Vermont officials outline plan to replace CRCF with gender‑responsive reentry facility in Essex

At a Jan. 31 hearing of the Vermont Senate Committee on Information Technology and Institutions, Department of Corrections officials and Buildings and General Services staff described plans to replace the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility (CRCF) with a smaller, gender‑responsive reentry facility sited on state‑owned land in Essex and paid for in part through the state capital process.

Department of Corrections staff told the committee that CRCF is “a very dated structure, about half a century old,” has roughly 77 beds and requires large annual operating and maintenance expenditures. They said the building was built originally for short‑term detention and is not well suited to longer‑term rehabilitative programming for women.

The presentation outlined design goals drawn from modern facilities elsewhere — higher ceilings, natural light, clearer sightlines and dedicated programming and reentry space — and cited examples under review…