NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Daniel E. Bosley, candidate for Berkshire County sheriff, further expanded on plans for a regional lockup facility and criticized his opponent for his stance opposing this.

"A regional lockup facility would save money for our cities and towns in these tough fiscal times, would give the Berkshire County House of Corrections an additional revenue source and would put more police officers on the street rather than spending time guarding prisoners," Bosley said. "My opponent's opposition to this idea shows that he doesn't understand how this system or budgets work."

Bosley said that at the present time, any police force in the county has to watch over people who have been arrested.

"That means that we are taking police off the streets to watch prisoners in towns all over the county. I would rather keep these officers on the streets by bringing all prisoners to one facility and having people with an expertise in this area watching them." 

The current state representative pointed to Hampshire County, which has a regional facility. "The Hampshire County jail charges a per-capita fee of less than a dollar a year to cities and towns and a charge to the state for state police prisoners for this service. For that minimal fee, the sheriff transports prisoners to the regional lockup, and the towns don't need to watch, feed, provide medical care for prisoners, nor keep police off the streets. A regional facility is a good deal for both the jail and cities and towns.

"This is the kind of innovative thinking we need to make sure we have the resources to do the job and to ensure that our cities and towns are safe. This is part of my plan as to how we can do this. Given our budget situation in Massachusetts, we need to be thoughtful and innovative. We need to offer up a vision of how we will perform as Sheriff and not just offer vague platitudes about collaboration."

Bosley went on to say that if the state built a facility for the sheriff's office, it could be used to make positive changes to the present facility.

"We could use the opportunity to move the woodworking shop from an area where it is virtually unusable to make it more productive and conducive to training inmates in skills that will help them find jobs and stay out of jail in the future. That makes us all safer. We could also install an area in anticipation of video arraignments. This is an idea that I have pushed in my campaign. It is an idea that works in other states. The court budget is in a desperate situation. The courts are laying off employees and closing courts, even here in Berkshire County. Now is the time to advance this idea to save money for both the courts and the jail. I will be ready day one with ideas that will take advantage of these opportunities."