UMass Votes Down On-Campus Jail

Despite pleas by local officials and some students, the Faculty Senate at the University of Massachusetts voted Thursday against establishing a jail on campus.

The proposal to create an on campus temporary holding facility was initiated last spring, after the town of Amherst asked the university to consider creating an on-campus jail because the town didn't have enough room to hold arrested UMass students.

Last year an intoxicated student tried to commit suicide after being taken to the town jail. In response to the incident, students proposed an on-campus holding facility.

"My impression is that some students were concerned that if an intoxicated student was taken to the town jail the possibility of him or her harming him or herself was high," Arthur S. Clifford '68, director of the office of public information, said.

But the faculty's governing body rejected the proposal stating it was contrary to the purpose of a university to have a jail, said William H. Weitzer, administrative officer for student affairs.

The decision by the Faculty Senate is not binding, but university officials said it was almost sure that the proposal would fail.

Last year UMass police arrested 336 people; 159 were students. Most arrests were for drunkenness, said Scot G. McCracken, an attorney for the university.

The people arrested by UMass police are transported to the town jail which is three miles away from the university. The students is checked on every fifteen minutes by the police to see if he hasn't been bailed out, McCracken said.

The Amherst town jail cannot provide adequate facilities to incarcerate students and campus visitors, and does not want university detainees, said Weitzer.

"We represent a real burden to the town," Weitzer said.

Around 55,000 people live in Amherst, 25,000 of whom are UMass students, Weitzer said.

The Amherst Police force does not have its own building and is housed in the basement of the town hall.