DARTMOUTH — Based on security camera recordings of inmates running amok at the Bristol County Jail and House of Correction in North Dartmouth last spring, causing up to $200,000 damage and leading to an hours-long standoff, five men have been charged with felony counts of vandalizing prison property.

Four of the men were in the GB housing unit, where at about 9 a.m. on April 21 the rampage began and where most of the damage occurred. One man was in the unit next door, GA, where an investigator’s report says inmates were egged on by GB inmates. All of about 130 men in the two units were pre-trial detainees, the investigations chief said. 

Upset about orders to move out of GB to another unit, the men damaged windows, a security control panel, security cameras, sprinkler heads, a tablet charging station, electrical fixtures, pipes, bed frames, and doors. A standoff with jail officials lasted until about 3:30 p.m., when a force of some 150 officers in tactical gear from Bristol County and six other agencies regained control of the two units. 

Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux watches as corrections officers prepare to enter the Bristol County House of Corrections housing unit in 2023 in response to an inmate uprising. Credit: Bristol County Sheriff’s Department

One inmate suffered a minor injury, apparently in a fall, but did not need medical treatment, according to Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux. He argued in April that the event should not be called a “riot,” as there was no person-on-person violence.

Originally, Heroux said it appeared that up to 20 inmates could be charged, but he said Thursday that officials only wanted to press charges based on the strongest evidence from security camera video.

“If we could charge more people we would,” Heroux said. He said officials only wanted to go with charges that have “a reasonable chance of sticking.”

Major Michael Nunes, head of the Special Investigations Unit, said his office and officials of the Bristol County District Attorney decided the evidence was not strong enough to charge all of the inmates who appeared to have taken part. 

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“I can say that there were in fact approximately 17-20 inmates involved,” Nunes said in an email. “After reviewing the video footage we were unfortunately only able to positively identify some of those inmates because the majority of them wore masks and they destroyed all of the cameras shortly after the disturbance began.”

Nunes said his investigators examined about three hours of video from 15 different cameras. 

Based on the DA’s recommendations, Nunes said charges were filed against the five men — one in November, four in January. 

“We did not recommend charging anyone else, and (it) was a joint effort and decision between us and the DA’s office,” Nunes said. 

Two men, Hector Abreu-Garcia, 29, and Aaron V. Gagnon, 36, are each charged with seven counts under a state law against damaging property in a state correctional institution, court records show. The county Jail and House of Correction is state property. The charge is a felony punishable by up to three years in state prison. 

Three men — Shane R. Burnett, 33; Norman Dias, 36; and Jason R. Frasca, 49 — face one count each under the same state law. Frasca was the only one of the five who was in the GA unit, according to investigators’ reports. 

A report submitted to support the charges against the four GB inmates, written by lead investigator Lt. Eric Cardoso, sheds a bit more light on how the uprising began. 

The report notes that, as Heroux said in his briefing after the standoff ended, the men were being moved from the GB unit to another housing unit so the jail could begin work on suicide prevention measures in the cells. The inmates were to be moved from a unit where the individual cells did not have toilets and locks on the doors to a unit where the doors do have locks and individual toilets.

Cardoso wrote that officers noticed unusual activity soon after they started their shift at 7 a.m. More men were up earlier than usual, for instance. Two supervisors were told about the activity. 

The report says that Abreu-Garcia told correctional officers that many of the inmates were not happy about the planned move. The inmate told officers that the men had been accustomed to being able to move around the unit, and it was unfair now to expect them to be locked in. 

The report says officials made several attempts to reassure the inmates. A major and a captain talked for about 10 minutes out in the courtyard with Abreu-Garcia, who was known to be an “influential individual” among the inmates, the report says. The major assured him that visiting and recreation schedules would not change, the report says. 

One sheriff’s officer told a supervisor that the inmates wanted extra recreation time, and wanted recreation for both tiers in the unit at once, rather than separately. The major and captain told the inmates they did not have the authority to grant these requests.

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Trouble began on the top tier, as inmates began shouting and cursing in protest about the planned move. The report says a flaming toilet paper roll was tossed toward correctional officers at the control station. A flaming garbage pail was tossed down. Inmates threw soapy water on the floors. 

Some inmates put on makeshift face coverings, the report says. 

The report says that Abreu-Garcia said to officers “I’m not going anywhere. I will cause problems and you will have to get State Police and DOC (the state Department of Corrections) involved.”

As it turned out, that’s just about what eventually happened. 

Shift officers on duty in each unit withdrew, locking the unit doors behind them. As the standoff unfolded, as negotiations failed to end it, Heroux called on reinforcements from five sheriff’s departments and the state DOC. At approximately 3 p.m., about 150 officers in helmets and other tactical gear lined up in the courtyard outside the housing units where inmates could see them, went inside and took back control.

Email reporter Arthur Hirsch at ahirsch@newbedfordlight.org.

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