ESSEX, Vt. (WCAX) – State leaders are floating plans to replace Vermont’s only prison for women with a new facility in Essex. They will present a plan years in the works to leaders in Essex this week.
The Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington where women inmates are currently housed is more than 50 years old and has been seen as woefully inadequate for years.
“When the state doesn’t have facilities at its disposal that have the right treatment options, that have folks with gender-responsive and trauma-informed responses, that just spills out onto the streets and people aren’t getting the services they need there either,” Vt. Corrections Commissioner Nick Deml said.
A proposed $70 million, 120-bed facility would be modeled after facilities in Maine and Scandinavia, with open spaces, lots of light and brighter colors.
Officials are looking at two parcels of state-owned land in Essex, not far from where the Circumferential Highway was supposed to go, near the Essex park-and-ride next to Susie Wilson Road or near River and North Williston roads.
Corrections officials plan to make their case to the community.
“These are community members who are behind the walls, behind a period of time, but 98% of the incarcerated population will come back to the community. So, let’s bring that community approach into the facility and help people come back in a more positive situation,” Deml said.
For years, Vermont has been moving away from a punitive approach to incarceration, instead focusing on treatment, diversion and restorative justice.
“I do worry about the pendulum that swings back and forth between tough on crime and restorative approaches,” said Rep. Troy Headrick, P/D-Burlington.
Some are skeptical about building any new facilities, but Headrick says he’s changed his mind.
“I, myself, envision myself an idealist and can envision that kind of world. I have since learned in Vermont we are not at a place where that world is pragmatic or reality,” Headrick said.
The proposed project still has a long way to go, including in front of the Essex Planning Commission later this week, where the state will ask to rezone the parcels of land.
Essex Planning Commission Chair Dustin Bruso says there will be opportunities for public input.
“If it’s appropriate to make the zoning change, if the community accepts the zoning change and whether it’s the right thing to do. It’s not a quick process,” Bruso said.