In a roughly 80-20 split, voters chose to keep Bowler behind the desk of the Sheriff’s Office at the Berkshire County Jail and House of Correction in Pittsfield.
“Everything we've done for the last 12 years has obviously resonated with the voters. So it makes me feel good. I'm proud of the people who work with me, and I'm proud of this community," said Bowler, who spoke to WAMC at his victory party at the Berkshire Hills Country Club Tuesday night. “Everything we have going now, we're going to try and enhance. We want to grow. We want more initiatives, we want more programs for our inmates, and we want more community involvement. And that's what we're going to strive for.”
Bowler has been critical of criminal legal system and law enforcement reform. Speaking with WAMC in June, he argued that he could be described as a progressive over his time in office.
“Progressive means many things," he said. "There are some progressive viewpoints that, sure, I don't agree with when it comes to law enforcement. But when you take a look at the programming that we've done with our inmate population up here and the things we've done in the community, that's also being very progressive, changing with the times. The aquaponics program that we have up here at the jail for inmates growing produce and donating it to the communities as well as utilizing it here at the jail. Having Williams College students coming in here to take a class, nine students from Williams College and nine inmates here having a philosophy course for a whole semester, taking a look at the medically-assisted treatment programs that we now offer that we didn't in the past.”
Bowler says his evolving stance on medically-assisted treatment for those in his custody experiencing substance use disorder is an example of that progression.
“I was always under the impression abstinence was the best way to go," he told WAMC. "But when I talked to families, parents, and grandparents, and siblings of those who are affected by substance use disorder, and they sit there and they told me that if it wasn't for Suboxone or methadone their loved one would be dead by now. Well, that resonates with me. So I know there's a place for it. And it's just, it's trying to find that place within our system where it works. And we are now licensed to administer methadone, which has been a huge accomplishment. And so we work with, not only do we administer the actual medication to the inmate, but they get counseling and education to go along with it, which many of them don't really get out in the street when they go to the clinics.”
Barbalunga, the Chief Probation Officer of the Southern Berkshire District Court, made the fact that Berkshire women are held out of the county a centerpiece of his aggressive campaign against Bowler, a point he underscored in a June interview with WAMC.
“These are women that are now three hours round trip out of our area," Barbalunga told WAMC. "Their loved ones can't visit them. Their support services, their attorneys- you know, these are women that are usually at the ultimate disadvantage when it comes to criminal justice to begin with, and now they're ripped out of their community. That's pretty distressing.”
Bowler maintained throughout the campaign that the women are best served at the Western Mass Regional Women's Correctional Center in Chicopee.
Barbalunga, the cousin of deceased former sheriff Carmen Massimiano, also accused Bowler of nepotism, racial discrimination, and financial mismanagement over the course of his campaign.
He spoke with WAMC Wednesday:
“I don't believe there's anything we could have done to be Tom," said Barbalunga. "That's a fact. And at the end of the day, you know, ultimately, it's my failure, not my campaign committee's. They did their respective jobs, and that's the bottom line. We had a plan, we executed it, we had to educate the voters, and then succeed on the changes I want to make for the budget and for the female inmates and for educational programming and term limits. And you know, at the end of the day, about one in four people want at least one of those changes. So we're somewhat happy about that.”
