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Date: 8/30/2022
NORTHAMPTON – Candidates for the Hampshire County Sheriff race faced off for the final forum ahead of the Sep. 6 State Primary Election.
The event was jointly sponsored by the Amherst and Northampton Leagues of Women Voters, as candidates presented their views and answered questions in-person at Northampton Center for the Arts on 33 Hawley St on Aug. 25.
Jean Cherdak, a member of the Franklin County League of Women Voters, and Chad Cain, the Daily Hampshire Gazette’s managing editor, were the two panelists asking questions submitted by the audience.
Current Hampshire County Sheriff Patrick Cahillane – elected in 2016 – is running for a second six-year term against two primary challengers who have both worked at the Hampshire County Jail and House of Correction – Caitlin Sepeda of South Hadley, a registered nurse who has worked in two Western Massachusetts correctional facilities, and Yvonne Gittelson of Goshen, the corrections program specialist for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
The Hampshire County Jail and its associated programs features a $15 million budget and is located on 205 Rocky Hill Rd. in Northampton. The Democratic primary on Sept. 6 will determine the only candidate on the ballot for the Nov. 8 general election, barring a write-in challenge. There are currently no Republican candidates.
Cahillane has worked in the Hampshire County Jail for over 35 years. During his tenure, the sheriff has been a correctional officer, captain, major in charge of security, deputy superintendent, as well as special sheriff of Hampshire County, before then being elected as sheriff in 2016.
Gittelson, meanwhile, has cited throughout her campaign that educational programs are one of the key components of reducing recidivism among justice-involved individuals. She worked in the Hampshire County Jail as a corrections education program coordinator from 2017 to 2021.
Sepeda served as a correctional nurse under Sheriff Patrick Garvey for over nine years at the Hampshire County Jail and House of Correction in Northampton until taking a job at the Berkshire County Jail and House of Correction last fall in Pittsfield. She has stated that she was instrumental in the Hampshire County Jail’s opioid treatment programs and has criticized the facility for antiquated technology and a lack of in-house mental health services.
Below are some thoughts from each candidate on a couple of different issues discussed during the Aug. 25 forum. Reminder Publishing also reported on the first forum in Easthampton on Aug. 4, which can be read here: http://archives.thereminder.com/localnews/hampshire-county/candidates-state-cases-for-hampshire-county-sherif/.
Readers can also visit the Northampton Open Media YouTube page to watch the full forum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BEnroNvmwU.
More sheriff visibility
Sepeda said that it is the sheriff’s job to make themselves visible and accessible to the community by being “vocal” and “visible” about what they do daily.
“If you don’t hear anything out of our office, you have no idea what it is we’re doing for the community, what we’re doing for the incarcerated population, what we’re doing for the staff,” said Sepeda. “You don’t know.”
To educate the community on the sheriff’ position, Sepeda argued that a website update is necessary since it “hasn’t been touched for the better part of 10 years.” She also believes that informational booths at local fairs and other events are necessary to spread the word.
Gittelson, meanwhile, said her campaign platform is based on transparency, accountability and community. “Transparency is all about education,” she said. “It’s very clear in Hampshire County that we have no idea what’s going on in this sheriff’s office.”
As an educator, Gittelson said she wants to “pull back the curtain” and show the community what the office’s mission is.
“I’m born and bred to share the mission, share the idea…I think we have a lot that we could be proud of, and I would look forward to sharing that with the community we will reflect and respond to,” Gittelson said.
Cahillane said that the staff and the sheriff position treat everyone with respect and dignity and argued that the sheriff interacts in a variety of roles, whether in the community or in the incarcerated population.
Although the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts found that only 13 percent of respondents could identify Cahillane as their sheriff, Cahillane pointed out that only 31 people were polled.
“It’s not about raising the flag and waving it,” said Cahillane. “We’re the sheriff’s office.”
Program improvements
“There’s always room for improvement in anything that we do,” said Cahillane. “But we do have substance abuse treatment, we do have mental health treatment and we do have ongoing services.”
Cahillane told Reminder Publishing back in the spring that the facility works with the Northampton Recovery Center and incorporates the Medication-Assisted Treatment program to address substance abuse issues.
Sepeda, meanwhile, state that current programs like the opioid treatment programs do exist, but the mental health treatment services could be better.
“We contract our services out to ServiceNet,” she said. “This facility does not have its own mental health program nor its own state providers.” Sepeda has said throughout her campaign that the jail’s own mental health department would be more beneficial to the justice-involved individuals, as well as more hours of service for them.
According to Gittelson, 70 percent of those in custody across county facilities in the state are on the pre-trial detainee, and they are not, by law, guaranteed access to many services.
“If you go through the pre-trial side of the facility, you will see an awful lot of folks sleeping in through the afternoon,” said Gittelson. “Not a lot going on…very little in the way of education services; very little in the way of mental health services.” She also claimed that there are not a lot of substance abuse treatment services at the jail.
Preparing for the next emergency
Regarding the coronavirus pandemic, Gittelson said she would have responded faster if she were the sheriff. “I believe in science, I believe in the CDC,” she said. “I would’ve listened to those folks when they were telling us weeks before that there was response inside the Hampshire jail to lock down and stop movement.”
Gittelson added that the jail needs to prepare better for future disasters, especially since the community knows more now than they did in the beginning. “We do need to not be caught behind the eight-ball, as the sheriff’s office was,” she added.
Cahillane argued that every day for the first couple of weeks of COVID-19, the team at his facility met to discuss what needed to be done to keep everyone safe.
“There’s never a good time to get all of the information out at once,” said Cahillane. “But we followed the CDC guidelines, we followed the state guidelines, and we hired an epidemiologist to make sure that we were doing the right thing…it was successful…nobody died on my watch.”
Sepeda argued that the COVID-19 response was “varied,” and that the staff at the facility did the best they could with the information they had. To combat another disaster, Sepeda said the facility must develop a disorder management plan.
“In the facility, there’s a series of disorder management plans that deal with any major disaster in the facility,” said Sepeda. “We need one to deal with infectious disease.” She also added that the sheriff could have been more present.”
Other quick thoughts
All three candidates stated that they would not assist the efforts of federal Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents if elected, maintaining the status quo.
Inmates currently pay 14 cents per minute to use a jail phone and the facility receives a slice of the money. Sepeda and Gittelson both said they support free or cheaper calls, while Cahillane stated that inmates have an opportunity to make Zoom calls. Free phone calls are also offered once per week.