Massachusetts sheriff volunteers inmates to build Donald Trump's border wall

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 5 January 2017

A sheriff in Massachusetts' Bristol County thinks it would be a great idea for his inmates to help President-elect Donald Trump build his border wall. "I can think of no other project that would have such a positive impact on our inmates and our country than building this wall," Sheriff Thomas Hodgson said Wednesday at his swearing-in ceremony for his fourth term as sheriff. "Aside from learning and perfecting construction skills, the symbolism of these inmates building a wall to prevent crime in communities around the country, and to preserve jobs and work opportunities for them and other Americans upon release, can be very powerful."

Hodgson said some of his inmates already have the requisite skills to construct the wall Trump has proposed building along the U.S.-Mexico border, and he said those without masonry skills could do things "as simple as moving materials to the wall, maybe digging in certain areas." "We have to create a border down there that prevents jobs from being taken away from Americans [and] that prevents criminals from coming in, including terrorists," Hodgson said.

A spokesman for the Bristol County Sheriff's Office told Talking Points Memo that Hodgson has reached out to Trump's team about his idea, but he has yet to hear back.