Nick Deml plans to step down next month as commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections.
A familiar face is set to take over as interim commissioner: former Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad.
Gov. Phil Scott announced the leadership change in a press release Monday.
“Serving alongside our correctional staff has been the honor of a lifetime,” Deml said in the release.
Since November 2021, Deml has led Vermont’s six prisons. He took over from interim Commissioner Jim Baker at a tumultuous moment, shepherding a department rocked by scandal and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Announcing Deml’s successor, Scott called Murad a “proven leader with a strong background in both managing and improving organizations.”
Murad attracted the limelight while serving as Burlington’s top cop, sometimes coming into conflict with the city’s progressive council members. He led the department during summer 2020, which saw nationwide protests against policing in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. He remained in the role after the Burlington City Council voted to reduce the city’s police force through attrition — a decision he strongly opposed.
Murad announced his intention to leave the Burlington Police Department in November and left in the spring.
“After more than two decades in municipal public service, I’m excited to move to the larger stage of serving the great state of Vermont,” he said in the press release.
Overseeing Vermont’s prisons has historically drawn scrutiny, and Deml’s tenure was no different. A spate of deaths in 2022 and 2023 at Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield called into question the medical care provided by the prison’s health services contractor at the time. An investigation by Vermont’s Defender General’s Office later found that medical staff with VitalCore Health Strategies appeared to struggle to perform CPR and use a defibrillator.
Wellpath took over the state’s prison health services contract in July 2023
Like facilities across the country, Vermont’s prisons have had acute staffing shortages since the pandemic, sometimes leading to mandatory 16-hour shifts.
Under Deml’s leadership, the correction’s department focused on addressing substance use disorder among people in prison. The department prioritized providing medication for opioid use disorder and worked to expand peer recovery coaching and educational opportunities.
Murad, who will serve as interim commissioner, requires the Vermont Senate’s vote to officially become commissioner. Deml’s last day is Aug. 15.
