Berkshire County — After several weeks of bickering and battling through press releases, the two candidates for Berkshire County Sheriff will meet in person for a debate on Monday, Aug. 8 at 2 p.m. Sheriff Thomas Bowler is running for re-election against candidate Alf Barbalunga.
The debate is organized and moderated by local blogger Dan Valenti and he is calling the event “Showdown for Sheriff: Bowler v. Barbalunga.” Previously, the two candidates met virtually during a virtual forum in July sponsored by the NAACP.
According to a press release released by Valenti, he wrote that the event will take place in a conference room in a local office complex, that “this is a private filming!” and “No members of the public-at-large will be admitted. Press, candidates, and candidates’ inner circles only.”
“This debate will be more of an informal conversation between the two candidates,” Valenti wrote in his press release. “No podiums, no notes, no suits, no time limits on Q&A’s. Just the two candidates, sitting next to each other, asking and responding to questions from me and each other.” Valenti wrote that the event will be available on social media outlets when it is completed.
Meanwhile, Barbalunga issued yet another press release on Monday, Aug. 1 with accusations about how Sheriff Bowler spent his budget while being in charge of the Berkshire County Jail and House of Correction.
In the press release, Barbalunga’s campaign communications director Katherine Yon accused Sheriff Bowler of keeping an “executive empire”. “Over the years, even as the inmate population kept falling, Sheriff Bowler kept expanding his top executive leadership team,” Yon wrote in the press release. “The taxpayers not only pick up the tab for all these executives with six-figure salaries, but we also pay for their pensions after they leave the jail. Common sense dictates this is an unsustainable model for Berkshire County taxpayers.” Yon wrote that “the Berkshire County Jail has experienced one of the largest inmate population declines in the state, yet its state appropriation has climbed by more than $4.5 million compared to fiscal year 2011. Furthermore, under Sheriff Bowler the cost per inmate had grown to $87,579 by 2016, the highest in the state (as reported by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Association), and was estimated at over $130,000 per inmate by 2021 (direct appropriation in 2021 was $17.98 million/average of 137 inmates).” Yon went on to quote Barbalunga as saying “The Sheriff’s Department today is working with fewer than half the inmates it had when the current sheriff took office. Yet the upper management payroll has expanded. The top 15 paid employees made over $2,000,000 combined in 2021, with an inmate population of around 156 as of this date.”
Via email, Sheriff Bowler disputed the multiple accusations in the Barbalunga campaign’s press release. “When I was first elected Sheriff in 2011, I inherited an administration of eight individuals, appointed by the previous sheriff, who were exceptional corrections professionals at the top of their game,” Sheriff Bowler wrote. “In 11 years, I added three more highly-qualified people to my administration to meet evolving changes in corrections. For example, one of them oversees the Medically Assisted Treatment program, which is relatively new in corrections and requires administrative expertise. Adding three excellent people to my administrative team in 11 years does not sound like an ‘empire’ to me.”
As for the inmate population declines referred to in Barbalunga’s press release, Sheriff Bowler wrote that “I am not responsible for the inmate count.” “Convictions and incarcerations are down here and across the state over the last few years and many inmates were given early release during the pandemic,” Sheriff Bowler wrote. “Surely Barbalunga understands that even though there are fewer inmates, we are still heating and maintaining the same sized facility, taking care of the same grounds, maintaining educational, vocational, medical and counseling staff to provide programs, and more. The candidate also fails to inform the public that his own Department of Probation is also supervising fewer individuals without a corresponding decrease in the department’s budget.”
As for salaries at the prison, Sheriff Bowler wrote that he does not set salaries for employees. “The Executive Office of Administration and Finance sets the parameters for salary increases,” Sheriff Bowler wrote. “When the three unions are negotiating new contracts, they do so within the parameters set by the state. The only exceptions to this are grant positions, certain specialty positions such as the jail’s physician and dentist, and the Sheriff salary, which is set by the state legislature. The Sheriff has no authority to make up his own economic parameters and must abide by the outcome achieved through the negotiations. All collective bargaining increases are approved by the Commonwealth and funded by the legislature.”
However, Sheriff Bowler added that “all Sheriffs have some leeway.” “Recently, we increased the salary for RN’s [registered nurses] to be more competitive with the public sector,” he wrote. “I also have the authority within the Association contract to compensate staff based on their time/experience/training and other areas of expertise they may bring to the jail. I have the ability to promote staff or move them to a higher-paying step within their current grade, just like all executives.”
