> Features > Pg 2 Feature Stories > Ashe tells Murray new jail needs more funding
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Ashe tells Murray new jail needs more funding
By G. Michael Dobbs
Managing Editor
CHICOPEE Lt. Governor Tim Murray wasn't at the new women's correctional facility nearing construction on the end of Center Street to give a speech Friday afternoon. He was there to listen to Hampden County Sheriff Michael Ashe and most of the area's legislation delegation explain why additional state aid is need to finish the facility.
Lending Ashe support were State Senators Stephen Buoniconti, Gale Candaras and Michael Knapik and State Representatives Joseph Wagner, James Welch, Michael Kane, Benjamin Swan, Angelo Puppolo, Sean Curran, and Mary Rogeness.
Ashe said this is the first new female facility in the Commonwealth built in the last 125 years, but when it opens in March it will be already over-crowded. Ashe explained the budget allocated by the state to build the facility did not include a 56-cell building.
Delays in the building the jail coupled with rising construction costs created a budget shortfall, Larry Lajoie of the sheriff's staff explained.
Ashe had contacted Governor Mitt Romney with letters in 2005 to assist in securing the necessary funds to complete the jail.
In order to build the structure, Ashe asked Murray and the legislative delegation to support an effort to bring an additional $8 to 10 million to the project.
Buoniconti explained, "that time is of the essence" the addition would be less expensive to build if construction could continue at the facility.
The new correctional facility will house the 211 women inmates currently incarcerated at the Hampden County House of Corrections in Ludlow. There are an additional 34 prisoners who would also be transferred to the new facility from Pittsfield.
According to a timeline released by Ashe, the new jail was first authorized by the state in 1996. Initially, funding of $25 million was approved in June of 2000. Ashe augmented the budget with a grant of $1.2 million in March 2002. Bids went out in 2003 with Fontaine Brothers of Springfield as the lowest bidder. The Commonwealth put the project on hold in the fall of 2003 due to a cap on state bonding.
The project was re-bid in December of 2004 with Fontaine Brothers once again winning the bid for a jail that did not include the 56-cell building in July 2005. Construction started in September of 2005.
"We're particularly excited to open what hopefully will be a regional model for women's corrections," Patty Murphy, the superintendent of the facility, said.
Sally Van Wright, assistant superintendent, explained the average inmate is a single mother who often faces addiction and mental health problems and who hasn't held a job. The facility will be offering 104 different programs to address various problems and to prepare women for release.
Wagner said, "To finish this in the right way is really important."
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> Features > Pg 2 Feature Stories > Ashe tells Murray new jail needs more funding
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