[T]his week, the Agency of Human Services announced a plan to build a $150 million prison complex in northwestern Vermont. The project is part of a broader proposal to restructure several correctional and mental health facilities around the state.
Critics say the new plan opens a door for disreputable private prison companies to do business with the state. CoreCivic, whose operations in other states have been widely criticized, is already lobbying to be involved.
But the potential for private financing is just one possible element of a long-term plan that could affect anyone involved with Vermont’s criminal justice and mental health treatment systems.
“It’s actually a mental health plan that uses a correctional facility as part of the solution,” says AHS Secretary Al Gobeille. “It’s not a correctional plan in a vacuum.”
Advocates for those inside state’s the correctional and mental health systems have had mixed reactions.
Tom Dalton, the executive director of Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform, says a ten-year corrections plan should take into account the broader costs of incarcerating large numbers of people.
“Part of the conversation needs to be: Do we need to build this many new beds? What is the plan to getting to a right-sized criminal justice system that better reflects our community, our values, and the level of crime in our community?”
Ed Paquin, who advocates for mental health patients as the head of Disability Rights Vermont, says he’s heartened to see the state reexamine its current systems. But he worries that this proposal’s focus on institutionalized care facilities over community-based models could take the system “back in time.”
On this week’s podcast, Gobeille, Dalton and Paquin share their perspectives on the plan that could shape these systems for decades to come.
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