Vermont corrections chief urges $3.5 million Wi‑Fi push, flags costly offender‑management upgrade

Department of Corrections Commissioner Nick Demel told the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee on Feb. 6 that the agency’s information technology is “antiquated” and that installing Wi‑Fi across correctional facilities is the department’s highest short‑term priority.

Demel, identified himself as “the commissioner of corrections for the state of Vermont,” and said the department has about 1,500 people incarcerated daily, roughly 4,000 individuals under community supervision and about 1,000 staff. He said the department’s offender management system (OMS) is contracted to a private vendor, the contract expires in March 2026, and the system is difficult to change and use. “I think I will generously describe [our IT infrastructure] as antiquated,” Demel said.

The lack of Wi‑Fi in housing units means many routine security and program tasks remain paper‑based, he told the committee. “Officer will then go to their living unit where they work ... and when they do their checks ... they go back. They write down ... I walk around the unit. At this time, I’ll initial it. That’s all paper analog. We’re not capturing any of that data,” Demel said. He told members the legislature funded a heat‑mapping study that identified placement of wireless access points and estimated the cost to install Wi‑Fi at about $3.5 million.

Why it matters

The department argued the Wi‑Fi would unlock multiple operational and program improvements,…