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A New “Women’s Prison”… or a humane reentry facility?
Chittenden Regional Correction Facility (CRCF) One of the benefits of age is the realization that there are few absolutes and that being “right” is often relative. When I was young,… Read More
Learning Inside
In my last VTDigger column, I wrote about the visionary work the Vermont Department of Corrections (DOC) is doing to decarcerate people in prison who no longer need be there,… Read More
Let’s Stay Out of Prison
I think a lot about the criminal justice system. At 79, I’ve mostly evaded its embrace except for a few driving offenses, a surprise visit from the FBI and a… Read More
Crime and Punishment
The many challenges Vermont currently faces demand courage, bold thinking, and leadership if they’re to be solved. In the past, we’ve occasionally had a leader emerge with the courage… Read More
A.G. Bill Barr-barism: Will execute the only woman on death row on Dec. 8th
Rarely do I repost another’s blog, but I cannot express my own horror better than that expressed by the Cornell Law School’s Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide. Please read Cornell… Read More
Criminal Justice Reform in Vermont: Real Progress
To build or not to build… (a new state prison) that is the question. Under the leadership of Jim Baker, Interim Commissioner of Corrections (DOC), along with a plurality of… Read More
In our name: The Justice Department has killed three men in one week.
Under the aegis of U.S. Attorney General William Barr and President Donald Trump, three men have been killed and Barr has celebrated the killings in our name even though 60%… Read More
Will the Vermont Death Penalty Live On?
Our prisons are a petri dish for Covid-19. Vermont has over 1700 people in its six correctional facilities and another 300 locked away in federal prisons. Some 7800 Vermonters are… Read More
Did We End the Death Penalty ?
The last person Vermont executed was Donald Demag on December 8, 1954. Demag committed two robberies and killed two people while doing so. He was electrocuted in the state’s electric… Read More
Time to Close the Women’s Prison for Good
The recent reactions of various officials blinking in the glare of the latest reports by Seven Days and Vermont Digger about the inhumane and abusive conditions and lack of accountability… Read More
Before We Build New Prisons, Let’s Fix the System that Fills Them
VT Digger column – Schubart H. 543, a funding bill to study options for building new prisons has both drawn ire and nonsense from those supposed to act on it,… Read More
Criminal Justice: A Broken System
In the criminal justice system, three groups have agency: the victim, the offender, and society at large. Our ability to balance these interests will determine the efficacy of our criminal… Read More
