child dies at pittsfield township school

The proposal was for an $8 million facility to be built on Dan Fox Drive in Pittsfield, but the proposal never made it through the legislature.Īdditional medical staff and human services programs were instituted. Courtney, Jr., initiated such innovations as work release and education programs, and tore down a shoe manufacturing plant that had been part of the jail, but had been unused for many years.Īs a growing inmate population led to overcrowding at the Second Street jail in the 1970s, the first proposal emerged for a new Berkshire County Jail and House of Correction. Later, an effort by the Berkshire County Commissioners to close the jail and turn it into a weapons-producing factory during World War II was also thwarted. First came an unsuccessful effort in 1935 to consolidate all Western Massachusetts jails in Springfield. During his term, Sheriff McIntyre twice resisted efforts to abolish the Berkshire County Jail and House of Correction. Bruce McIntyre, first elected in 1933, would serve 30 years, longer than any other Berkshire County Sheriff until Sheriff Carmen C. The new jail, built of marble and pressed brick by Civil War veterans at a cost of about $190,000, accepted its first inmates in 1871.ĭuring a time when county jails still held executions, the Second Street jail was the site of two hangings, convicted murderers John Ten Eyck in 1878 and William Coy in 1893 – the final inmates put to death in Berkshire County. It was during his term that the Berkshire County Jail and House of Correction was built at 264 Second Street in Pittsfield. Gardner in 1855, was the first elected Sheriff of Berkshire County in 1857. Root of Sheffield, originally appointed Sheriff by Gov. Ephraim Williams, was the county’s first Sheriff from 1761 to 1776. In 1812, the Lenox jail was destroyed by fire, and inmates were then housed in the basement of the Superior Court building in Pittsfield.Įlijah Williams, brother of Williams College founder Col.

Prisoners were housed here until 1765, when Lenox became the site for the jail. The first county jail was located in Sheffield in 1733. Now the supervisor of one of the most technologically advanced county correctional facility in the Northeast, Sheriff Bowler joins a legacy of Berkshire County Sheriffs who guided the office, first from their homes, and then from county jails in Sheffield, Lenox and Pittsfield. Bowler, sworn into office as High Sheriff of Berkshire County on January 5, 2011, is the 21st man to hold that office since the county was founded in 1761.

Child dies at pittsfield township school