Vermont has identified two potential sites for a new women’s correctional facility — both on state-owned land in the town of Essex.
That’s to replace the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington, which was built in the 1970s and has millions of dollars in deferred maintenance. The facility houses about 100 women who have been detained or sentenced.
“The facility that justice-involved women live in is not acceptable,” said Haley Sommer, the director of communications with the Vermont Department of Corrections. “It costs around $3 million to uphold that facility per year, and that’s just to keep the lights on.”
Despite the poor conditions of the current prison, some Vermonters do not support a new facility.
On Monday, high school students stood next to white-haired adults in Burlington to call for investments in alternatives to prison — like housing, bail reform and mental health services — at a protest organized by the prison abolition group FreeHer. Tiffany Harrington of Burlington spoke about the continued impact of incarceration, years after release.
“This week, I’m being evicted from my apartment because I can’t pay my rent,” she said.
“I have a really hard time getting a job, because of my record. My record excludes me from getting help — like Section 8 or a voucher — I don’t get any of that. So because of my past with incarceration, my 4-year-old and I are about to be on the street.”
But even without a new facility, incarceration will continue, said Sommer, with the Department of Corrections. That’s unless the state Legislature and courts change how sentencing works.
“Until those sentencing structures are targeted, we will continue to receive women in our custody, and it’s our responsibility to make sure that their needs are met,” she said. “Chittenden does not really afford that opportunity.”
The two Essex locations being considered for a new building are off Landfill Lane close to the Susie Wilson Bypass and off River Road near the North Williston Road intersection.
The state is now asking the town of Essex to approve zoning changes for construction of a prison and reentry unit. That could be a months-long process. Then, it will take at least five years to raise enough money to pay for the new prison — an estimated $70 million.
Until that happens, groups like FreeHer will continue to call for more effective alternatives to prison.
“I don’t think that anyone deserves to go through what I’ve gone through, and what my friends have gone through,” said Harrington.
“Us being here today says that we won’t stand for it.”
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