April 20, 2001
(DARTMOUTH, Mass.) -- Officials estimate that a weekend riot at a county jail left $1 million in damage to the facility.
Eight corrections officers were injured on Sunday when inmates in a medium-security unit at the Dartmouth House of Correction in Bristol County seized control of the unit. By the time officials put down the riot four housing units were uninhabitable, a printshop had been destroyed and inmates had broken windows and set fires. Sheriff Thomas Hodgson charges that the disturbance was deliberately organized by spreading a rumor that he planned to take away toothbrushes and other personal items. He has pledged to bring criminal charges against any inmates who incited or organized the riot.