E. Cambridge Prison Plans Draw Protest

Close to 100 East Cambridge residents rallied outside the 3rd District Middlesex County courthouse in their section of the city yesterday to protest state plans to turn part of the courthouse into a prison.

The city council Monday instructed the city solicitor "to do all that he legally can" to prevent the state from using the top of the courthouse as a prison.

Led by organizers with bullhorns, the crowd marched around the 18-story courthouse and then gathered out front to watch two fire engines demonstrate visually one of their main complaints with the proposed facility.

They have charged that in the event of a fire the building, which is not equipped with automatic sprinklers, would become a deathtrap, as prisoners and workers would be unable to leave by elevator or stair, and fire truck ladders could not reach them.

"The two firetrucks couldn't reach up more than eight stories," councilor Alfred E. Vellucci, a resident of East Cambridge, said yesterday. "They looked like little toys in front of that building," he added.

East Cambridge residents have been fighting for more than a year the state plan to turn the top four floors of the courthouse into a prisoner classification center, where prisoners would be housed for short periods of time before being moved to other state institutions.

Speaking before the city council Monday, Frank Budryk, chairman of the East Cambridge Planning Team, stressed that the main concern of residents was still for their safety.

However, he added that there were a number of other issues, including the fire safety question, that also trouble neighborhood residents.

"The cells in that courthouse [originally intended to be used as a county jail] are not fit for human habitation," Budryk said.

"Trying to put a prison there is sheer folly." Budryk said. "The building is a white elephant," he added.