PHOTO BY PAULA MULLER
Republican sheriff candidate Anne Manning-Martin answers questions from the audience at St. Stephen’s Church on Thursday.
BY ADAM SWIFT
LYNN — Candidates hoping to replace Essex County Sheriff Frank Cousins touted their plans to reduce recidivism and improve prison conditions on Thursday night.
Three Republicans and one independent candidate attended a forum at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church hosted by the Essex County Community Organization and Neighbor to Neighbor.
“Contact with the family is the most important element in reducing recidivism and keeping families intact,” said Anne Manning-Martin, a Peabody city councilor and a deputy superintendent for the Department of Corrections.
Manning-Martin said female prisoners are especially vulnerable to being separated from their families since the majority are either detained or held while awaiting trial in Framingham.
“They do not belong there,” she said. “They need to be closer to their families and they should be doing misdemeanor time in Essex County.”
Her top priority if elected is to make sure that women who are doing time or awaiting bail are incarcerated in the same county in which they and their families live, she said.
James Jajuga Jr., a Methuen police lieutenant and attorney, said keeping families together is important. But he said that issues in jails and prisons are a microcosm of the outside world and that issues related to the breakdown of families must be addressed.
Craig Lane, a sergeant in the sheriff’s department, said while there is no facility for sentenced female prisoners in Essex County, the region does have a detox center for women.
“At least if we can keep the substance abuse (cases) out of Framingham, it’s a step in the right direction,” he said.
Mark Archer, an attorney and former state trooper, said the prison population, especially for women, can be reduced by expanding the electronic bracelet monitoring program.
All of the candidates also spoke of the need to fix substance abuse and mental health problems by working with community groups to help people before they need to be locked up.
Republican candidates who did not attend Thursday night’s forum included Kenneth Berg, a law enforcement officer from Danvers, and Jeffrey Gallo, a lieutenant in the Essex County Sheriff’s Department.
The six Democratic candidates on the ballot include William Castro of Methuen, a sergeant in the Essex County Sheriff’s Department; Lynn Police Chief Kevin Coppinger; Michael Marks of Lynn, Middleton Jail superintendent; Edward J. O’Reilly of Wenham, a defense attorney and former firefighter; retired Middleton Jail deputy superintendent Jerry Robito; and Paul Russell Jr. of Andover, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent.
The state primaries will be held on Thursday, Sept. 8.
The Republican and Democratic nominees will be joined on the Tuesday, Nov. 8 general election ballot by Archer, who is running as an independent, and unenrolled candidate Kevin Leach of Manchester-by-the-Sea.
Cousins decided not to run for re-election this year after two decades on the job.
A forum for Democratic candidates will be held next Thursday night.
Adam Swift can be reached at aswift@itemlive.com.