The Massachusetts attorney general has launched a probe into conflicting reports about a violent disturbance at the Bristol County jail last Friday evening. The incident involved a group of ICE detainees complaining of COVID-19 symptoms, whom the sheriff contends rushed him when they were going to be taken for testing. An investigation by reporter Ben Berke reveals a trail of issues inside the county jails, including complaints of unsanitary conditions and lack of COVID-19 protections, even as guards were becoming sick, that tell a more complex story.
Ben Berke
Based in New Bedford, Ben staffs our South Coast Bureau desk. He covers anything that happens in Fall River, New Bedford, and the surrounding towns, as long as it's a good story. His assignments have taken him to jails, factories, city halls, fishing vessels, bakeries, environmental cleanup sites and the homes of hundreds of interview subjects. Ben joined the bureau in February 2021 after three years in Brockton reporting for The Enterprise. His freelance work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Providence Journal. When he's not working, Ben can often be found near the beach hiking, surfing and collecting the strange things that wash ashore.
Posted inArticle, Health, South Coast Bureau
Violence erupts at Bristol County Jail amid growing safety concerns about COVID-19
An immigration attorney who talked to inmates at the Bristol County Jail as a violent disturbance was breaking out Friday evening describes a scene of fear and chaos.
