March 10, 2020 - 9:22 AM
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. - A Rhode Island woman arrested at a protest over the conditions at a Massachusetts jail has been sentenced to 30 days in jail.
Immigration activist Sherrie Andre was convicted Monday in New Bedford District Court of trespassing and disturbing the peace.
She received the maximum possible sentence for the charges, according to the FANG Collective, a Rhode Island-based group that Andre co-founded.
The organization said it was surprised by the harsh despite dozens of letters of support submitted on her behalf by community leaders.
Andre was among several protesters arrested for blocking the entrance to the Bristol County House of Corrections in Dartmouth in August 2018.
The demonstration was meant to show support for a hunger strike inside the jail by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees.
They also opposed Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson’s support of the Trump administration's immigration policies.
The Republican sheriff has offered to send detainees to help build President Donald Trump’s border wall with Mexico. His jail is one of the few in New England that houses ICE detainees.
Two others arrested at the protest were sentenced to 10 days in prison as part of a plea deal. Another paid a $3,000 fine.
Andre will serve her sentence at the Bristol County jail.
News from © The Associated Press, 2020