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In prison, you are not supplied with all your needs by the Department of Corrections (DOC). You are provided the bare necessities when you are admitted, but after that you are on your own. You need to purchase socks, tee shirts, shoes. You need to supplement the three prison meals with soups and snacks. You need to purchase personal hygiene products. You can only do this through the prison commissary, run under a contract with a company called Keefe Group. Your loved ones on the outside can only purchase items for you through the prison commissary. And the commissary is expensive, more expensive than on the outside. (more…)

On Wednesday, November 6, the Brattleboro Commons published a piece in their Voices section, Prison Educator Fired for Writing a Poem. The poem itself was also published, Elegy to Gary Partridge. If you have not read these pieces, I strongly urge you to do so. They are very moving, and describe an ongoing situation at our Vermont prisons that affects the safety of the residents there, particularly neurodivergent people. Below is the letter to the editor I wrote and which was published the following week.

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The state of Vermont does not have capital punishment, yet David Mitchell, an incarcerated Vermonter died gasping for air. 28 VSA 801 states: a)The Department shall provide health care for inmates in accordance with the prevailing medical standards. Sadly, David Mitchell, 46 at the time, was not the recipient of the care our law mandates; instead, he received the death penalty. (more…)

When you hear about FreeHer VT, it’s most likely in the context of our advocacy and organizing against the state’s $90 million proposal for a new women’s prison in Essex. You can check out this zine if you are curious to learn more about why we hold that position and what kinds of alternatives we are trying to build instead. But we do much more than that and want to share a little bit about a lesser-known aspect of our organizing. (more…)

The Vermont Department of Corrections (DOC) has a wide range of responsibilities. A central one is ensuring the safety and well-being of all the people under its care. This includes the residents in the six Vermont prisons and a facility in Mississippi. The total changes constantly, but currently is around 1300. A steel bed to sleep on, three meals a day, health care provided by an outside vendor. Mental health personnel to help residents cope with incarceration. Corrections officers (COs)paid to watch over us and to ensure that violence is not visited on us by other residents. (more…)

In general, the past biennial of the Vermont legislature was not a great one for criminal legal reform in the state. Although overall the number of incarcerated people in Vermont has decreased over recent years, the legislature has increased the penalties for some low-level crimes, for instance retail theft, which will most likely have the effect of increasing the prison population. The best way to address property crimes of this nature is to address homelessness, addiction, and poverty. Vermont needs to understand what drives crime in order to address it. (more…)

There is a unique exhibit at Brattleboro’s Brooks Memorial Library for the months of June and July. Finding Hope Within showcases writing, drawing, collage, and crochet from women incarcerated in the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington, Vermont’s only women’s prison. The show includes some poetry that has been set and illustrated in letterpress by A Revolutionary Press in South Burlington, one of the exhibit’s curators. The library is also hosting some events related to incarceration to complement the art exhibit. (more…)

March 15th was the last legislative session before crossover. Crossover is when bills that have passed out of one chamber, house or senate, get passed to the other, senate or house, to be taken up, And since this is the second year of our legislative biennial, any bill that hasn’t “made the crossover” will need to be refiled the following year. (more…)

A Common-Sense Approach Can Address Addiction and Crime

Haste makes waste, an old adage that rings true today. The ability of opioids to take root in our very state, towns, neighborhoods and families took time. Yet the recent Bill H.534 demonstrates how quickly lawmakers jump to increasing multiple retail theft penalties into some serious jail time. Quick to make this choice, versus meaningful rehabilitation time for those repeat shoplifters, likely stealing to support a pernicious opioid addiction. (more…)