BCSO UPDATE: 30 individuals have bails reduced, removed due to COVID-19, Hodgson warning public

DARTMOUTH — The Bristol County Sheriff’s Office updated its Prisoner Release Alert System on Thursday to include charges faced by released county inmates.

The Mass. Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the population in jails and prisons across the state must be reduced to protect prisoners from COVID-19. As a result, about 30 individuals in Bristol County correctional facilities had their bails reduced or extinguished and are now back out in the community instead of behind bars. Among the charges faced by these individuals are fentanyl trafficking, assault to rape, possession and distribution of drugs, assault, larceny, armed and masked robbery and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.

“I believe the people of Bristol County have a right to know the backgrounds of these people who are no longer behind bars because of this court ruling,” Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson wrote in his introduction to the Prisoner Release Alert System. “All of these crimes were committed in Bristol County.”

“We’ll continue to update the Alert System when, if any, more county inmates or ICE detainees are ordered released due to COVID-19. It’s also worth noting that no inmate or detainee in a Bristol County correctional facility has tested positive for COVID-19.”