County Inmates To Remain At Cambridge Jail

A panel from the state department of public safety yesterday issued a stay allowing the Middlesex Country sheriff to continue holding prisoners at an East Cambridge jail despite the opposition of Cambridge officials and residents.

Earlier this week, a Middlesex superior court judge ordered county officials to remove all the prisoners from the jail. He said that because the jail lacks a sprinkler system, it poses a safety hazard to both the inmates and other occupants of the building.

After hearing several hours of testimony, the panel of three state building inspectors state that they saw "no imminent peril to life," and determined that the prisoners could remain in the jail, located on the 17th through 20th floors of the Middlesex Country Courthouse building in Cambridge, if the country maintains a 24-hour firewatch by hiring guards whose sole duty would be to patrol the halls watching for fires.

Country Officials last week began housing prisoners at the Cambridge jail for the first time since its completion in 1974. A spokesman for the state corrections committee said yesterday that although officials were aware of the fire hazard problem, they had no choice but to bring prisoners to the Cambridge facility because all other nearby jails were already holding prisoners "well above capacity."

Cambridge fire chief Daniel J. Reagan said yesterday he was very disappointed by the panel's decision. Doubting the effectiveness of the Sheriff's plans for a firewatch, Reagan said that the jail would remain a fire hazard as long as there was no sprinkler system.

The panel's decision is only temporary, pending a hearing before the state's building code commission sometime next month to determine whether the jail is in violation of building codes.