City councilors hold hearing behind bars

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/09/29/city-councilors-hold-meeting-suffolk-county-house-correction/FvVFkw0h9coFbGyi3KlnEK/story.html



City Councilor Tito Jackson spoke during the hearing.

City councilors hold hearing behind bars
By Meghan E. Irons Globe Staff September 29, 2015

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Tompkins, using stark data, laid out the hard realities facing black and Latino men under his care.

Of the facility’s inmates, 868 are black, 484 are Hispanic, and 356 are white, Tompkins said.

Tompkins said 70 percent of the inmates are involved with illegal drugs, and 42 percent suffer from mental illness. The recidivism rate is 46 percent, he added.

And 87 percent of the 113 inmates serving mandatory sentences for low-level offenses are black or Latino, Tompkins said.