Working people deserve more social services and education funding, not new prisons.
The solution to crime reduction is not incarceration. Our current Correctional system hides people in crisis, fails to address the root causes of crime, profits from harsh punishments, and ignores the patterns in our society that perpetuate criminal activity.
Nationally, black people are incarcerated at over five times the rate of white people. In Vermont, Black people are over six times more likely to be incarcerated as compared to white people.1 Black people are also disproportionately incarcerated for drug offenses relative to Vermont’s total sentenced population.2
1 in 17 children have a parent who is incarcerated, and $160 million is spent on Corrections annually. Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, the existing women’s correctional facility in Vermont, is closing due to unsanitary conditions and varying investigations. This presents a vital opportunity to reimagine our corrections system in Vermont while investing in the mitigation of the social determinants of crime. We must ensure that fewer Vermonters slip into addiction, poverty, or other circumstances.
Despite a strong need to reimagine a new system for community safety— including funds for education, social services, and providing basic human needs to Vermonters— Vermont is on track to build a brand new all womens’ correctional facility, budgeted at $50 million. Meanwhile, our education system is under-funded, our children face mental health crises at alarming rates, and schools lack the resources to adequately support them. Instead of continuing our limited investments in social services for our schools or building facilities to hold new and additional hospital beds, we are currently discussing an increase in carceral capacity. Rather, Vermont should invest in infrastructure to address the root causes of crime and ensure that our youngest population is set up for success.This is not a radical concept.
Rep. Brian Cina is proposing a moratorium on the new prison while simultaneously ending the pause on school construction. His bill notes that harsh physical and social environments in schools can lead to increased crime. By halting investment in a new prison and ensuring a more quality educational environment (to include mental health supports in place for our youngest and oftentimes most vulnerable Vermonters), we can decrease the number of incarcerated Vermonters.
Spending $50 million on a new prison project is not a path towards a more just Vermont. Alongside investing in our schools, we must have strong, proven alternatives to incarceration in place. Among those is a public system of community support grounded in restorative justice principles that are available to all justice-involved individuals, beginning with the Chittenden County Correctional Facility. We must consider the lived experience of those who have been through our carceral system in Vermont, and incorporate needs of our vulnerable populations. The goal of a program like this would be to reduce recidivism and promote recovery for all, with programs including:
Accessible, equitable, and localized services throughout the State
Secure and comprehensive housing for those in recovery and those at risk of self-harm and harm to others
Stronger treatment, educational, and workforce training options incorporated into localized and equitable residential programs.
Pathways to economic security by providing access to fair compensation opportunities, financial services, and capital for home ownership and small business development
Nurturing healthy relationships to assist persons whose actions have contributed to individual or community harm with repairing the harm caused by their actions and connecting with family and other community supports.
In Norway, similar correctional reforms have led to a 50% decrease in recidivism. Community care, acknowledging the humanity of all humans, and understanding the societal problems that lead to crime is essential. Lack of quality education can lead to poor health and an increase in crime. Failing to adequately invest in our schools perpetuates the societal issues that will only serve to ensure an increase in the number of Vermonters living in poverty.
Public caucus
FreeHer Vermont is gaining momentum in opposition to this new prison, advocating for increased investment in social services in Vermont. The VT American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is advocating tirelessly for civil justice and is in opposition to the New Womens’ Prison. Join the VT Progressive House Caucus, ACLU VT and Free Her VT to discuss what a new prison would mean for Vermont and the prison moratorium bill. You can attend at noon on Tuesday at Pavillion 270 next to the VT State House, or watch live at the Legislative Caucus Youtube channel. This channel will also provide the recorded caucus.
Progs in the Press
In discussion over a bill aiming to ban paramilitary training camps, in light of potential violent acts following training. Sen. Vyhovsky states: “I want to make sure that we are able to proactively stop these kinds of things rather than reacting after civil disorder or disobedience happens,” Vyhovsky said. “I think looking back we can say, ‘Well, of course they were training to have an insurrection because then they tried to have an insurrection,’” Vyhovsky added, “but I really want to be thoughtful about thinking proactively and how we stop things before they happen.”
Rep. Troy Headrick and Rep. Emma Mulvaney-Stanak testified in the Senate Committee on Government Operations on the Legislative compensation bill, highlighting policy points and their experiences as legislators.
VTDigger summarized testimony on the proposal to election laws, including nixing fusion candidates, weakening campaign finance regulations, and more.
The article reads, “The Vermont Democratic Party was the lone entity to speak up in support of the single-label rule. Jim Dandenau, the party’s executive director, argued a single party label would help provide voters with “clarity.”
But the single-label proposal has created some … unusual political bedfellows among pretty much everyone else. Leadership from the Vermont GOP and the Vermont Progressive Party testified against the proposed fusion-label ban, as did representatives for VPIRG and the AFL-CIO.”
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CSG Justice Center analysis of data from the Vermont Department of Corrections; U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Sex, Age, Race, and Hispanic Origin, April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2019.
CSG Justice Center analysis of data from the Vermont Department of Corrections.
