Sheriff aims to make jail beginning, not end

The sheriff of Suffolk County is, by definition, a jailer. So how come Andrea Cabral speaks in the language of a social scientist, psychologist, psychiatrist and, oh yes, the former prosecutor she once was?

The simple answer is: she can’t help it; she’s very bright. The other answer is, the residents of Boston and Suffolk County are luckier than they realize.

Their sheriff is no hack. And the department she oversees is quietly but steadily assuming a transformational role - not just to jail people until they are spun back out to the streets, but to give them the tools to keep them from returning.

“We’re the end of everything,” Cabral said yesterday, during a meeting with Herald editors and reporters. But it is in that “end” that Cabral has set out to chart a path toward a new beginning. And the triage of programs she has implemented has seen a 44 percent reduction in the recidivism rate among Suffolk inmates.

Imagine, if you can, any of the previous sheriffs taking the time to watch, and agonize, over inmates’ children building a snowman on the steps of the jail at Christmas. That heart-wrenching sight prompted Cabral to examine all the nuances of having children come to a jail to visit parents.

The results of that study only confirmed Cabral’s belief that understanding what is happening on the streets of this city means understanding what is - or isn’t - happening in the fractured homes of inner-city families.

“The deficits of this (jailed) population are enormous,” Cabral said. But in that glaring need, Cabral understands there is a significant opportunity. The Suffolk County jail has become the place where some inmates have begun to understand they have a chance to begin a life that can keep them out of prison.

Andrea Cabral has become an integral piece in the multipronged effort to stem the tide of urban bloodletting. Her jail is both a listening post for gangbangers who intend to control their turf from the inside and a place for people to begin to smarten up.

But her role is so much more than a facilitator of information. Cabral has a keen understanding of the dynamics behind the outbursts of bloodless violence by children.

“The younger you are,” she said, “the larger your id. You have no sense of your own future, let alone the consequences. What we’re talking about is as much a public health issue as it is a law enforcement issue.”

We are fortunate to have a sheriff who understands and appreciates the difference.