Following almost 40 years of public service, Franklin County Sheriff Chris Donelan says he'll be retiring at the end of January.
Donelan was first sworn in as sheriff in 2011, and has been re-elected twice - serving two, full-six year terms. He's retiring amid his third and after a career that's also included time as a police officer and state representative.
As sheriff, he oversaw the county's House of Correction shift focus to offering addiction and mental health treatment to those in the system. As a lawmaker, he also had a role in the creation of the state's first sales tax holiday, among other accomplishments. WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief James Paleologopoulos spoke with Donelan soon after his retirement announcement.
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Chris Donelan: Well, I'm very excited - excited just for a new chapter and a next chapter. What inspired it is … you get to a point, and part of that was I've maxed out what I can earn for a state pension and I turned 60-years-old two weeks ago, so, I think those two milestones really got me looking at what I want to do next in my life, while I'm still healthy enough to do it.
WAMC: As you prepare to depart this role amid your third term as sheriff, how are you leaving the Franklin County Sheriff's Office compared to how you found it, or when you were first elected in 2010?
Chris Donelan: I think I'm leaving it much stronger, much more focused on the important work of enhancing public safety through the rehabilitation of folks who find themselves in the criminal justice system.
I'm leaving it a much stronger and better partner with the community and particularly local law enforcement, and I think, overall, I've always said in any public seat that I've held, my goal is to leave it stronger than I found it, and I think I've succeeded in that here.
WAMC: Under your leadership, the Franklin County Jail and House of Correction has seen a significant refocusing on treating addiction and the mental health of those going through the system. What was the impetus for implementing programs like medically assisted treatment, being licensed as a methadone clinic..?
Chris Donelan: Well, I came in here wanting to do treatment. I, having been experienced as a probation officer, dealing with men who were in the justice system because of addiction, I had experience with that, and I wanted to work on that.
What came after that came out of necessity with the heroin crisis that hit Western Massachusetts in around 2012 -13 and, there's a lot we've done here that has been first in the nation and pretty progressive thinking, but when you look back at those early days of the heroin crisis, in a lot of ways, we did what we did out of necessity to save people's lives, because it hit us pretty hard and heroin addiction was killing people on the streets of Franklin County and across Massachusetts and New England at that early time.
So, we responded to the circumstances as they presented themselves and I think what I'm proudest of, in all of that looking back, was how quickly we were able and willing to pivot what we were doing in response to whatever crisis we faced at any given time.
WAMC: In terms of size, could you speak to how large the sheriff's office is, as well as how many individuals go through the Franklin County House of Correction?
Chris Donelan: Sure, the Sheriff’s Office of Franklin County - well, first, Franklin County is a rural community in Western Massachusetts - 26 communities, roughly 70,000 people. Our House of Correction houses, roughly, just under 200 incarcerated people at any given time, and we hold pretrial and sentenced populations.
WAMC: Generally speaking, how many of those who are incarcerated have been able to make use of the addiction and mental health services offered.
Chris Donelan: We average, on any given day, 60 to 70 incarcerated people in our treatment unit, and they come and go - the average sentence is six to eight months, so, literally, hundreds a year will come in and engage in these in these treatment programs, whether it's substance abuse or mental health, and they're pretty intensive.
We're one of the few correctional facilities where, in the first six months of incarceration, these people will be faced with over 200 clinical hours of treatment, which is pretty intense.
But when you look at some of the circumstances they've come from, the depth and level of addiction or mental health crises that they've been in, it's pretty, pretty intense, and it's been pretty effective.
We were doing, before COVID, we had a grant and we hired college interns actually doing recidivism studies for us. Our first, three-year cohort showed a 20 percent reduction in recidivism.
And then COVID hit, and we had to send all the interns home and the study stopped, which was unfortunate, but we really feel that we're on the right path with the treatment we do here.
WAMC: Before becoming sheriff, you've spent a considerable amount of time on Beacon Hill, serving the 2nd Franklin district from 2003 to 2010 - before that, you also worked as a police officer and a probation officer. Could you speak to how these stops in your career might have informed your time as sheriff in any way?
Chris Donelan: I like to say I'm probably one of the few people out there that have actually worked for all three branches of government - for the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judicial branch as a probation officer, and having perspectives from all three, understanding how the legislature and politics works was very helpful in trying to build what I've built here at the jail, and building relationships along the way.
So, it's really, as I said one other time, relationships really matter in times of crisis or when you're trying to do things, and it makes it easier to ask for help if you already have relationships.
So, if more than anything else, those opportunities to meet people, to know people, to form relationships - I was able to take full-advantage of that in the sheriff's office.
WAMC: Speaking of your time on Beacon Hill, the state's first sales tax holiday [in 2006] can be traced back to your work. Could you speak to –
Chris Donelan: That’s right!
WAMC: Could you could you speak to - so many people in Massachusetts have been able to take advantage of that, and they might not even know the person behind it - not just you, but also, I believe, a certain store owner in Athol [Mark Duguay] - could you speak to the impetus for what led to that bill?
Chris Donelan: Yeah, this, this guy had just bought an existing appliance store on Main Street in Athol and I happened to be over there, marching in the Little League parade, and, at the end of the parade, I was walking back to my car and he introduced himself and we were talking and I was congratulating him and he was telling me how difficult it is to be a small business owner on Main Street, and he actually said “You know, I heard other states do this thing called the sales tax holiday. That'd be a great help me with my small business.”
So, the next time I was in Boston, we were having the budget debate, so I filed an amendment to the budget for a sales tax holiday in August, and, lo and behold, it passed, and … the rest is history, it's now a sales tax holiday weekend, and it's become permanent law in Massachusetts, so, walking down Main Street and talking to your constituents is the way to get things done.
WAMC: Sheriff could you talk to me just a little bit about what the timeline looks like in terms of an interim sheriff?
Chris Donelan: We are waiting to hear from the governor - it's entirely her prerogative. At this point, the governor appoints my replacement, who is to serve until the next election.
So, I have notified the governor of my intention and we're just waiting to hear back from her.
WAMC: Based on your experience, sheriff, in your opinion, what makes for a good sheriff in Western Massachusetts? Especially in this modern era, what are the qualities someone looking to work in this office should have.
Chris Donelan: Public health - you need to know a lot about public health, because I think more so than anything else, we focus on that. Substance abuse, mental health treatment, even physical illness - people coming in now with addiction problems are more physically ill, whether it's liver, heart, lungs, infections; they tend to be very sick people.
What we've pivoted to here is kind of away from a public safety model and toward a public health model, and that helps us to focus what we need to focus on here, as far as getting these people well and making them productive citizens in the community again.
So, there was a time when, whether you were in law enforcement or in law as a lawyer, people thought you would be a great sheriff. That's certainly true, but we need to know a lot about the social ills of our community, public health, public housing - those things that really impact recidivism.
The more we focus on those, the better impact we have.
WAMC: Sheriff, thank you so much for your time.
Chris Donelan: Sure, my pleasure.
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Franklin County Sheriff Chris Donelan is retiring after 37 years of public service at the end of January. That time has included making the Franklin County House of Correction one of the nation's first to offer an assortment of mental health and addiction treatment services to inmates. He spoke with WAMC's James Paleologopoulos days after announcing his plans to depart on Monday, Jan. 6.
