The Massachusetts House voted 120 to 35 this past Wednesday, 05/24/17, in support of Representative Antonio Cabral’s H 3034 which prevents the use of inmate labor beyond the borders of Massachusetts.
The objections to this came from Republican members who argued that existing law addresses the issue.
The law to which the Republican referred allows work release programs “within the commonwealth” and allows inmates to provide services for “municipalities within the county”. However, if one thinks about it, if the existing law is so clear on this, why would a county sheriff, someone who should know the laws related to county jail inmates, announce at his January swearing in,
“I’m making a formal offer to President-elect Trump, that inmates from Bristol County and from across the nation, through Project N.I.C.E., will help build that wall.”
Either the law is not that clear, or Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson has simply decided to ignore it.
Sending them to Texas for public relations or a bid for a position in the Trump administration is not allowed.
This ignorance of the law, even on the part of a county sheriff, or its vagueness is why Antonio Cabral explained,
“It (H 3034) makes it very clear what can and cannot be done. This is really about state money being spent on state programs, and that’s really the message.”
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Although Minority Leader Brad Jones, a North Reading Republican, said the bill sought to solve a problem that did not exist, apparently it might be about to exist unless the sheriff was merely grandstanding and had no intention of following through.
Jones attempted to delay a vote by attempting to send the bill to the Ways and Means Committee for an analysis of potential savings or avoided expenses, and by attempting to create a commission to study the bill’s cost and effectiveness.
Both attempts were shot down.
Ironically, in objecting to H 3034, Sheriff Hodgson said the bill would “show once again that personal political agendas are more important than keeping our citizens and legal residents safe.”
However, wouldn’t ignoring the existing law in such a public way also fit this description as his plan is based on his pro-Trump, attention getting political agenda and his example that laws can be simply ignored?
The House was to take up another Cabral bill, but this was postponed by Democratic leaders after members raised a number of unspecified questions.
This other Cabral sponsored bill, H 3033, that would prevent state money from being used to execute agreements where state and local law enforcement are trained to act as federal immigration agents, was put on hold for now. But since such programs referred to in the bill would mean using local funds to pay for the training, something the federal government should do as it is a federal program, it has a good chance of passage after some further discussion.
Thursday must have been a tough work day at the County jail as the sheriff had to be looking for some cats to kick around.