BISHOP FINDS ASH STREET JAIL CONDITIONS A 'GROWING CONCERN'

FALL RIVER -- The situation at the Ash Street jail in New Bedford is a
"growing concern," Bishop Sean P. O'Malley said in an interview.

"I think the whole approach to prison needs to be looked at," the head of
the Fall River Diocese told The Standard-Times editorial board last week.
The bishop said he doesn't want to second-guess Bristol County Sheriff
Thomas Hodgson and his new get-tough policies, but he said the current
Catholic chaplain at the jail is concerned about the tension there.

Bishop O'Malley said perhaps prisoners not considered security risks could
be afforded more time outside their cells. Sheriff Hodgson has said
prisoners are locked down 23 hours a day for their safety.

The bishop said it is important to treat prisoners with dignity, while at
the same time maintaining discipline at the jail. He said more can be done
to address prisoners' addiction and psychological problems and to raise
their education level and job skills.

He applauded work-release efforts and recalled that as a young priest and
prison chaplain he once started a painting business to help rehabilitate
inmates. Touching on other subjects, Bishop O'Malley said: Welfare reform,
though needed, has caused some "upsetting" problems for the state's poorer
families. The human impact should be weighed, along with seriousness of the
crime, before deporting an immigrant. The diocese has seen an increased
demand on its food pantries.

HERE ARE EXCERPTS FROM THE STANDARD-TIMES' CONVERSATION WITH BISHOP
O'MALLEY AT HIS OFFICE IN FALL RIVER:

Q. Have you been following the situation at the Ash Street jail with the
23-hour lockdowns in place?

A. Somewhat. I am not entirely apprised of what is going on. But it is a
growing concern. I understand more guards are being hired and I understand
that is a step in the right direction. I think the whole approach to prison
needs to be looked at. I don't know if a local county is in the best
position to do that. I worked as a prison chaplain for two years myself. I
have always been involved in prison ministry since then. In my former
diocese we only had 10 churches but I always considered the prison my 11th
parish. I had Mass there once a month. Most of the prisoners were Catholic
so they were my people ...

Q. Do you feel the prison systems are taking the right approach?

A. With addiction problems, unemployment, it is so costly to warehouse
people, there has to be a better way to deal with this. I had heard that
the sheriff's office is getting more and more people on work-release
programs. I applaud that. When I was a prison chaplain there was no
work-release program. No one was allowed out on parole until they were able
to secure a job. You know how hard it is to get a job when you can show up
in your best outfit, hair combed and everything. But when the return
address is the county lockout, you know ...

Q. So what happened there?

A. In my youthful enthusiasm I started a painting company to hire people so
I could take them out of prison. I, of course, knew nothing about painting.
We were moderately successful, though, and managed to get a lot of
prisoners jobs and get them rehabilitated. But I knew nothing about how to
run a painting company. I put a touch on my dad for the money to get us
started, bought brushes, paints and ladders. When it came time to buy a
vehicle, with the amount of money I had the only thing I could afford was
this red station wagon that would only go in reverse. So at the first job,
we actually showed up going backwards until we had money to repair the car.
Those are the kinds of issues I think somehow we have to come to grips
with. How to prepare them for a job. How to get people back into the
community to help them to deal with the drug problem which is often the
source of the crime. ... The more the prisoners are out working in these
work-release programs, the more opportunities they have to be in contact
with the people. I think a lot of fear about hiring prisoners is overcome
that way. If local communities can give some kind of tax incentives to
business who work with prisoners, that is also important.

Q. The sheriff is keeping people in Ash Street locked down 23 hours a day.
He also has stopped the Bible program and the Alcoholics Anonymous program
for people awaiting trial. It was done, he said, to avoid security
problems. How do you feel about this?

A. I do not want to try and second guess him. I think it is necessary to
try and determine who the security risks are and treat them accordingly.
The other people who are not a security risk should be afforded time
outside of the cells. It is a very tense situation. The chaplain there is
very concerned. Father Matt Sullivan is the chaplain and has been there for
years. He is certainly a seasoned prison chaplain and knows the ropes of
prison very well.

Q. Are you in touch with him on a regular basis?

A. I just said Mass last week for the Feast of Three Kings for the
Spanish-speaking prisoners. I was there before Christmas for the English
Mass at Dartmouth. The Mass before Christmas there were 1,400 people and
they had to bring extra guards. In the past they have brought prisoners
from the other facility to the Mass but I think this year it was certainly
not the case.

Q. You have been in Ash Street many times. Former Sheriff David Nelson
wanted to close that down. The current sheriff wants to keep it open to
deter people from going there. How do you feel about that?

A. I do not think prison should be luxurious or a place where people want
to get into because they are struggling on the outside. On the other hand,
I think there are certain amenities and standards set that are connected
with human dignity. Part of the way we reach the prisoners is to teach them
about themselves. Hopefully, if we treat them in a human way it is also an
object lesson for them on how to treat other people. Sometimes they come
out of very violent backgrounds. Sometimes they have a very low self-image
of themselves and that is why they have problems with drugs and alcohol. I
don't think it should be a country club. There should be discipline. I am
interested in learning more about these boot-camp-type prisons they have
started in some places for first-time offenders. I don't think it
necessarily wonderful to have prisoners sitting in a cell watching daytime
television as some sort of narcotic to keep them quiet. There are some
things we can be doing. I had a Mass there last week, and a number of
teachers came up to me who were teaching GED to the prisoners. They seemed
like wonderful people. The more we can do that the better. Certainly if the
government is not willing to underwrite the costs for something like that,
certainly I would lend the help of the church, organize volunteers.
Anything we can do to raise the educational level or job skills of people
in prison and help to deal with the addictions and psychological problems
they have, it is an important way to stop the sacrilege.

Q. What is the state of demand on your Catholic Social Services agency at
the present time?

A. Our cities are still hurting and we need more jobs. It is not only the
unemployment situation but the most recent developments from the government
response. Certainly we find more and more people coming into the pantries
for food. We cannot keep the food pantries filled.

Q. How many food pantries do you have?

A. There are at least five or six. Certainly the parishes use vouchers to
send people regularly to get groceries. The demands on the social services
have increased. I don't think it is because unemployment has increased. It
think it is more because of the government help decreased.

Q. How do you feel welfare reform is working? Is it having the desired
affect?

A. I think there was a lot which needed to be reformed in our system. I
think a lot has been done with consideration of the bottom line rather than
the welfare and safety of our families, particularly the children. The
bishops of the state of Massachusetts do have someone in the Massachusetts
Catholic Conference trying to study the results of changes in the laws.
This will be publicized eventually. It is a big source of concern.
Obviously, we would like to see a welfare system that encourages people to
enter the job market, encourages families to stay together and is able to
provide health insurance coverage for children. I think there has been a
lot of disincentives in the old system that needed to be corrected.
Obviously, just weaning people off welfare without helping people get off
is upsetting.

Q. Have you seen many changes in the immigrant population in the last
couple of years?

A. In the diocese certainly the Brazilians have been coming to the Cape and
more people from Central America -- not terribly large numbers, but we have
noticed them moving in with more frequency.

Q. Are these folks outside of publicly provided social services?

A. I would say most of them. It had been growing but I have the impression
it is tapering off compared to the last two years.

Q. To what degree are these folks being exploited because of the lack of
status leaving them at risk?

A. For any undocumented worker there is always a risk. I think that it is a
very serious problem when private agencies, churches, hospitals, police
stations are somewhat cooped into being agents of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service. This is not our job. I am not suggesting the U.S.
should not have an immigration service. I think it is necessary. We need
always to try to have just laws and to enforce them. But I think the INS
should be the ones enforcing those laws. If a woman who is undocumented is
raped or mugged and she cannot afford to go to the police because they will
ask for a green card, or she has a child with a high fever and they can't
take it to the hospital because the social workers will ask for a green
card, I think it is wrong. Those kinds of situations often put undocumented
workers at a greater risk than being exploited by unscrupulous employers.

Q. Has the INS ever requested cooperation from the diocese?

A. I think they know better. However I understand that in the hospitals or
sometimes police forces are asked. I think it is counterproductive.

Q. How do you feel about criminal deportations?

A. I have mixed feelings about it. It is certainly a discretionary thing.
They do not have to deported. There can be exceptions made for families.
When someone has lived here almost their whole life, and we deport them to
a country where they cannot speak the language and almost all of their
family is here, I am just ... I am not against deporting criminals. But in
those cases you have to look hard and long and really weigh how serious was
the crime and the human impact it will have, not just on the individual but
the family. I know of a man from Bolivia who came here as a baby in the
arms of his parents. He was deported for exposing himself. It was a
compulsion. He was sick. But his wife was not Bolivian, his children, his
parents were all here. He had never been to Bolivia, he barely spoke
Spanish but he was deported. I think a lot of these things have to be taken
into account. If they are legal residents they do forfeit their rights to
be here for committing a crime but I think there are some things that need
to be weighed. I know this is becoming a problem in the Azores. You have
people going there who do not know the language, have no skills, no family.
Technically, they were not Americans but they were raised here.

Q. Will the weekly Sunday television Mass remain on the air?

A. The Mass will remain on the air, although I must say I ran a television
station in the West Indies for what it cost me for the half hour. It is not
free, but it will remain on the air.