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Date: 11/15/2022
HAMPSHIRE COUNTY – After an eight-month race, Patrick Cahillane will once again helm the Hampshire County Sheriff position for his second six-year term.
While some towns still need to submit their numbers as of press time, major wins in communities like Northampton and Amherst – as well as large margins of victory in other small towns – indicate that Cahillane won handily.
Elected as sheriff in 2016, Cahillane has accumulated almost four decades of experience working at the Hampshire County Jail and House of Correction at 205 Rocky Hill Rd. in Northampton. The jail and its associated programs feature a $15 million budget and includes a sheriff’s department that has seven divisions including civil process service. The sheriff also represents 20 Hampshire County communities.
“I am grateful for the support I received during the campaign and I’m eager to continue working hard to help keep Hampshire County safe for all residents,” Cahillane told Reminder Publishing, with a win on the horizon.
Cahillane defeated challengers Caitlin Sepeda and Yvonne Gittelson in the Sept. 6 Democratic primary. The incumbent was expected to cruise to victory in the Nov. 8 general election with no Republican challenger, but Gittelson announced in a press release on Sept. 8 that she would run as a write-in candidate for the general election.
In an interview with Reminder Publishing in October, Gittelson, a corrections program specialist for the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said that she wanted to continue her campaign to allow more time for people to be acquainted with the issues surrounding the jail, especially since most of the campaigning prior to the primary election occurred in the summer, when many were away on vacation.
“If I had just another 10 days, I feel like I could’ve tipped Amherst and Northampton, because the momentum was shifting in my direction,” Gittelson said.
During the primary, Gittelson and Sepeda essentially split the vote at 27 and 25 percent, respectively, while Cahillane took home 48 percent.
Realizing that she and Sepeda received the majority of the vote combined, Gittelson believed it was necessary to continue her campaign as a write-in candidate for the Nov. 8 election with a message of bringing more “ethical transparency” to the jail.
“I have always felt that I have a moral imperative here,” Gittelson told Reminder Publishing. “I really truly believe, after having worked there, and the other experiences I’ve had since working there, I feel like if I don’t step up and run, then I’m part of the problem.”
For months, Gittelson pushed for better educational programs in the jail to reduce recidivism and cited a RAND Corporation study from 2013 that said education at level for incarcerated individuals reduces recidivism by 43 percent. As someone who worked as an education program coordinator from 2017 to 2021, Gittelson felt that the jail needed a “system-wide change,” which meant boosting the morale of the employees, publishing a budget that is public and posting job positions to bring more visibility to the jail.
Her grassroots campaign, however, was not enough, as Cahillane secured major co-signs from Governor-Elect Maura Healey, Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan and many other local police chiefs. In the end, Cahillane won by a large margin in major cities like Northampton and Amherst, the former of which he secured 9,180 votes to Gittelson’s 2,785, while securing 6,027 votes to Gittelson’s 860 in the latter.
“I’m proud of all of the endorsements I’ve received from the people who have observed our work and understand that we are performing at a high level across all seven divisions of the department, and that we are striving every day to do the right thing for the men in our care,” Cahillane said in a Facebook comment.
For his campaign, Cahillane cited his prioritization of mental health care and making sure the LBGTQ+ population is appropriately treated in jails throughout the commonwealth. He also pushed a message of “meaningful incarceration,” which aims to offer justice-involved people an individualized plan for treatment, recovery and educational opportunities so they can have the best chance possible of rejoining the community as productive citizens.
“I think in many communities, people understand what we do here and why we do it,” Cahillane told Reminder Publishing. “I think that resonates with people that we treat everyone with dignity and respect, and we try to move [justice-involved individuals] back into the community in a safe environment for both them and the community.”
Throughout the last several months, both Sepeda and Gittelson – who worked at the jail in some capacity – claimed that the coronavirus pandemic response at the jail was varied, and they would have responded faster if given the chance. Cahillane, however, argued that he maintained a safe environment during the challenging time.
“We kept our population safe, and we kept our staff as safe as possible,” said Cahillane. “By doing that, we didn’t overflow the hospitals with patients, and so that kept the community safe. I think those types of things resonate with people.”
With the win essentially in motion, Cahillane said that the jail will be working on their spending plan for the upcoming year, including figuring out some cost-prohibitive measures they need to consider. Additionally, they are waiting to hear on a $750,000 grant application through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which aims to expand their medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorders and for more community reentry services.
“I’ve talked all along, corrections is going to be more community-based and less and less brick-and-mortar buildings as time goes on,” said Cahillane, adding that the grant will also allow them to do more outreach in the community. If the grant does not come through, then Cahillane said they will use that grant narrative to work on some of the projects they have going, like their intensive treatment program.
Final thoughts from Gittelson
Reflecting on the final couple of months leading up to the general election, Gittelson said there initially seemed to be push for change.
“It seemed the momentum for change was there, and that in early September people were just learning about the sheriff’s race and why it was important,” she told Reminder Publishing. “The news coverage coming out about the events at the jail between the primary and the general election was all negative, so that seemed to be adding to the momentum for change.”
For Gittelson, the push for change may have stalled due to a lack of more public forums, except for one in South Hadley, as well as the aforementioned endorsements by Healey and company.
“The endorsements received by Mr. Cahillane were a disappointing surprise in the week before the election,” Gittelson said. “The Healey campaign did not reach out to me to inquire about my positions on any matters, nor did the police chiefs who endorsed him, but others reached out to express their dissatisfaction with the way the Hampshire Sheriff’s Office has not supported local police departments.”
Despite the defeat, Gittelson said she will continue to be a resource for anyone who wants to know about what is going on in corrections. She said she will continue to find ways to reduce recidivism through education and raise awareness of the conditions in custody.
“I’m an educator and an advocate for those who are in custody and for those who work in corrections, and my work has been ongoing this whole time at the statewide level and will continue,” she said. “That won’t change.”