New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
At approximately 9:30am, this morning a riot broke out at the Dartmouth House of Corrections after inmates in a housing unit allegedly decided that they were not going to be relocated elsewhere in the facility.
The relocation of inmates was taking place after nationally recognized expert on suicide prevention in correctional facilities Lindsay M. Hayes expert review in March concluded that the facility take steps to make it more suicide-resistant.
Hayes spent three days on-site at both the House of Corrections in Dartmouth and the Ash Street Jail in New Bedford. He began his review with a walk-through with mental health clinicians visiting inmates on suicide watches.
Bristol County Sheriff’s Office staff tried to contain the full-blown riot over the subsequent hours and the Dartmouth Fire Department was called in at one point.
Details of the incident are expected to be forthcoming by new Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux and BCSO Public Information Officer Jonathan Darling could only be vague in an official statement:
“The Bristol County Sheriff’s Office is taking steps to make the facility more suicide-resistant.
Part of this process is moving inmates to different housing units. Friday morning, some inmates in one of the housing units did not want to move, leading to the current incident.
Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux will brief the media today at some point. Public Information Officer Jonathan Darling will share more details as they become available.”
