I have been the medical director at Franklin County House of Corrections (FCHOC) for 12 years. Before starting, I had never known what the sheriff did and had an image of the old Western man with a silver star badge and a gun, confronting the bad guys.
County sheriffs in Massachusetts play a broader role in our society. To start, they are the CEO of one of the largest public employers in any county. The FCHOC employs 279 people in Franklin County and the financial health of that organization is critical to the financial health of our region. Sheriffs need expertise in law enforcement, corrections, re-entry from jail to the community, mental health and addiction — while also having working relationships with the state Legislature, town police, selectboards, and the courts.
Lori Streeter has this expertise. Since 1982, she has worked at the county level, rising from the ranks as a correctional officer to become superintendent of the jail in 2012. Her skills and dedication to our county led Gov. Maura Healy to appoint her sheriff in 2025. Since then, she has put her 34 years of county-level experience to work for all of us.
Some county jails in Massachusetts hold ICE detainees. Some jails provide only the bare minimum of medical services, where inmates suffer through the worst possible withdrawal from opioids or alcohol or are denied critical mental health medications. This is a violation of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. I think of those as the “bad jails.”
Our county jail is seen as one of the best, not only in the state but in the nation, for the care we provide our inmates and the role we have played in the public health of our community. When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in 2020, our jail protected inmates from a spreading infection that would have then harmed our local hospital and community. The federal government studied our response and held our local county jail as a national role model for how other carceral facilities should respond in a public health emergency.
We were the first jail in the entire country to be a fully licensed methadone clinic. Carceral facilities across the country use our protocols and call us for advice on how to get substance use treatment into their facilities. Our correctional officers helped train the Federal Bureau of Prisons in how to integrate evidence-based treatment into their facilities across the country.
Every inmate in the FCHOC will be released back to our communities. We want our jail to continue to set the standard for excellent treatment and care of those in our custody. By continuing to help them to return healthier, more stable, and more hopeful, we are helping all our neighbors throughout the county every day.
Lori Streeter has been at the front line of this effort for 34 years. She has my vote.
Ruth A. Potee, MD, is medical director at the Franklin County House of Corrections.