Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George is not the only prosecutor in Vermont reviewing the status of cases of women held at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in light of reports claiming systemic abuse of inmates at the prison.
The six state’s attorneys reached by VTDigger this week say they are, or will be, conducting similar reviews, though it remains unclear how many, if any, women currently being housed at the facility will see reduced prison time.
Washington County State’s Attorney Rory Thibault, among those reached by VTDigger, said he expects all 14 county prosecutors to conduct similar reviews.
“Every state’s attorney office I’m aware of has done some searching to see who’s currently at the (woman’s prison) and how they should be doing business better,” he said.
The reviews by the top prosecutors follows an investigation published last week in Seven Days into Vermont’s only women’s prison, detailing allegations of drug use among staff and sexual abuse and harassment of the inmates in prison or under Department of Corrections supervision.
Vermont Agency of Human Services Secretary Mike Smith has pledged an independent investigation into the allegations described in the article. Among those entities who might conduct the probe is the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Vermont.
The firestorm over the women’s prison has officials considering a raft of changes to the corrections system, from a more stringent hiring process for correctional officers and drug testing on the job to allowing inmates and staff to file complaints to an independent entity.
George posted to Twitter last week about her plans to review the cases of women from Chittenden County held at the facility.
“This investigation is nauseating, infuriating, heartbreaking, maddening … and so much more,” George wrote about the Seven Days report. “Chittenden has 20 women in the facility, 3 are for manslaughter. I intend on determining if the others need to be there. Horrific.”
George, in an interview Tuesday evening after a forum in Burlington on the women’s prison, outlined some of the steps she intends to pursue in those cases.
She said her office is doing a “pretty deep” review of each case to determine why a woman is being held at the facility, such as whether they are serving a sentence, held on bail, or there for a furlough violation.
“If they’re being held on bail we can revoke our request for bail, that’s the easiest,” she said.
For a person held on a furlough violation, such as a lack of housing, George said her office could work alongside others, such as organizations or family members, to try to find them housing.
“If they’re being held on a positive drug test we just can maybe yell at DOC until they realize that’s silly and just let them out,” she said.
For those serving sentences, George said, there are few options available for her office.
“The unfortunate thing,” she added, “and it’s something I’ll be working with the Legislature of this session, if it’s just their sentence, I don’t actually have a tool to just re-sentence them.”
She said in a handful of instances the women are serving sentences stemming from homicide cases. “I know that some of the sentences are sort of just what they are for right now, at least,” George said.
Addison County State’s Attorney Dennis Wygmans said he has also asked the state Department of Corrections for the names of women at the Chittenden facility who are being held there as a result of actions from his office, such as serving a sentence or held on bail from Addison County.
“I don’t know who would be incarcerated necessarily now, because corrections is in charge of determining credit for people, and there are a lot of different ways that you can get credit,” he said.
“Plus,” Wygmans added, “if you’re on furlough they may revoke furlough or parole, and we wouldn’t know it all here.”
Wygmans said he was aware of at least one woman from Addison County being held at the facility. She was recently sentenced, he said, on drunken driving, fourth offense charge, and is serving the mandatory minimum prison sentence for that offense.
Asked why he is taking steps to review the cases now, Wygmans responded that the allegations raised in the Seven Days story caused him concern. Like George, Wygmans said as a prosecutor he has a greater ability to take action for someone held on bail than for someone already sentenced.
“If there are problems in the facility there are certain circumstances that someone’s inability to appear in court are outweighed by the danger I might otherwise be indirectly putting them in by having them being held in lieu of bail,” he said.
Wygmans added, “It’s not necessary to put somebody in harm’s way simply because they have got a difficult time showing up to court.”
Thibault, Washington County’s top prosecutor, said his office has already conducted a review of the dozen cases involving women serving time in the Chittenden facility from his jurisdiction.
“It did not reveal any cases where petitioning for immediate release made sense under the circumstances,” he said, adding that the option in his office of sending people to jail is a last resort.
He added that the Seven Days report has struck a nerve with him and other prosecutors as well as those involved in the criminal justice system.
“I think it’s about time we have a more robust conversation about what inmate welfare really means and what services, opportunities, and mechanisms for accountability do we have inside those facilities,” Thibault said.
Other state’s attorneys in Vermont contacted by VTDigger had conducted similar reviews.
Windham County State’s Attorney Tracy Kelly Shriver said after the article’s publication in Seven Days she conducted a review of the women held at the Chittenden facility on bail or sentences from her county.
“I read the article and thought it was a good idea to see what Windham’s sentences were,” she said. “It was a concerning article, absolutely.”
And after that review of about a dozen cases, Shriver said, she didn’t see any sentences or bail that she believed warranted any changes.
David Cahill, Windsor County state’s attorney, said he believed there were under 10 women from his jurisdiction in the women’s facility.
“I have not determined that there is anybody in custody for a Windsor case that I am comfortable releasing by virtue of the allegations raised in the Seven Days article,” he said.
Vince Illuzzi, the Essex County state’s attorney, said he does not believe there are any women from his county currently housed in the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility.
“There was one that was released recently, so there’s nobody there at the present time,” Illuzzi said.
