Burlington Free Press - AUGUST 13, 2010
BY SAM HEMINGWAY, FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • FRIDAY,
Vermont Corrections Commissioner Andrew Pallito said Thursday the inmate transfers could begin within two weeks and will involve short-term prisoners who do not require programs to treat substance abuse, anger management or sexual-predator issues.
He touted the plan as a win-win deal for the state and the prisoners.
“This is an opportunity to bring some of our offenders closer to home,” Pallito said. “It will allow for easier management of our population, provide better access for their families and better inmate access to re-entry planning.”
Greenfield is located in northwestern Massachusetts about 20 miles south of Brattleboro. The 350-bed Franklin County(Mass.) Jail and House of Corrections is run by the county Sheriff’s Department.
“We look forward to a productive relationship with Vermont,” said David Lanoie, the Franklin County Jail superintendent. “We hope our new facility being in close proximity to your state will help Vermont enhance it goals.”
Pallito said the agreement with the Greenfield jail, which he signed Wednesday, could save the state close to $1 million during the two-year contract. The department is under a state-government mandate to cut expenses by $7 million in fiscal 2011, which began July 1.
The state houses 589 of its 2,132 inmate population — more than 1 in 4 — at out-of-state prisons because the eight facilities Corrections has inside Vermont can accommodate only 1,700 prisoners and have been near or at capacity for years.
Vermont now spends $65 a day to house an inmate at Corrections Corp. of America, or CCA, facilities in Kentucky and Tennessee. The fee for incarceration at the Greenfield jail will be $50 a day.
According to an internal memo Pallito sent to an advisory Corrections panel Wednesday, the plan to move the 100 inmates to Greenfield does not mean Vermont is dissatisfied with the performance of CCA.
“While CCA has done a good job in providing out-of-state beds, we welcome this opportunity to diversify our out-of-state placement options and reduce our reliance on one contractor,” the memo sent to members of the Corrections Community Advisory Group read in part. “The fact that this facility is located closer to Vermont is an added benefit.”
Allen Gilbert, one of the panel’s members and the executive director of the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said he saw no problem with the shift of inmates to Greenfield as long as the contract does not lead the state to house more prisoners outside its borders.
“If this is simply a way to increase the number of prisoners being sent out of the state, that would be disturbing,” Gilbert said. “If it’s a way ostensibly to bring prisoners a little closer to Vermont than they are now, that would be an improvement.”
Pallito said his department began exploring a contract with the Greenfield jail during the past few months, and he has kept Gov. Jim Douglas updated about the plan.
The original Franklin County Jail in Greenfield was built in 1886, but Pallito said the Vermonters will be housed in a $32 million addition that opened in 2006.
