Gov. Phil Scott on Wednesday ordered Human Services Secretary Mike Smith to “thoroughly investigate” allegations reported by Seven Days of officer misconduct at Vermont’s sole prison for women.
In a statement released late Wednesday, Smith said he was “deeply concerned” about allegations made by inmates and officers at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, and he vowed to take action. “If any of what has been reported is true, we have a problem,” the secretary said. “We’re going to find that problem and we’re going to solve it.”Hours earlier, Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George said she planned to review the sentences of 20 female inmates her office has sent to the South Burlington prison and who remain incarcerated there. If appropriate, George said, she may seek their release from the facility.
Though inmates made 55 reports of sexual misconduct by guards during that time period, only one was fired for that reason, according to state records. The state has settled at least two lawsuits involving alleged assault or harassment by Chittenden Regional guards.
Officers and inmates told Seven Days that one shift supervisor, Daniel Zorzi, had been using cocaine and other stimulants in the prison for more than six years, though several said they had repeatedly complained to officials. In October, after an inmate alleged sexual misconduct and drug use by Zorzi, he was placed on paid leave and the Vermont State Police launched an investigation.
In his statement Wednesday, Smith said that “the behavior reported will not be tolerated” by the Agency of Human Services, which includes the Department of Corrections. “Let me be clear: If this is a system issue, there will be system changes,” he said. “If this is a personnel issue, people will be held fully accountable.”
In an interview earlier Wednesday, George described her reaction to the Seven Days report.
“I was reading it at the airport and was dropping F-bombs like I have not done in a very long time,” said the Chittenden County prosecutor, who was traveling to North Carolina to take part in an event held by a criminal justice reform organization. “I was furious.”
“I am furious right now and I don’t want any of them in there,” she told Seven Days before clarifying that some of the sentences may be justified. “I would like to review all of the sentences to determine whether or not they are appropriate and continue to be necessary.”
Though prosecutors have some tools to request more lenient sentences, George said, she believes they ought to have more discretion to do so. She said she had already planned to call on the legislature this winter to provide prosecutors greater powers to seek sentence reductions.
George said she believed it was her responsibility to take action because the women in question are her constituents — and she worries they are in danger.
“If this was any facility other than a prison, people would be rioting over this. Nobody would stand for this,” she said. “Hopefully that’s what happens anyway.”
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“…people would be rioting over this. Nobody would stand for this,” she said. “Hopefully that’s what happens anyway.” Is she calling for jail riots??
This is quite a public response by George to something she has only read on line. Inciting riots and lobbying legislators to give her authority to grant more lenient sentences to convicted criminals. I knew she was soft on crime, but this lady has no limits.
No, Dave. She’s pointing out that people like you (and you in particular) dehumanize and mistreat inmates and nobody cares. She’s saying that if people who were not inmates were treated this way, there would be public outcry. You’re such a tool.
You’d think the president of VSEA, who is also a corrections officer, would be more interested in solving the obviously deep problems in the corrections system than in attacking prosecutors who complain about prison abuse.
⬆️ Dave Bellini up there, a prison guard and president of VSEA, openly and regularly talks about the people under his care with contempt and exterminationist rhetoric. Lots of calls to “take out the trash” and such. Under his leadership, VSEA has dedicated its legislative lobbying to ensuring that prison guards can do more violence with less accountability. You’ll soon hear him in the legislature calling for building more prisons, keeping open the Woodside child prison, and handing out guns to these same POs. These prison guards can already sexually assault imprisoned people with impunity, then go to the homes of their victims and do it again when they’re released. Now imagine they can do it at gunpoint.
Vermonters deserve better.
Hey Dave, you misquoted her. I don’t know if you did that intentionally or accidentally, but her sentence starts off with “If this was any facility other than a prison…” She is clearly not trying to incite a prison riot.
Dave must be one of those on drugs!
It would be nice if abuses that go on in the male facilities were considered as egregious as those against women. All facilities should be investigated equally.
The investigation should also focus on whether the VSEA conspired or aided and abetted criminal conduct by its members and whether their was a conspiracy to cover up illegal acts. At least if the federal government investigates, anyone who lies to an investigating federal agency can be charged with a felony (18 USC 1001). Corrections and its staff are proven liars. Maybe the Ed Adams demotion can be part of this investigation. Remember Touchette allowed him to keep working in corrections after apparently substantiated allegations of sexual harassment, including at Chittenden.
Dave Bellini, this is why public employee unions have such a public image problem. You do no favors to VSEA or its members when you implicitly defend the cretinous behavior occurring within DOC. Likewise, when you lionize Woodside after allegations of naked children locked in isolation for months and excessive force, you lose credibility with everyone who believes that abusing incarcerated people fails to make any of us safer in the long run.