Gov. Phil Scott and Attorney General TJ Donovan will join forces to investigate claims of systemic abuse at Vermont’s women’s prison following an investigation published Wednesday in Seven Days.
Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George has also pledged to review the sentences of 22 women inmates currently locked up at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, with an eye toward reducing their time in the prison.
The Seven Days report detailed dozens of allegations over the past few years of male correctional officers verbally and physically harassing female inmates, pursuing sexual relationships with women under Department of Corrections supervision, and trading contraband for sexual favors. One former prison supervisor, Daniel Zorzi, was promoted despite what colleagues described as erratic behavior and drug abuse.
Prisoners who were propositioned and abused by officers said they were scared to speak out for fear of retribution. Prison staff aware of the abuse expressed similar fears, and said there was a culture of officers protecting each other from repercussions for the transgressions. “Staff jokingly call it ‘the department of corruption,'” Seven Days quoted one guard as saying.
Within hours of the article being published on Wednesday, Agency of Human Services Secretary Mike Smith released a statement promising to probe the problems plaguing the state’s only women’s prison.
“Governor Scott has asked me to thoroughly investigate this situation and provide my recommendations. Let me be clear: If this is a system issue, there will be system changes. If this is a personnel issue, people will be held fully accountable,” Smith said in a statement.
“If any of what has been reported is true, we have a problem. We’re going to find that problem, and we’re going to solve it,” he added.
George, the prosecutor in Chittenden County, where the prison is located, took to Twitter Wednesday to express her disgust with the findings in the report.
“This investigation is nauseating, infuriating, heartbreaking, maddening … and so much more,” she wrote. “Chittenden has 20 women in the facility, 3 are for manslaughter. I intend on determining if the others need to be there. Horrific.”
In June, George decided to dismiss murder and attempted murder charges against three defendants who were found to be insane. Scott asked Donovan to review that decision, and Donovan has since refiled charges in one of the cases.
George wondered why Scott had not made a similar demand to have Donovan review the previous investigations into abuses at the corrections facility.
Commenting on Smith’s statement announcing an investigation, she wrote: “Ok … wasn’t going to put this out there … but why in the world is this not a letter asking the AG to review every one of these incidents/allegations and determine if charges could be brought? Why?”
Donovan released a statement Thursday saying that he would assist in Smith’s investigation.
“While the Department of Corrections is under the Governor’s authority, we should all be concerned for the safety and dignity of those who are in the custody of the Department of Corrections,” he said in the statement. “This investigation needs to commence immediately, and it needs to be thorough and transparent.”
During a press conference Thursday, Scott said he welcomed Donovan’s involvement.
“Inevitably, I believe that there’s going to be enough evidence here that we’re going to have to move forward with something,” he said. “So his assistance is greatly appreciated.”
Scott said he expects he will need to take additional action to address the alleged abuses inside the prison.
“Whether it’s personnel whether it’s procedure, there are things that I believe we will have to change in the future based on what I read,” he said.
The governor did not directly respond to a question about whether he still had confidence in Department of Corrections Commissioner Mike Touchette.
“We’ll go through, gather the facts, we’ll learn a lot over the next two to three weeks and we’ll make determinations at that point,” he said when questioned about the commissioner.
Touchette did not respond to an email Thursday about how he is responding to the revelations in the report, including possible actions to protect current inmates from continued abuse.
During the press conference, Paul Heintz, the reporter who broke the story in Seven Days, read aloud a complaint about Zorzi, the former supervisor who displayed signs of drug abuse. Heintz said Touchette — then the department’s deputy commissioner — had received the complaint, which was filed by a correctional officer, in June of 2017.
The complaint accuses Zorzi of taking “correctional action” against officers who reported that he was using cocaine and Ritalin while supervising shifts. VTDigger has not reviewed the complaint, or independently verified that Touchette received it.
Scott said that he believed it was important for DOC to set up some system for inmates to voice their opinions anonymously, adding “when they’re reporting to their superiors, that doesn’t always get to a conclusion that is appropriate.”
He also said he would “personally ensure” that anyone who comes forward with factual information about the alleged abuses inside the prison does not face retribution.
VTDigger requested grievance reports from CRCF earlier this year after receiving multiple anonymous tips about poor conditions and abuse in the prison. The Department of Corrections refused to release those reports, which are the only way for prisoners to formally complain about whatever problems they face in the prison.
The department did provide a spreadsheet breaking down into categories complaints it received from inmates at CRCF from January 2018 to March 2019.
There were 1,444 grievances filed during that stretch. The leading category of grievances was “conflict – staff” with 235. Other top categories included “Medical: Dissatisfied with Quality,” with 153; “Medical denied,” with 117; and “Conflict – Inmate,” with 54. There were also three grievances for the category, “Sexual Misconduct – Staff.”
