Andrea Cabral facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Andrea Cabral
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Official portrait, 2013
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| Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety | |
| In office 2013–2015 |
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| Governor | Deval Patrick |
| Preceded by | Mary Elizabeth Heffernan |
| Succeeded by | Daniel Bennett |
| Sheriff of Suffolk County, Massachusetts | |
| In office 2002–2013 |
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| Preceded by | Richard J. Rouse |
| Succeeded by | Steven W. Tompkins |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1959 (age 64–65) East Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | Boston College (BA) Suffolk University Law School (JD) |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Andrea J. Cabral (born 1959) is an American lawyer and former Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety and sheriff of Suffolk County, Massachusetts.
Background
Cabral is a native of East Providence, Rhode Island. She is a graduate of Boston College (1981) with a Bachelor of Arts degree and Suffolk University Law School where she earned her Juris Doctor degree in 1986. Cabral began her legal career in 1986 as a staff attorney at the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department at the Charles Street Jail, working to prepare and argue motions for bail reduction for the Suffolk Superior Court. Subsequently, she served as an assistant district attorney at the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office from 1987 to 1991. From 1991 to 1993, Cabral served in the Office of the Attorney General including work in the Torts Division/Government Bureau and the Civil Rights/ Public Protection Bureau. Cabral then began work at the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office in 1993 under then District Attorney Ralph C. Martin III. From 1993 to 1994, she was director of Roxbury District Court Family Violence Project. She became chief of the Domestic Violence Unit at the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office in 1994. In 1998, Cabral was promoted to chief of District Courts and Community Prosecutions. Eisenhower Fellowships selected Andrea Cabral as a USA Eisenhower in 1997.
Sheriff of Suffolk County
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In 2002, after the Stern Commission, headed by Donald K. Stern, called for reform in the Sheriff's Department, she was appointed sheriff by Governor Jane Swift. Cabral won election in 2004 as the Sheriff of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, and was the first female in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts history to hold the position.
As Sheriff of Suffolk County, Cabral was responsible for the operation of the House of Correction, the Suffolk County Jail, the Suffolk County Women's Resource Center, the Suffolk County Community Corrections Center and the Civil Process Division. The Suffolk County Sheriff's Department has more than 1,100 employees, being correctional officers, criminal justice professionals, caseworkers and administrative staff whose primary responsibility is upholding public safety and providing rehabilitative support for more than 2,500 offenders daily.
Immigration issues
In an August 13, 2010 letter to the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral noted a "staggering lack of communication and respect" from the federal agency.
She told CNN Radio that if her concerns aren't addressed, ICE "would no longer be allowed to house federal detainees at the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department. They would have to take them to a different facility."
ICE is reviewing Cabral's letter and will offer a direct response to her concerns, said Harold Ort, a spokesman for the agency.
