Vermont lawmakers hear competing accounts as DOC outlines recruitment and retention work and union says staffing remains in crisis

Members of the Vermont House Corrections & Institutions Committee heard a briefing May 20 on the Department of Corrections’ recruiting and retention efforts and a separate testimony from the Vermont State Employees Association that described the situation on the ground as an ongoing staffing emergency.

The DOC presentation detailed outreach efforts — including TV advertising, community job fairs, partnerships with Community College of Vermont and Springfield College, a remote academy pilot and peer-support and wellness initiatives — aimed at recruiting and keeping correctional staff. Steve Howard, executive director of the Vermont State Employees Association, told the committee the agency’s front-line workers view the problem differently and urged faster, larger interventions.

Why it matters: Corrections staffing affects facility safety, overtime costs and whether the department can implement other policy initiatives. Committee members pressed both DOC and VSEA for data and for concrete next steps as lawmakers consider possible oversight or legislative responses.

DOC presentation: recruitment, training and retention

A Department of Corrections staff member told the committee that, since calendar year 2023, each facility hired an “experienced staff supervisor” whose duties include recruiting and retention and that central staff are assigned to coordinate with two facilities each. The department described a multimodal outreach strategy: in-person recruitment at career fairs, targeted events (including military- and veteran-focused outreach at Gillette Stadium), presentations to tech centers and high schools, and advertising through a statewide media contract.

The DOC presenter said the department runs two advertising campaigns with WCAX: a monthly “corrections minute” and shorter spots. The presenter said the…