Sciortino concerned about sheriff’s proposal for new jail
By George P. Hassett

A preliminary plan to build a new Middlesex County jail in East Somerville is already prompting concerns from a local legislator.
    ‚ÄúThe investment of almost a quarter of a billion dollars into our jail system at a time when we have yet to restore severe cuts in funding for mental health and substance abuse programs concerns me,‚Äù state Rep. Carl M. Sciortino, D-Somerville, said.

    Middlesex County Sheriff James V. DiPaola said he needs a new facility to house prisoners because of overcrowding conditions in the Middlesex County jail in East Cambridge. The jail houses 370 inmates, but was designed for only 160, he said. The jail occupies floors 17 through 22 of the Middlesex County Courthouse, which is targeted for closing by the end of 2007 to undergo asbestos removal and a $125 million rehabilitation.
   Officials have toured several sites in East Somerville as potential replacements but it is still very early in the process, Thomas P. Champion, spokesperson for Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, said. DiPaola said the jail could cost $250 million to build.   
  Sciortino said he agrees that the existing jail must be rehabbed.
  ‚ÄúDoes that mean we have to supplement it with another jail costing $250 million? A better investment of that money would be to see if we could find a cheaper, more humane way to deal with people who may just be in need of basic services to deal with substance abuse or mental health issues,‚Äù he said.
   DiPaola said he agreed with Sciortino that building more prisons will not solve any crime problems and that prisoners are in need of improved services.
   ‚ÄúI agree philosophically with the people who oppose building more prisons,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúWe‚Äôre not going to incarcerate ourselves out of a crime problem and we need to do more to give prisoners the help and care they deserve. But I can‚Äôt do that in a crowded, aging facility. The conditions people are living under are unacceptable, the humane thing to do is build more jail space.‚Äù
   Sciortino said he is concerned that increased jail space will lead to increased incarceration for non-violent offenders in need of substance abuse and mental health treatment.
   ‚ÄúThe more we increase bed capacity, the easier and faster it will be for those beds to fill up,‚Äù Sciortino said. ‚ÄúI would much rather invest our time and our resources to find out why we have these excessive incarceration rates.‚Äù
    The benefit for Somerville of a new jail would be DiPaola‚Äôs plan to include a new Somerville Police headquarters in the building. The current station is the subject of a lawsuit by over 60 city employees who say it is filled with molds that are causing their health problems.
    But the Patrolmen‚Äôs Union has voiced their opposition to the plan, maintaining it has more to do with politics and DiPaola‚Äôs ambition of creating his own police department than with helping the Somerville Police Department.
    Susan Mortimer, a 30 year Somerville resident and anti-prison activist, said a jail is not what the city needs.
   ‚ÄúBuilding a jail to cage 600 people is not a way to build a healthy community,‚Äù she said.