VSEA calls Vermont corrections staffing a 'humanitarian crisis,' warns of safety and service impacts

Steve Howard, executive director of the Vermont State Employees Association, told the Senate Committee on Institutions in Room 304 that the state’s Department of Corrections is experiencing a staffing shortfall he described as a “humanitarian crisis,” with safety and program impacts across facilities.

Howard said the average turnover for the CO‑1 entry-level correctional officer position over the past three fiscal years is 49 percent and that vacancies rose from about 40 in March 2023 to 81 in November 2023. He said Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield saw its vacancy rate grow from about 12 percent to 41 percent in that period. “We’re now in a position where we’re getting calls from our members who say they aren’t getting bathroom breaks. They’re having to change their uniforms because nobody’s coming to give them a chance to use the restroom,” Howard said. “More frightening...we receive calls from our members who have fallen asleep driving home, driven off the road, because they’re working 16 hour shift after 16 hour shift.”

The nut of Howard’s testimony was that the shortage among security staff has forced managers to collapse posts, extend shifts and reassign staff so the facilities can remain open. He said those operational changes have reduced access to education, recreation and other inmate services, and have sent probation and parole staff to provide hospital and facility coverage. “Right now, the folks who are incarcerated are often locked in their cells...all of the rehabilitative and socially encouraging aspects of what we’re trying to put in place in our correction system are on hold because there’s no staff,” he said.

Howard outlined measures that affected staffing numbers in prior years: side‑letter agreements that paid incentives and double‑time to staff overtime shifts and a one‑time security bonus. He said those incentives had improved retention but were not restored by the administration, contributing to renewed losses. “Two of the major financial components worked,” he said, referencing the side letters; he added that wage changes must come through collective bargaining but asked the legislature to press the administration to return to the table.

Howard also urged the committee to consider statutory, nonbargainable retirement changes. He said the state created a corrections retirement plan called “Group G” that allows retirement at 55 after 20 years but argued Group G’s contribution rates and retirement age should be made more comparable to the law enforcement plan “Group C,” which allows earlier full retirement and is a stronger recruitment incentive. He cited health and trauma in the occupation, saying the average life expectancy for correctional officers in his view is about 59 years compared with roughly 77 for the general population.

Facility conditions were raised as part of the staffing discussion. Howard said Southern State experienced multiple heat‑related incidents last summer and that the union filed an OSHA complaint. He described an approximate $19 million–$20 million estimate to add air conditioning upgrades, and said the committee’s capital investments on cooling are important to worker safety and retention. “We had, I think, four or five COs who were brought to the hospital last summer, suffering from heat stroke,” he said.

Howard described operational spillovers: probation and parole officers, intended for community supervision, are regularly called into hospitals and facilities to provide coverage. He said a team used for hospital coverage—the COS team—was nine to 11 positions but, in his view, should be closer to 20 to meet 24/7 demand. He also said the Medication‑Assisted Treatment program (referred to in testimony as MAT/MOD) was added without accompanying staff or positions to manage medication lines, a shortfall he said increases security risks and workload.

Howard listed specific data points and suggested metrics the legislature should request from corrections and oversight offices: counts of canceled educational and recreation services, incidents tied to missed bathroom breaks, vacancy and turnover by job class and facility, and the number of staff held over or called in from days off. He said the VSEA and the administration are scheduled to meet on Feb. 13 to discuss remedies and that the union hopes committees on both sides of the legislature will keep pressure on the administration to negotiate solutions.

Howard also urged management‑level staff who work in central office to be deployed into facilities during emergencies to relieve frontline staff and to improve central office understanding of facility conditions. He said some promising measures had been used in prior emergencies and that returning incentives and targeted investments could stabilize staffing long enough to restore services and program reforms.

Committee members asked questions about overcrowding, honor‑unit operations (small units for lower‑risk incarcerated people), reentry housing and whether judges consider bed availability in sentencing. Howard said he could not confirm judges factor facility capacity into sentencing decisions and cited a prior appearance by a chief superior judge who said capacity did not drive his decisions. Howard recommended the committee seek specific data to determine program disruptions and suggested on‑site visits to facilities including Springfield and Newport to see conditions firsthand.

The hearing produced no formal votes. Howard repeatedly emphasized he was presenting members’ firsthand reports from shifts: lack of breaks, extended mandatory overtime, and reassignment of probation staff to cover hospitals. He asked the legislature to use its oversight authority to press the administration to restore proven incentives, invest in facility improvements and consider statutory retirement changes that could improve recruitment and retention.

The committee indicated it will return to corrections in a subsequent session and members discussed scheduling facility visits. Howard said the VSEA hopes to work with the administration at the Feb. 13 meeting and to brief the committee on any progress.