Following reports of wrongdoing at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, Human Services Secretary Mike Smith is planning to take direct operational control of the South Burlington women’s prison.
“I want a more active role through the secretary’s office of monitoring what’s going on there,” he told Seven Days.Chittenden Regional is currently overseen by the Department of Corrections, which is part of the sprawling Agency of Human Services. Smith’s plan is to temporarily remove the women’s prison from the DOC chain of command and run it from his agency’s central office.
“I’m just trying to get the mechanism in place to do it,” he said.
Smith said that the prison’s superintendent, Theresa Stone, remains on the job, as does Corrections Commissioner Mike Touchette.
On Wednesday, Seven Days reported allegations of sexual misconduct, drug use and retaliation at Chittenden Regional. Following the story’s publication, Gov. Phil Scott called on Smith to “thoroughly investigate” the matter and lead the administration’s response to it. At a press conference on Thursday, the governor said that Smith, who was appointed secretary in October, was “the right person to take a look and gather facts,” given his “background in turnaround operations.”
The secretary also said that he would be meeting later Friday with Attorney General T.J. Donovan and Public Safety Commissioner Michael Schirling to discuss the state’s investigation of the alleged wrongdoing. He said he has contacted the U.S. Attorney’s Office to determine whether federal officials “want to play an ongoing and future role in this investigation.”
Among the goals of Friday’s meeting, Smith said, was to ensure that any probe he conducts does not interfere with an ongoing Vermont State Police investigation.
Related Stories
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
Good luck reforming that cesspool . Really , good luck .
The allegations regarding the women’s facility are very serious legal charges. I’m still confused as to why this is being handled as an internal administrative investigation instead of a law enforcement one.
Rama’s question is valid, yet is anyone surprised or confused that our government isn’t interested in holding itself accountable.
Our ever expanding State government is repeatedly showing its inability to perform its critical functions.
But hey, they’ll handle your health care much better, honest!
Time to fire the incompetents, Stone and Touchette. Get new competent administration. Clean house with the guards if necessary.
It’s getting to the point where you can’t do drugs, beat people, rape them, OR kill them while at work. What’s this world coming to?
The whole DOC needs to be investigated!