APRIL 16, 2026 | FREE
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Inmate reentry facility will not open in Westfield
WESTFIELD
Westfield snow and ice removal costs exceeded $2.7 million While the inches recorded snow that fell in the city this winter was average, the number of plowable events was the reason snow and ice removal costs are over $1 million over last year’s cost.
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SOUTHWICK
Southwick library brings history to life with three events in April The Southwick Public Library will host three events in April, one of which will teach about the “Dangerous Art of Chainsaw Sculpture.”
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DINING & ENTERTAINMENT
Forbes Library hosts fiber arts exhibit by The Fiberistas Nine women have put their heart and soul — and thread — into a fiber art exhibit, “Bits and Pieces.”
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Brittany Cortis, center left, organized the protest in Westfield on Wednesday to show dislike towards the proposed relocation of a re-entry program. March 11, 2026. Photo credit: Douglas Hook
By Namu Sampath nsampath@repub.com
WESTFIELD — An inmate reentry program that was slated to open in Westfield this summer is instead being discontinued, its operator, Community Resources for Justice, said on April 9. The decision comes after residents protested its planned location on Southampton Road, saying the site was too close to two elementary schools. This week, the city’s School Committee unanimously voted on a motion in opposition to the facility, stating it posed an “unacceptable safety risk” to the community due to its location. Through a structured program that emphasizes account-
ability, employment and stability, the facility was meant for people who already would be reentering their communities from prison, said Deborah O’Brien, president of Community Resources for Justice, of Boston. The program had planned to relocate from West Springfield. It is authorized by Massachusetts Probation Services. The organization is now seeking another way to continue its mission of providing state-authorized residential reentry programming. What is an inmate reentry program? A state law called the Dover Amendment allows specific programs to bypass local approval. That is how the organiza-
tion was able to purchase a former day care center on Southampton Road, less than a mile from two elementary schools: Southampton Road Elementary School, a K-through-grade 4 school, and Westfield Intermediate School, a school for fifth- and sixth-graders. The facility would have housed up to 34 men and six women in a 8,400-square-foot building that used to be a day care for between three and six months. The facility was slated to have a kitchen and dining areas, laundry facilities, lounges and meeting rooms. Parents and neighbors argued the location was the problem, not the program itself. The superintendent of Westfield Public
Schools had previously said the facility’s location would “negatively impact” the district. Brittany Cortis, one of the parents who organized weekly protests against the location of the facility, told a reporter Thursday she was “very thankful” the organization took residents’ concerns seriously. “The safety of our kids was really important and also this will be better for the populations they are aiming to help with their program,” she said. “This is beneficial for both sides.” O’Brien, president of Community Resources for Justice, said construction at the site had See REENTRY on page 2