Violence at Bristol County jail over COVID-19 tests
Conflicting reports on what happened, but officials estimate $25,000 in damage
By 
ICE DETAINEES being held at the Bristol County jail on Friday night resisted efforts to transport them as a group to be tested for COVID-19, but what happened next was unclear as correction officials and reports from inside the facility gave conflicting accounts.
According to Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson’s office, the sheriff was “rushed” by a group of detainees who were experiencing COVID-19 symptoms but were refusing to be tested. The office said the detainees barricaded themselves in the unit, “ripping out washing machines and pipes off the wall,” causing $25,000 worth of damage.
A spokesman for the sheriff’s office said correction officials regained control and the detainees were moved into single cells in another area at the North Dartmouth facility. The detainee unit, where the jail holds undocumented immigrants for the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, is now empty.
Rev. Annie Gonzalez Milliken, a pastor with the Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network, gave a different account. She said she got a call from a detainee in the unit around 6:30 p.m., who handed the phone off to Marco Battistotti, an immigrant detainee housed at the facility. Battistotti previously signed a letter in March to public officials asking them to assist in the release of detainees to house arrest due to concerns about COVID-19 spread in tight quarters.
In a statement, the sheriff’s office said a group of 10 detainees in the B Wing of the detention center reported to medical personnel having multiple symptoms of COVID-19 on Friday, but refused to get tested.
Corrections officers, special response team members, and the K9 unit entered the facility with Hodgson. “Our medical team alerted me, and I advised the detainees that for their health and the health of their fellow detainees and our staff, they needed to be tested at the medical unit,” said Hodgson. “The detainees refused to comply, became combatant, and ultimately put the lives of themselves and many Bristol County officers at risk with their reckless actions.”
No Bristol County personnel were injured in the incident. Three ICE detainees were transported to the hospital – one for symptoms of a panic attack, one for a pre-existing medical condition, and another for a medical incident after being removed from the ICE wing. “All three are expected to be fine,” said the sheriff’s office statement.
Attorney Ben Haldeman had been visiting some of his clients at the facility earlier in the day, and was driving home to Connecticut when he received a call from advocates saying there was “a situation” at the jail. He turned the car around and arrived just as several ambulances entered the grounds. Corrections officers approached the car and asked him and another attorney, Ellen Messalli, to leave the premises or be arrested, according to video footage. They moved across the street.
“They wouldn’t tell us reason for lockdown. Once we parked across from jail across prison property, Sheriff himself pulled over and asked who was taking video and saying that that wasn’t allowed. I kept mentioning I was concerned about the safety of my client in there,” said Haldeman.
Congressman Joe Kennedy III called for an immediate, independent investigation into reports from victims, lawyers, and immigration advocates that “Hodgson and his deputies assaulted a group of ICE detainees held at the facility.” He told Commonwealth that every detainee present last night should be given immediate access to counsel and called for public release of any surveillance footage.
Some 48 ICE detainees have been released from Bristol County as a result of an ongoing lawsuit brought by Lawyers for Civil Rights. The suit seeks the release of detainees due to concerns over the coronavirus spreading throughout the population. No detainees have tested positive for COVID-19. Several staff members have.