For many local Franklin County folks in politics and law enforcement, moving the state’s women prisoners to NWSCF (Northwest State Correctional Facility) in St. Albans a few years ago made no sense. Among other concerns expressed was the loss of local space to house men being held by local law enforcement for trial and of federal money for housing federal immigration detainees. Now, the proposal to move men back to the St. Albans prison, and the women to the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility would alleviate those concerns. Further, some argue, more male beds at Northwest means more local corrections jobs.

The diary below provides another point of view, under a pseudonym, because DOC workers are not allowed to speak publicly on DOC issues. ~ NanuqFC

By Concerned Observer

When the new governor was elected partly on a platform of changing the paradigm of criminal justice in this state, many of us who work in this field were optimistic that the time had come for some thoughtful long term planning, to not only save money, but to keep the community safe while changing people’s lives for the better.

The recent proposal from the Shumlin administration to move the women’s prison from the St Albans facility stunned almost everyone who works with this population. This is being called a plan, but in reality there seems to have been virtually no planning involved. None of the DOC staff here at NW were consulted prior to the announcement. Certainly none of the contracted staff were consulted. As far as I can tell, no one involved with this decision stepped foot in either facility before it was announced.

Let’s stop the charade that this is somehow better for the female inmates in Vermont. This will be an enormous step back for them, and to portray it as some kind of wonderful opportunity is disingenuous in the extreme.

• When the Governor announced this decision a great deal was made of how this would create new opportunities for incarcerated women. Anyone who’s been inside of the Chittenden facility would see this immediately as absurd.
• We keep hearing that this will enable women to see their children easier. St. Albans is not the end of the world, it’s only 25 min. from Burlington. I don’t believe there are any women who haven’t been able to see their children because of location. In fact, if the underlying issues of substance abuse, mental health, education, employability training aren’t addressed, the sad fact is that most of these kids will be better off not being reunited with their mothers. Children who visit their mothers in jail are many times traumatized by the experience of entering a correctional facility. The proposed family center at CRCF [Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility] is amazingly bleak and depressing.
• Since  there is no room at CRCF for the type of programming available at NWSCF, the  non-profits are being told they will have to figure out a way to deliver these services outside the facility. This will involve more money, public opposition to siting these type of outside facilities, security issues, etc. The list of obstacles to be overcome is a long one and will take a great deal of planning and money. We are being told we have till July 1, 2011, and there will be very little if any money.
• The  plan at CRCF is for there to be a wing that can house up to 80 women who will be able, so we’re told, to leave the prison daily for jobs in the community. I can’t imagine where these jobs will come from, since, in the population of around 155 at NWSCF there are nowhere near 80 women who can even keep a job inside the prison. In today’s economy to think that, without any kind of preliminary work, there are jobs for these women seems to be spectacularly  optimistic.

• PREA:  The Prison Rape Elimination Act was enacted to stop coercive sexual contact in prison populations. One of the reasons for moving the women in 2009 from Windsor and Dale was the high number of PREA incidents mainly due to having 3 or more inmates to a cell. Re-locating women to CRCF will put the women at risk and force the facility to have 3 and 4 inmates to a cell again.
• The  #1 issue the female population has is substance abuse. At NWSCF Phoenix house  runs a comprehensive, residential treatment program with 6 employees, 5 offices and a conference room. Phoenix house also runs a highly effective, 7-month program for violent offenders in this same space. There is no room at  Chittenden for this type of facility.
• Many  incarcerated women have a long and tragic history of childhood sexual and physical abuse, and for many that pattern continued into  adulthood. NWSCF has an effective program dealing with these issues. There is no room at Chittenden for this  program.
• Lack  of education is another piece of the recidivism puzzle. At NWSCF there is a separate building run by the Community High School of Vermont with two dedicated staff members and 2 offices, 2 large classrooms, a well equipped  library, 3 smaller classrooms, a computer resource center where women can write resumes and cover letters and learn job interview skills, and a law library. Women can get a GED or they can get either an Adult High School Diploma or, if they’re under 25 they can, by making up missing credits, get a diploma from the high school they would have graduated from had they not dropped out. At Chittenden, Community High school has 2 small rooms and no library, woefully inadequate.

• The  type of staff and skills needed is very different for men and women. You don’t just drop a large population into a correctional facility and just pick up where you left off. At NWSCF there was a long and arduous adjustment period, with much of the new staff being hired specifically for their ability to work with women. It’s taken most of the last two years to incorporate all of the  staff into a smooth working system. The NW DOC staff is hard working and very professional, and I have no doubt they can accomplish the switch, but there will be a long and expensive adjustment period, with much training and staff turnover before the facility is up and running. The same goes for the Chittenden facility. This unacknowledged adjustment period will eat up much of the  overly optimistic saving projections.
  

There is certainly money to be saved in Corrections over the long haul; however, it will require a great deal of planning and collaboration with all parties to make a change to the way we deal with crime in this state. This move, proposed in haste with virtually no thought or planning, will be an enormous step back for everyone involved.