| Subject: Baystate Closing |
Author:
Paul L.
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Date Posted: 05:10:27 03/26/15 Thu
Plans under way to move inmates out of Bay State Correctional Center in Norfolk
Panel rejects prison plan
TOM MAGUIRE
Sign for the Bay State Correctional Center in Norfolk. (Staff photo by Tom Maguire)
Posted: Wednesday, March 25, 2015 10:30 pm | Updated: 1:56 am, Thu Mar 26, 2015.
BY JIM HAND SUN CHRONICLE STAFF | 0 comments
NORFOLK — The state intends to start moving inmates out of the Bay State Correctional Center in Norfolk starting next month as part of a consolidation effort.
Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Dan Bennett told the House Ways and Means Committee the inmate population statewide is dwindling and there is an excess of cell space in the system at this point.
Moving the inmates out of the medium-security prison in Norfolk would help the department reach its goal of cutting $21 million from its budget.
“We have a lot of additional space,” State House News quoted Bennett as saying to the committee. “We have a lot of cells that are not being used, so because of that we have a lot of units that are closed.”
The department says the system’s inmate population is down by 1,000 to 10,300 statewide.
State Rep. Shawn Dooley, R-Norfolk, said there are enough empty beds in the correctional system to handle all of Bay State’s inmates.
A member of the Ways and Means Committee, Dooley said he was concerned about the move because the state could change the use of the prison to one which could require more services from the town’s public safety departments.
“One thought was to consolidate prisoners with medical issues there,” Dooley said in an email.
“I expressed to him my concern that this would create a further burden on the public safety, namely ambulance and advanced life support services. And, I asked that he meet with myself, Fire Chief Coleman Bushnell and Town Administrator Jack Hathaway as soon as possible to discuss options and to ensure that it would not have a negative effect on the town.
“My worry is that even greater prison calls for ambulance service would mean more time when the citizens have to rely on call backs and mutual aid. Resulting in more expenses for the town and longer response time.”
Bay State Correctional Center on Clark Street, with a capacity of 320 inmates, is different from the nearby MCI-Norfolk. It has both long- and short-term inmates, many of them elderly, according to the department’s website.
A spokesman for the state agency could not be reached for comment because its telephones were apparently not working and it did not respond to an email.
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