'We had a volatile situation': 20 inmates removed from Bristol County House of Corrections after disturbance
DARTMOUTH - The Bristol County House of Corrections was on lockdown Friday after inmates caused significant damage to a housing unit in a protest over being moved.
The Bristol County Sheriff's Office said the inmates were being moved to make the jail more suicide-resistant.
"We had to do something about suicides. We had to shuffle people around. Some of the people didn't want to move. They caused a problem," said Sheriff Paul Heroux, who was sworn-in in January.
The incident was made possible by the layout of the facility, Heroux said. The sheriff describes it as similar to a college dorm where inmates can move freely within several locked units.
"We had a volatile situation where we had as many as 75-80 inmates that were agitated and they also did a lot of damage," said Heroux.
The sheriff said the housing unit did not have locks on the doors because there are no toilets in the cells.
He said 17 "ringleaders" in the unit "decided to stir the pot" and protest the decision to move them. The inmates caused an estimated $200,000 in damage.
"All the cameras on the ceilings have all been ripped off or covered up or smashed. The central control windows were broken, fans were broken, they started to destroy the beds," Heroux said.
The sheriff said things "started going sideways" at 9 a.m. and the inmates had a list of demands by 11:30 a.m.
"The list of demands, some were not possible," Heroux said holding up a copy of the demands at a press conference Friday night. "We couldn't accommodate all of these, but some of them we could. So, I responded in writing to try to deescalate the situation and as soon as they received the letter, they tore it up and threw it right back out the window."
Video from SkyEye showed windows being blocked with sheets and other items. At one point, someone sprayed a fire extinguisher out the window aimed at officers.
After trying several methods to deescalate the situation, the decision was made to enter the housing unit at about 3 p.m. Corrections officers wearing protective gear from five different jails and the Department of Corrections responded. They quickly took back the housing unit and there were no injuries to inmates or correctional officers.
"Some of the people were in there on murder charges. They did have a lot weapons," Heroux said. "You can take a Styrofoam cup and turn that into a weapon. If you melt it down, you can turn that into a plastic shank. The fans, the blades, they were able to sharpen those."
Several inmates were removed and detained outside on the basketball court with their arms behind their backs and on their knees.
The 17 inmates who were the "ringleaders", according to Heroux, were taken to other county jails throughout the state.
There was also damage done to a second housing unit, and three inmates from there were sent to jails in other counties.
There are about 600 inmates inside the minimum security prison. The district attorney will decide additional charges for the inmates involved in the incident. The sheriff said his next step is asking the state for more money to put toilets and locks on many of the cells inside the facility.