DARTMOUTH, MASS. (WHDH) - Bristol County Sheriff’s Office officials led a tour of parts of the Bristol County House of Correction Friday, two weeks after a disturbance involving inmates rocked the facility.
Speaking outside one of two housing units impacted by this incident, Sheriff Paul Heroux said the situation proves changes need to be made.
Inside, furniture and other items could be seen turned over and scattered across the floor alongside broken TVs and wires pulled out of electrical equipment.
Lt. Nathan Medeiros said inmates threw out rolls of toilet paper “that were on fire at one point.” Medeiros said inmates also brandished homemade weapons during the hourslong standoff April 21.
Jail officials said they had been trying to move inmates out of a housing unit to make it more “suicide resistant,” among other things, when conditions deteriorated.
Around 130 law enforcement officials from around the state converged on the jail. When negotiations broke down, officials reentered impacted housing units and took inmates out one-by-one in handcuffs.
Officials released photos on April 24 showing the scene inside the housing units after inmates were removed.
On Friday, officials said everyone’s safety is their top priority in situations like these.
“Buildings and materials can always be replaced but lives cannot,” Medeiros said. “We are very fortunate that not one officer or inmate was hurt during the situation and we were all able to go home at the end of the night.”
Officials said the cost of the damage could be as much as $200,000. Twenty individuals described as agitators could also face new charges in connection with this incident, Heroux said last month.
In the meantime, Heroux said this incident shows the need to have laws on cell doors, something that can’t be done, by law, until the cells have their own toilets.
“This is a truly unique situation where half of our housing units don’t have locks on doors,” Heroux said.
There are plans to add toilets to the units involved in this incident. Heroux said officials have raised some funds for the improvements. Still, he said, help from the state is needed.
“We need money to put toilets in cells to put locks on doors so this doesn’t happen again,” Heroux said.
Sheriff’s office Public Information Officer Jonathan Darling said Thursday that investigators had finished documenting and cataloging evidence related to this incident.
With cataloging complete, Darling said cleanup work inside the Bristol County House of Correction is expected to begin this weekend.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)