NORTHAMPTON — Hampshire County Sheriff Patrick Cahillane outpaced two challengers in the Democratic state primary in September, but at Tuesday’s state election is again facing off against Yvonne Gittelson, the corrections program specialist for the state education department, as she stages a write-in campaign.
The sheriff’s department, with its seven divisions including civil process service, oversees the Northampton jail and associated programs with a $15 million or so budget.
“My campaign is based on facts, my record and my desire to continue to expand correctional services in the community,” Cahillane, who has been sheriff for the past six years, said in a statement issued to the Gazette.
During his campaign, Cahillane said he has been connecting with residents in the region and explaining that his job is about keeping people at the jail safe and the community informed, something he did throughout the COVID pandemic, despite the challenges the virus posed to corrections work.
“I am proud of my staff for their hard work and unwavering commitment to duty during that time of uncertainty,” Cahillane said. “And 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.”
He cites endorsements from a number of area police chiefs, along with Attorney General Maura Healey, Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan and Hampshire County Registrar of Deeds Mary Olberding.
Cahillane said there have been several innovations during his first term, including launching the Nurturing Fathers Program, which earned an Emerging Leader Award from The Childrens’ Trust, a Boston nonprofit; opening the Rocky Hill Re-Entry Collaborative with the state parole board and ServiceNet to provide interim housing for parolees so they can make a smoother transition back to their families and communities; and creating the Community, Accountability, Recovery and Experience, or CARE Unit, a treatment model with a goal of instilling in participants a greater sense of being invested in their own recovery, and the recovery of their peers.
In addition, Cahillane has continued to operate the Bridge to the Future House, the site of the work-release and electronic monitoring programs, initiated a $100,000 information technology upgrade, and the Northampton jail became one of the first facilities in the state to offer Medication-Assisted Treatment for opioid-use disorder.
Increased services for local senior citizens, too, has been accomplished with a new TRIAD program field office now open in the Hampshire Mall.
As a write-in challenger, Gittelson is continuing to raise the same issues as in the primary campaign, arguing that there are numerous deficiencies and shortfalls in the current operation. Gittelson said she also felt it would be morally wrong if she didn’t continue her campaign, noting that Cahillane didn’t clear 50% of the vote and that “more people voted for change than to stay the same.”
“I really want to make a significant change in the Hampshire Sheriff’s Office, with a focus on transparency and pulling back the curtain, ” Gittelson said.
If elected, Gittelson said she would walk the facility every day and would get to know every staff member and inmate by name.
Among concepts she would promote are English as a second language classes, a virtual commercial drivers license program and expanded vocational training so that upon release inmates can find work. She would also have a virtual college program with the University of Massachusetts Prison Institute.
Having an engaged relationship and partnership with the communities that are served is essential, Gittelson said.
“Nobody knows who the sheriff is or does or knows what he has done,” Gittelson said. “Six years and he can’t speak to one specific achievement,” though she does note that he unveils “carefully curated tidbits of good news.”
Numerous deficiencies in the operation, she said, include no diversity training or professional development for staff members or those in custody, former inmates who say they were mistreated in solitary confinement, and hiring practices for open positions that are not properly advertised.
There has also been no good response to why he was slow to report the September escape of an inmate from custody, and why officers doing road details for outside contractors are paid in cash, possibly showing a lack of fiscal responsibility and transparency, she alleges. Gittelson is also concerned that a transgender inmate successfully sued to be moved to a different site.
Gittelson said that the Prison Rape Elimination Act remains a cause for worry since it shows the jail had no incidents, no investigations and no findings. “That is a straining of credibility,” Gittelson said.
Gittelson said running a write-in has come with its own challenges, such as informing people that her campaign didn’t end with the primary and is mostly self-funded.
“The challenge is making sure people know I’m still an option and a very viable candidate,” Gittelson said. “People are unhappy when there’s only one name on the ballot. People want choices.”
The “intent of the voter” should be enough to determine if someone is casting a write-in vote for her, town clerks have told her. “I felt heartened by that, I think the clerk and registrars will not require that they spell my full name and put down by full address,” Gittelson said.
“I’m proud of the fact that I’m not a politician and that this is my first run for office,” Gittelson said. “I hope to do something transformative and exciting in correctional services as a progressive Democratic woman.”
Criticisms of his leadership are not accurate, Cahillane said. One point of contention has been his returning portions of a vocational grant from the Department of Education. Cahillane, though, said not giving back that money would have been tantamount to committing fraud against Massachusetts taxpayers, as the grant was based on the number of men who could be placed in classes, which dropped almost in half during COVID.
Another area Gittelson has attacked him is with respect to the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act. But he said the lack of incidents shows the vigilance and dedication of the staff and innovative use of surveillance cameras to keep prisoners safe. He disputes that sexually transmitted diseases were circulating among the inmate population, as she contends.
“I believe that is why Democrats rejected her campaign of smear and innuendo and chose me as their candidate for the general election,” Cahillane said. “I am a proud Democrat, proud to have won the Democratic primary and eager to continue the innovative work I’ve started.”
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
