A month after taking office, Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral ordered her Community Works Crew to remove the six-year old signs at the Suffolk County House of Correction that read, “If you committed a crime…you’d be home now…” The wording of the signs was a parody of the well-known “If you lived here, you’d be home now” placards at the Storrow Drive side of the Charles River Park condominiums.

Sheriff Cabral did not feel the signs were appropriate at the prison. “I have no doubt that their original placement was well-intended as an admonition against criminal behavior” Sheriff Cabral said. “Unfortunately, the signs also had a certain negative socioeconomic and racial resonance given the composition of our inmate population. I have heard from numerous individuals and community groups who have long had the same reaction to these signs. Since they were not necessary to the running of our facilities, I saw no need to keep them up.”

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