5 charged in inmate riot at Bristol County House of Correction

The investigation into the 4/21/2023 inmate uprising at the Bristol County House of Correction in Dartmouth was concluded several months ago and charges have been filed with the Bristol County District Attorney, according to Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux.

Bristol County DA Thomas Quinn has followed through with Heroux’s recommendation to prosecute several individuals under Chapter 266 Section 129: Correctional institutions; injury to property. Section 129. An inmate of a correctional institution of the commonwealth who willfully and maliciously destroys or injures the property of the commonwealth at such correctional institution, or the property of any person who furnishes materials for the employment of the prisoners, may be sentenced to the state prison for not more than three years.

At the time, there were about 75 inmates on the housing unit. Heroux suspected about 15-20 participated in the damage to the housing unit, but only had video evidence of 5 inmates destroying BCSO property. The BCSO did not charge more inmates under Chapter 266 because they did not feel the charges would result in a conviction.

Heroux looks forward to eventually releasing video of the 5 inmate’s behavior while being destructive in the housing unit.

“It will show who did what in terms of damage, but it will also show that the majority of the inmates were not involved with the destruction. We first need to let this video evidence be presented to a jury for the first time in court; we don’t want to undermine the charges by potentially biasing a jury prior to seeing the video before they see it in court.”

The following inmates have all been charged and arraigned in New Bedford District Court.

Hector Abreau Garcia: 7 Counts, Arraigned on 11/7/23

Aaron Gagnon: 7 Counts, Arraigned on 1/5/24

Shane Burnett: 1 Count, Arraigned on 1/23/24

Norman Dias: 1 Count, Arraigned on 1/5/24

Jason Frasca: 1 Count, Arraigned on 1/5/24