The state corrections department was “overwhelmed” by a Covid-19 outbreak at the Newport prison, but the interim commissioner now believes the virus spread has slowed.
James Baker, Vermont’s interim corrections commissioner, testified Tuesday before the House Committee on Corrections and Institutions about the outbreak at Northern State Correctional Facility that infected 136 inmates and 12 staff members.
“Everyone was overwhelmed, Representative,” Baker said in response to a question from Rep. Linda Joy Sullivan, D-Dorset. “The overhead management team was overwhelmed; we were all overwhelmed.”
Baker’s testimony comes as attorneys for at least 10 prisoners — held in the facility because they don’t meet court-ordered conditions of release, in some cases approved housing —
have filed motions seeking their release because of the conditions in the prison.
“The state has failed to protect these prisoners from harm despite the efficacy, efficiency and low cost of the vaccine,” Kelly Green, a staff attorney in the state Prisoners’ Rights Office, wrote in a filing on behalf of eight of the incarcerated individuals.
“The Department of Corrections’ draconian lockdowns and total bar on family visitation for the last year,” Green added, “have not been effective.”
A hearing on those requests is set for Wednesday at 10 a.m. in Orleans County Superior Court in Newport. No hearing had yet been set on two other cases brought by a private attorney on behalf of two clients.
A week ago, the corrections department reported 100 inmates had tested positive in a round of Covid-19 testing. On Monday, the department reported six more inmates had tested positive at the state’s largest prison, which holds about 350 inmates. The prison is currently on a total lockdown.
Combined with prior testing, 136 incarcerated individuals have been infected with the coronavirus at the Newport prison. Another round of testing took place Monday among the inmates who previously tested negative; results are not yet available.
Baker said the virus appears not to be spreading as fast as it had been, pointing to the recent testing that showed only six new cases.
“I’m feeling pretty good about where we are today,” he said. “I suspect if we don’t have any more positives — which we all got to hope we don’t have any more positives there — we can start clearing more of them medically.”
Baker said 25 incarcerated individuals who had previously tested positive for Covid-19 have now been “medically cleared” from isolation. While no inmates are hospitalized, some are feeling effects of the virus, such as “aches” and “sore throats.”
Baker also spoke of last Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, after the 100 positive results came in. The infected inmates had to be separated quickly from the prisoners who had tested negative.
“That was not an easy task,” he said.
Inmates’ family members have described a chaotic night to VTDigger. Some inmates who were negative for the virus balked at being moved into areas vacated by prisoners who had tested positive. One family member said inmates were threatened with pepper spray if they refused to move.
Rep. Lynn Batchelor, R-Derby Line, a committee member, told Baker she had worked 10 years in the corrections department and wanted to know how the staff members were holding up.
“They’re stressed, and it’s not easy,” Baker said. “It’s been a long year of facing every day going to work, not knowing if you’re going to be infected with the virus.”
He said some workers have been staying at hotels after work, worried that they’d infect their families if they went home.
The commissioner said that, once the outbreak is over, he planned to meet and “debrief” with the staff.
“Quite honestly,” Baker said, “what they faced has been traumatic.”
The commissioner reiterated the Scott administration’s position on vaccinating inmates: They qualify when they reach the eligible age bands for receiving the vaccine or have the specified medical conditions.
Rep. Mary Morrissey, R-Bennington, a committee member, told Baker she didn’t “appreciate” how she learned of a surging Covid-19 outbreak last week at the Newport prison.
“I would respectfully ask in the future, should issues come up of this magnitude or others, that we are at least briefed before we’re reading it in the newspapers or seeing it on TV,” Morrissey told the commissioner.
“I had a number of people reach out to me to ask what was happening in Newport, and I had very little information except for what I was reading and seeing on TV,” she said. “I don’t probably really appreciate getting it that way because I want to hear firsthand.”
Morrissey said she understood that situations can become “quick-moving,” and informing lawmakers is not always a top priority.
“But before it’s going into the media, I would hope that we would at least have an understanding in the future of what’s going on,” she said.
Baker replied,“ You have my commitment on that.” He added, “It was hectic.”
