A monthslong investigation into sexual misconduct at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility uncovered a “disturbing degree” of abuse at the women’s prison, a year after Seven Days reported the allegations.
The Vermont Agency of Human Services contracted the law firm Downs Rachlin Martin to conduct the probe after the initial allegations caused an outcry last December. The firm released a 60-page summary of its findings on Wednesday.
While the investigation did not offer conclusions on the veracity of any particular allegation, it did find that reports of chronic sexual abuse at the facility were “largely accurate,” Tristram Coffin, the director of Downs Rachlin Martin and a former U.S. Attorney, said at a press conference Wednesday. It also found more limited instances of substance abuse by staff at the South Burlington prison.
“It would have been of significant concern if DRM had encountered even one allegation of sexual misconduct involving a staff member and a resident,” the report reads. “Instead, DRM encountered many such allegations.”
Through a review of personnel files and months of interviews with prison staff and residents, investigators said they discovered an “extremely troublesome” pattern of misconduct. The report documents incidents of sexual abuse perpetrated by corrections officers both against residents and against fellow employees.
Investigators also documented several romantic relationships between officers and incarcerated women that occurred after release, which they called “indicators of problematic cultural and boundary issues within the facility.”
The report discusses in detail 10 incidents of sexual misconduct experienced or witnessed by women incarcerated at Chittenden Regional, though it notes that the count is “not intended as an exhaustive list of the allegations of sexual misconduct DRM encountered.”
The incidents took place from 2014 to 2019, though some were left without a date. Six cases involved sexual assault by a corrections officer; four described officers engaging in sexual harassment or otherwise inappropriate behavior.
In five of the cases, the allegations were originally reported to the Department of Corrections and prompted internal investigations. Only two of the incidents led to criminal charges, and both cases were ultimately dropped. In one case, an officer was fired. In several others, officers resigned or were not disciplined at all.
The report did not indicate the total number of allegations that investigators found.
Numerous recommendations
Mike Smith, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Human Services, vowed Wednesday to address the issues. “Failure is not an option here,” he said. He also promised that investigations of the allegations will continue, and “we will make sure that the proper authorities follow up on this.”
The DRM investigation did not find evidence that the Department of Corrections had violated any “reporting or investigative procedures.”
However, until this fall, the prison did not offer an independent hotline for residents to report sexual misconduct — a violation of federal standards. Some women at the prison have said they believe reports made through the department’s previous internal hotline were ignored or covered up.
The report also blamed the pattern on a lack of staff training, inadequate resources, and, in some cases, a neglectful approach to discipline. Furthermore, it identified “a culture in the facility of blurring professional boundaries.”
It offered numerous recommendations. Among them: requiring the use of body cameras by prison staff, strengthening protocols on sexual misconduct, and forming a “monitoring committee” to oversee reports of misconduct at the prison.
Coffin said he thinks the situation is improving. The issues at the prison had “reached a bit of a crescendo, and now [are] on a decline,” he said. Smith concurred, saying there has been a cultural “sea change” at the prison.
Yet, in focus groups that investigators conducted this fall, prison residents still reported that they thought there was a lack of accountability for staff misconduct. And without comprehensive data on the number of allegations that investigators documented, it is difficult to ascertain whether incidents have decreased.
Furthermore, in many sexual assault and misconduct cases, survivors do not report the incident, particularly when they fear retaliation or distrust the reporting system. Court documents obtained by VTDigger this week allege that women have faced retribution for speaking out against conditions at the prison.
‘What we really do need to change’
Officials were adamant Wednesday that they will act on the report’s recommendations. Yet, so far, action has been slow moving. No further disciplinary actions against staff members have yet been taken as a result of the report, officials said, and Coffin did not say how many new internal investigations are being conducted.
Five Department of Corrections employees are currently on leave due to claims of sexual assault or harassment. However, the agency declined to give further information about those cases, so it is unclear whether any are employees of the women’s prison.
One of the prison’s officers, Daniel Zorzi, was placed on leave last year during an internal investigation of allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use. Officials said Wednesday that the investigation has concluded, but did not elaborate on the findings, or Zorzi’s current job status.
“We need legislative authority to do some of these things that we want to do,” Smith said, when asked why the agency has not taken more urgent action. He said he is pursuing, among other avenues, an amendment that would further criminalize sexual relationships between corrections officers and prison residents.
The report, Smith said, “gives us the road map of what we really do need to change.”
