It’s Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi versus Prisoners’ Legal Services, round two, this time with a global pandemic thrown in.

The sheriff and the legal services group have long been battling in court and in public over the practice of confining men who are civilly committed for substance abuse in a correctional facility while they get treatment. Civil commitments are a way to confine someone involuntarily because they pose a danger to themselves or others due to addiction. The advocates say a correctional facility is the wrong place to treat people for an illness, while Cocchi says he has the resources to offer effective treatment where other options don’t exist. Now, that practice is again coming into question during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prisoners’ Legal Services last week filed a class action lawsuit with the Supreme Judicial Court seeking to release some sentenced prisoners and all prisoners who are civilly committed due to the pandemic. (The case is separate from another SJC case, which has resulted in the release of around 600 prisoners who are awaiting trial or are incarcerated on probation or parole violations, due to the coronavirus.)

There are two correctional facilities that house civilly committed men – MASAC in Plymouth, which is run by the state Department of Correction, and Cocchi’s facility at the Hampden County Correctional Center. Prisoners’ Legal Services filed a lawsuit in early 2019, which is still pending, to move all these men to treatment facilities run by public health agencies instead. (A separate lawsuit resulted in legislation that banned the practice for women in 2016.)

The latest lawsuit argues that conditions at MASAC are dirty and dangerous and create a great risk of virus transmission for the men housed there. And due to COVID-19, the state has suspended the very treatment that justifies keeping the men confined. According to the lawsuit, MASAC cancelled classes and suspended group treatment during the pandemic, while keeping the men in lockdown.

The lawsuit doesn’t mention Cocchi’s program, but if the suit is successful, it would require Cocchi to release the men from his program as well.

Cocchi fought back in a lengthy statement issued Thursday. Cocchi said PLS is “misguided” and called their assertions “insulting” to his department. Cocchi said his facility has had no cases of COVID-19 among either his civilly committed or his incarcerated population. Staff are medically screened before each shift. Section 35 clients are given masks to wear at all times except while eating, and eating is done in shifts. Housing units are sanitized daily. The men have unlimited access to hygiene products and medical services. Cocchi said outside vendors and volunteers are no longer allowed in, but staff are continuing to provide addiction treatment services.

At a press conference outside the gates of his Ludlow facility, Cocchi and Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said the widespread release of people who have substance abuse problems without aftercare planning is a recipe for a public health disaster. Cocchi told WBUR that his institution – perhaps unlike MASAC – is continuing operations. “They’re not just locked up in a room here, told to go cold turkey,” Cocchi said.

SHIRA SCHOENBERG

BEACON HILL

Amid soaring jobless claims, Gov. Charlie Baker seeks a federal loan to cover outlays. (State House News)

The Legislature passed a bill allowing for remote notarization of documents. (Boston Globe)

Danvers Rep. Ted Speliotis is retiring after 32 years on Beacon Hill. (Salem News)

Around a dozen protesters showed up outside Gov. Charlie Baker’s house for a “Liberate Massachusetts” rally urging him to reopen the state. (Salem News)

Critics say a state program to aid veterans is struggling and not being well executed amidst the pandemic. (Boston Globe)

Sen. Eric Lesser’s 6-year-old daughter Nora gives the senator a “nose boop” while Lesser is doing a live TV interview with WGBY. (MassLive)

Massachusetts House calls for more information about racial disparities in COVID-19 treatment and testing. (MassLive)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

With less tax revenue coming in and COVID-19 expenditures mounting, municipalities face a lot of uncertainty with their budgets for next year. (CommonWealth) Lenox officials propose a 7.5 percent cut in spending to keep the budget in balance. (Berkshire Eagle)

A number of communities have imposed fines for violating mask requirements, but local boards of health are often taking a soft touch on enforcement, focusing on education instead of citations. (MassLive)

In Chelsea, surging coronavirus is also accompanied by a growing hunger crisis. (WGBH)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

Seriously ill people are so scared of contracting COVID-19 that they are putting off life-saving hospital visits. “One of my surgeons said to me last week that he has done more amputations in the last two weeks than he can ever remember,” said Dr. Gregg Meyer of Partners HealthCare. (CommonWealth)

Dr. Jarone Lee of MGH says he’s busy in the ICU          (and has some concerns) but his hospital and most others seem on track to weather the COVID-19 storm. (CommonWealth)

Just when it seemed like COVID-19 cases might be winding down in Massachusetts, they spike to their highest one-day total ever. Also in virus notes, House bill would create an equity task force. (CommonWealth)

A nurse at Berkshire Medical Center challenges the hospital’s directives on masks, and a hospital spokesman accuses him of being a shill for the Mass. Nurses Assn. (CommonWealth)

Nursing homes in Massachusetts and a handful of other states have been granted immunity from civil lawsuits during the COVID-19 pandemic. (NPR) Coronavirus cases spike in Framingham, and a big chunk of the increase stems from nursing homes. (MetroWest Daily News) Alex Morse, the mayor of Holyoke, calls for the state to take operational control of any long-term care facility with coronavirus cases. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

A Massachusetts research group found a way to clean medical gear using a hydrogen peroxide mist. (Salem News)

A robot is providing videoconferencing to residents at Worcester’s Beaumont nursing home. (Telegram & Gazette)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

Congress passes another relief bill and the House takes its first in-chamber vote since March 14, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi wearing a face covering. (NPR)

President Trump suggests injecting patients with bleach could be a way to kill off the coronavirus.(New York Times) Trump’s musing at his daily briefing prompted the maker of Lysol to issue a warning “that under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route).” (Politico)

Governors who are making moves to open up parts of their states are blindsiding their own public health advisors who have warned against such action. (Washington Post)

Members of Congress sent a letter to President Trump on Thursday asking him to waive the cost-share requirements for assistance related to COVID-19 for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head. (Cape Cod Times)

Renée Loth, whose grandfather died during the 1918 flu pandemic, wonders whether the compassion now abundant amidst COVID-19 will lead to lasting change in the safety net. (Boston Globe) CommonWealth explored that issue earlier this month.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Around 200,000 people have requested unemployment benefits in Massachusetts through a new program for self-employed workers ineligible for traditional benefits that just started on Monday. (Gloucester Daily Times)

Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital is using a testing chamber created by local manufacturing companies to conduct coronavirus tests without coming into contact with patients. (The Enterprise)

A Kendall Square research institute may become the guinea pig testing out a protocol for  having people return safely to their workplace. (Boston Globe)

Boston business leaders mull the long-term changes that are coming to the workplace, including more people working from home. (Boston Herald)

A defiant gun store owner in Middleborough is refusing to close despite Gov. Charlie Baker’s orders, claiming he only answers to God and President Donald Trump. (MassLive)

EDUCATION

Lane Glenn, the president of Northern Essex Community College, has a very interesting piece on the skewed nature of higher education policy, and how community colleges and their students often end up getting a raw deal. (CommonWealth)

School leaders adapt to building closures, lack of ceremonial march for graduates in June. (Herald News)

Bus drivers at one Merrimack Valley company operating are now delivering food and school supplies. (Eagle-Tribune)

ARTS/CULTURE

In part two of a series, the Standard-Times talks about what the South Coast’s music scene is facing during the pandemic. Meanwhile, as musicians shift to social distancing, DigBoston is covering online concerts and virtual album releases.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

A federal class action lawsuit filed last week seeks to release federal detainees from the Plymouth County Correctional Facility because of the coronavirus emergency. (Patriot Ledger)

PASSINGS 

Madelyn Levenson, who co-founded the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra and was a mainstay of the Worcester music scene, dies at 96. (Telegram & Gazette)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s oldest brother, Donald Reed Herring, died in Oklahoma of coronavirus at age 86. (Boston Globe)