PRINT THIS PAGE | E-MAIL THIS PAGE

Friday, March 10, 2000

Boston transfers 140 inmates to Texas

By DAVE HOWLAND Associated Press Writer

BOSTON (AP) - State prison guards roused 140 Massachusetts inmates at the stroke of midnight Sunday and put them on a plane to Texas - a move officials said was needed to stem dangerous overcrowding.

The medium-security inmates were sent to a jail in Dallas, where they joined about 300 other men transferred from five Massachusetts prisons 16 months ago.

"It's a matter of security," said Department of Correction Commissioner Larry DuBois. "We can't continue to have these huge overcrowding problems within our medium-security facilities."

The inmates, hands and feet chained, were loaded into 13 vans and a bus and escorted to Logan Airport by state police with lights flashing.

They were flown by a chartered 727 plane to Dallas' Love Field, where they were taken to the Lew Stererett Justice Center.

But the move was criticized by prisoner advocates who say the transfers violate the rights of inmates and their families.

"It's not possible for them to visit," said Jill Brotman, head of the American Friends Service Committee in Cambridge. "Having family members incarcerated is difficult enough, but to have the person 1,800 miles away, suddenly, is absolutely devastating."

Brotman, who has led a weekly vigil at the home of Gov. William F. Weld to protest the original transfer, staged another protest Sunday with families of inmates.

One of the 40 protesters, Renee Lebrun, said she went to the prison Sunday morning to visit her fiancee only to be told that Jason Patry had been sent away.

"I was devastated," Lebrun said as she cried. "I didn't get to say goodbye, I didn't to get to bring him food or money."

Several families filed lawsuits against the state following the original transfer.

DuBois said he was aware of families' concerns and was expecting more lawsuits. But he said safety is more important than keeping inmates close to home.

Corrections department spokesman Tony Carnevale said the state's medium-security prisons are at about 170 percent capacity. MCI-Concord was at more than 300 percent capacity, with inmates doubling up in cells, he said.

DuBois described the transfer as a short-term solution. But he said at $42 per inmate per day in Dallas - about half the cost of incarceration in Massachusetts - the new cells are a bargain.

Brotman said state officials are to blame for the overcrowding because they have stuffed medium- and maximum-security prisons with inmates who qualify for minimum security facilities.

She also charged that the Dallas jail is substandard, has unhealthy food and lacks programs many inmates need to satisfy the parole board.

Carnevale dismissed Brotman's arguments. He said most of the transferred inmates are far from being eligible for parole and added that the prison, while in the middle of the city, has good food and adequate space for recreation.

"You have some advocates that aren't happy unless we throw the doors open for everyone in prison," he said. "It's their job to have inmates in the least restrictive environment possible."

With Sunday's transfer, the population at the Concord prison - originally intended for 514 inmates - dropped from 1,327 to 1,187.

DuBois said there are no immediate plans to transfer more inmates. About 60 of the original 299 transferred to Texas in 1995 were returned and some were deported to Mexico. He said the state plans to return about 80 inmates from Texas, leaving a total of about 300 Massachusetts prisoners in Dallas. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
Send the URL (Address) of This Story to A Friend: