This one flew under the radar, in the midst of the Rutland County GOP’s own goal and Monday’s blizzard of campaign finance reports. But, according to an Associated Press story distributed yesterday, Vermont Corrections Commissioner Andrew Pallito has quietly scotched the Corrections Citizens’ Advisory Group.
The CCAG was formed in 2005 after a series of inmate suicides and deaths of people in custody, and was designed to provide an outside perspective on prison operations. But Pallito sees no point in continuing:
Pallito said that given the way the Corrections Citizens’ Advisory Group has been operating in recent years, it has become a waste of time and resources.
“I suspended the CCAG for just a period to step back and take a look at whether or not it’s really having the desired outcome,” Pallito said in an interview, adding he expected to make a decision about its future by fall.
After the jump: Ineffective, or hamstrung?
Okay, so maybe the CCAG has outlived its real purpose. Fair enough.
Oh, what’s that?
The decision drew fire from one member of the panel, while another had sent an email to Pallito indicating frustration that the panel didn’t seem to be having much of an impact.
Committee member Gordon Bock of Northfield said it was disheartening that in Gov. Peter Shumlin’s administration, which “has prided itself since taking office on a commitment to transparency and open government, the Department of Corrections makes it look like it wants to be imperious and clandestine.”
CCAG member Alan Taplow has complained of “several cancellations and postponements,” which indicate to him “that CCAG is hardly one of the Commissioner’s priorities.”
Hm. We appear to have a chicken/egg situation: is the CCAG superfluous, or is it hamstrung because Pallito wants it gone?
Pallito claims that his department gets enough public scrutiny through the Legislature and via public posting of DOC policies. But at least one member of the Legislature’s Corrections Oversight Committee, Bill Lippert, believes the citizens’ panel should continue. The legislative panel has a meeting tomorrow, and Lippert says the issue is likely to come up.
There’s not enough information for me to choose sides here, but I’m generally skeptical of governmental bodies and officials who want to limit public review of their activities. Especially when the body in question has a troubled past.
I’m with you, Bill Lippert. Hang tough on this one, please.
Of course, i didn’t buy that boondoggle of moving the women out of the St. Albans/Swanton prison to the already overcrowded Chittenden “Correctional” Center, either.
It’s been a few years since I’ve been a visitor to one of Vermont’s prisons, but given the history, the medical and supervisory shortcuts that have compromised inmate health (there’s a reason Vermont doesn’t have a death penalty, Mr. Pallito), and the muzzling of DOC employees, it’s clear the DOC needs all the supervision it can get from actual human beings, members of the communities to which these prisoners will eventually return.
NanuqFC
The first prison I ever saw had inscribed on it ‘Cease to do evil; learn to do well’; but as the inscription was on the outside, the prisoners could not read it. ~ George Bernard Shaw
Shumlin made corrections his issue during the campaign. Unfortunately his policy has been disastrous for inmates, taxpayers, DOC employees and contracted prison workers. Not only was the womens move to South Burlington an acknowledged disaster but the decision to use Northwest in St Albans as a site for detainees has created a potentially dangerous situation. NW was built as a relatively open facility to house long term inmates. It has a spread out campus and a well equipped educational facilities. Excellent for long term rehabilitation but poorly equipped to handle high turnover and constant disruption.
There are many smart and dedicated people working for DOC and contractors, however there’s no one listening.
but I have to agree with the other commenters here that It wouldn’t surprise me at all if this was another example of Shumlin’s failure to walk the talk from his campaign.
I remember very well sitting in the room during one of the candidate debates as Shumlin spoke exhaustively about how he was going to make prison reform a priority in his administration. I believed him.
And then they pulled that inexcusable switch on female prisoners in St. Albans.