Bristol County Sheriff’s Office illegally used dogs, excessive pepper spray against immigrant detainees who may have had COVID, Mass. AG reports
Updated Dec 15, 2020;
The Bristol County Sheriff’s Office violated the civil rights of federal immigration detainees, including unlawfully using dogs and excessive pepper spray on detainees potentially infected with COVID-19 in a May incident in the county jail that began nonviolently, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey alleged in an investigative report released Tuesday.
Healey’s office, which recommended sweeping training and oversight reforms at Bristol County facilities, found that BCSO personnel deliberately used excessive and disproportionate force after 10 Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees refused to consent to COVID-19 testing and isolation on May 1. BCSO “acted with deliberate indifference to a significant risk of serious harm to the health of several detainees,” the report found.