmouth, which has been denied three times. 

Without the money, the area which would be the regional lockup cannot hold prisoners. The law states prisoners cannot be locked in cells without a toilet, and currently the cells in this section do not currently have toilets. 

The money would be used to install toilets and locks, allowing Heroux to place prisoners in the cells. .

Heroux estimates that the lockup holds, on average, less than 10 people a day. He guessed around five to six, with it rarely going to 10 or 11 people a day. 

It is state law that all towns with over 5,000 residents must maintain their own lockup. Dartmouth has cells in their police station for a lockup, but Levesque pointed out that this would mean Dartmouth pays the costs associated with running a lockup. 

Currently, the Sheriff’s office is funding the lockup. This increases staffing costs by having to split staff between the Ash Street and Dartmouth Jail, which causes forced overtime. This is more expensive and increases turnover rates from burnout. 

In an Oct. 6 letter sent to the county police chiefs, Heroux listed five options for the lockup should the jail be closed; 

1. Keep the current arrangement: keep the Ash Street Jail open and operating as a regional lockup. 

2. Stop providing the regional lockup and move the staff and inmates to Dartmouth: this would mean that each town and city runs their own lockup, and all those awaiting trial and inmate workers would be moved to the Dartmouth prison.

3. The department can do something independent: the police chiefs can come up with their own solution.

4. The legislature provides a grant to fund necessary improvements: this would be the ideal situation. The state would provide the funds to add locks to the remaining cells in the Dartmouth Jail and the regional lockup and inmates are moved to the Dartmouth Jail.

5. The Sheriff hands the Ash Street Jail over to chiefs to run: the police chiefs manage the Ash Street Jail rather than the County Sheriff’s office.

Both Heroux and the police chiefs like the fourth option the best. But Heroux has applied for state funding three times and been rejected, so this option is not possible. 

He feels the final option is the most realistic, as the police departments could put the money they pay to run the lockup toward hiring people to continue to run the lock up and the Sheriff’s office would continue to pay for utilities and maintenance. 

However, Levesque stated that in a meeting of the police chiefs that there was no interest in the idea of transferring the management of the Ash Street Jail lockup from the Sheriff’s office to the chiefs. Levesque wrote a letter to the Select Board explaining why he is against this plan. 

Heroux has stated that Levesque’s letter is a “worst case scenario” of these plans and the closure is still being negotiated. Levesque said that the other options Heroux has given the police chiefs are not appealing. 

“What the chief presented was a worst case scenario and one I reject,” said Heroux. 

He added, “The status quo doesn’t work, we need to think of a new way to do things.” 

Levesque stated that he will not be a part of running the regional lock up from Ash Street Jail, and given the choice between helping with a lockup in Ash Street Jail or having a lockup run from the Dartmouth Police Station he will choose to have those awaiting their arraignment stay at the station. 

“It’s very old and I think it probably needs a lot of work,” he said. “It’s also way oversized for a regional.”

Levesque hopes that with the support of the other police chiefs as well town and city Select Boards, the State will reconsider the grant funding.