The Vermont Department of Corrections is launching a new unit to conduct internal investigations into serious incidents. The move comes nearly three years after the Legislature passed and Gov. Phil Scott signed a bill calling for the establishment of the specialized team.
The new unit will investigate critical incidents, including deaths in custody and escape attempts as well as compliance with federal law, according to a press release issued Wednesday by the corrections department.
There were 11 deaths of people in corrections department custody last year, according to the department.
The unit will have a director and two full-time investigators.
In 2021, the Legislature passed a bill aimed at making reforms in the corrections department following allegations made a year earlier and subsequently affirmed in a report by an independent law firm hired by the state.
The legislation included some of the recommendations outlined in the investigation by the Downs Rachlin Martin law firm into the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington, the state’s only women’s prison.
The state hired the firm to perform the probe after a series of articles in Seven Days detailing allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct at the prison. The firm’s report, issued in December 2020, found the allegations were largely accurate.
Asked Wednesday why it took almost three years to get the unit up and running, Haley Sommer, a corrections department spokesperson, replied, “The legislation that was passed in 2021 did include some concepts as to what the unit would be tasked to do but there was no information about appropriation of money or staffing, so the department spent this time really trying to figure out what was the best configuration of the unit in order to meet its mandate.”
The process also included the hiring of staff for the department, Sommer said.
The new unit will coordinate with investigative and law enforcement agencies and the Department of Human Resources, with the latter maintaining authority over employee misconduct allegations.
“The unit is not necessarily to investigate people but to investigate situations,” Sommer said.
“When looking at a critical incident, such as an escape attempt or a death,” Sommer added, “it’s really looking into the situation itself and identifying areas of improvement for the department.”
Steve Howard, executive director of Vermont State Employees’ Association, the union that represents prison employees, said negotiated contract protections for workers need to be respected as the new unit does its work.
“If they move forward and use it for the real pursuit of truth in a fair way that respects contractual rights, it’s a process we can live with,” Howard said of the new unit.
“If it’s used as a weapon to distract the public or lawmakers or governor from what’s really happening and try to scapegoat our members, we’ll have a real problem,” he said. “I hope that this investigative unit is going to be prepared to investigate managers as quickly as they tend to investigate our members.”
Aaron Reichert will serve as the director of the new team, formally known as the Corrections Investigative Unit.
“By design, CIU strives not only to maintain and support the safety of staff and Vermont’s incarcerated population, but also to strengthen public trust in our system,” Reichert said in Wednesday’s press release.
Reichert has worked in investigative and leadership roles in law enforcement and human services, most recently serving as field supervisor at the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living, according to the release.
In the announcement, Corrections Commissioner Nicholas Deml said the establishment of the unit is “a major step forward for our department and demonstrates through action our commitment to transparency, integrity, and continuous improvement.”
But Sommer said Wednesday the corrections department was still reviewing whether investigative reports from the unit will be released to the public.
“We have not finalized at all whether there would be some aspect of investigation that would become public,” Sommer said. “I do believe it is very important so I think it’s something we’d like to work out as the unit starts standing up and getting going.”
Issac Dayno, another corrections department spokesperson, stated in an email Wednesday that the department “had to reappropriate existing positions” for the new unit so its financial impact should be “cost-neutral.”
