Immigrant detainees sue Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson for alleged cruel treatment

DARTMOUTH — Sixteen former immigrant detainees in the Bristol County House of Correction Immigrant Detention Center have filed suit against Sheriff Thomas Hodgson and the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office on 21 counts, alleging cruel treatment and conditions of confinement.

Also named in the lawsuit are Bristol County House of Correction Supt. Steven Souza, Dept. of Homeland Security Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons, the Dept. of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the United States as manager of the DHS and ICE, as well as unnamed correctional officers.

The lawsuit was filed April 29 in the United States District Court, and seeks compensatory and punitive damages, as well as legal fees.

The complaint alleges violations of the Fifth Amendment right to due process, unlawful punishment, freedom from cruel treatment and conditions of confinement, use of excessive force, violation of the Rehabilitation Act, violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, negligent maintenance, assault and battery, and negligent medical care, according to a press release from advocacy group, Bristol County for Correctional Justice.

The complaints stem from unsafe conditions the immigrants underwent at the BCHOC’s ICE facility due to COVID that led to a violent disturbance on May 1, 2020, according to the lawsuit.

Hodgson called the lawsuit frivolous in a written statement, “The recent lawsuit brought by criminal illegal aliens previously held at the Dartmouth jail is the latest political attack against me, and the latest professional attack on the dedicated, nationally accredited corrections staff at the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office. The frivolous lawsuit has no merit. We will vigorously defend it, and we will prevail.”

The Department of Homeland Security ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to terminate its contract with the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office and transfer any remaining detainees to another facility last May.

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That decision came after state Attorney General Maura Healey shared her office’s report from a 2020 investigation into the May 1, 2020 disturbance, and asked DHS to terminate the contract, according to Healey's office.

The 82-page lawsuit describes graphically, and in great detail, the alleged injuries and violations of each of the defendants during the violent disturbance, according to the press release. The release also quotes the Healy report, that Hodgson and his staff used “excessive force in their response to a disturbance among some immigration detainees, employing a variety of weapons, including a flash bang grenade, pepper spray and pepper-balls, anti-riot shields and canines.”

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The plaintiffs continue to suffer from their effects to this day, according to the lawsuit.

Healy’s office in 2020 found BCSO violated the civil rights of federal immigration detainees while responding to the disturbance, and cited “various institutional failures and poor decisions by BCSO leadership" that resulted in a use of force against the detainees “disproportionate to the security needs at that time.”

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The AG’s investigation found the BCSO violated the civil rights of detainees housed in ICE Facility B by use of excessive force, and by acting with “deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of serious harm to the health of the detainees.”

The report said the BCSO demonstrated a calculated use of force by using a variety of weapons considered less lethal, but still dangerous, including flash bang grenades, pepper ball launchers and pepper spray canisters, and canines, among other tools, against the detainees.

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The investigation also found the Sheriff’s Office to have used an excessive amount of pepper spray and pepper ball during the incident on detainees with underlying pulmonary and respiratory conditions, resulting in the hospitalization of two detainees. The disturbance remains under investigation by the federal Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General.

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In his written statement issued in response to the lawsuit, Hodgson stated, “The corrections and health care professionals at the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office did an amazing job in the toughest of circumstances when the COVID pandemic descended upon our nation in 2020. U.S. District Court Judge William Young agreed, writing that the court ‘acknowledges and commends the significant steps the (Bristol County Sheriff’s Office) has taken in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19 at the facility and treat anyone infected.’”

“He also wrote that the BCSO had a ‘virtually-perfect record of no confirmed positives among the detainee population’ and he added that the court ‘recognizes the commendable efforts of the (BCSO) staff, who have been operating in difficult and risky conditions where much is unknown.’”

“Translation: The BCSO staff, again and again, goes above and beyond, and when presented with a global pandemic that flipped the world upside down, the staff focused on what it focuses on best: the care, custody and safety of all incarcerated in Bristol County. That wasn’t enough for a group of criminal illegal aliens in custody. Upset that those behind bars in Bristol County, the commonwealth of Massachusetts and around the country were getting released because of COVID and that they were still locked up, the group members all reported multiple COVID symptoms at the same time on the same day in May 2020. They were told they had to be tested and isolated to prevent the possible COVID spread. Instead of agreeing to be tested, they rioted, attacking me and correctional staff, and trashing the B wing of the ICE detention center in Dartmouth. These criminal illegal aliens caused $25,000 worth of damage to the facility and threatened the lives of brave corrections officers and staff.”

Hodgson added, “The elite BCSO correctional professionals quelled the violent attack in 90 seconds, regaining control of the facility with non-lethal means, including muzzled canines and flash bangs. This operation was by-the-book, quick and clean, resulting in no serious injury to any detainees. The only person injured that whole day was myself: I’m still dealing with back and neck pain after being assaulted by criminal illegal aliens after one of them incited the riot with fake claims of abuse. We encourage the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General to conclude its investigation, which is now going on two-plus years, so the video tapes of the incident and the accompanying evidence can be made public.

“Once this evidence is made public, we expect nothing less than a full apology from Mass. Attorney General Maura Healey, who cast a shadow on the nationally accredited BCSO staff with her sham investigation last year into the riot, and the immediate withdrawal of this frivolous lawsuit. This is the latest, but surely won’t be the last, political attack against me as Election Day draws closer. The people of Bristol County know this is just a political attack and it has no merit, and they can see why when the organization begging for media attention is the same woke group that constantly puts the interests of criminal illegal aliens ahead of law-abiding American citizens, and is also promoting, supporting and bank-rolling one of my political opponents this year.”

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson sued for alleged cruel treatment