Corrections commissioner cites staffing, health and remote‑court strains; seeks Wi‑Fi funding

The commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 20 that the state’s correctional system faces persistent staffing gaps, rising health‑care needs among people in custody, and operational stress caused in part by remote court proceedings.

"Our primary priority has been for the last 3 years and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, our staff and resolving our staffing situation," the commissioner said, summarizing a multi‑year strategic plan. He said the department has about 1,100 staff, operates six in‑state correctional facilities (five for men and one for women), and oversees community supervision across Vermont. The commissioner described the department’s annual budget as roughly in the low‑hundreds of millions and said about 98% of it is general fund.

The commissioner told senators the department’s vacancy rate has improved from roughly 32% two years ago to about 17–18% today but that retention—keeping staff beyond the first year—remains the larger challenge. He said pay increases alone had not solved the retention problem and characterized the issue as driven by scheduling, working conditions and the demands of the job even where pay had been brought closer to regional comparators.

Health‑care costs and the complexity of care also have increased, the commissioner said. He told the committee that most people in custody have significant care needs: 68% are receiving medication‑assisted treatment for opioid use disorder and nearly all people in custody take prescription medication with an average of roughly five prescriptions per person. The department contracts for health services and said the constitutional right to health care imposes non‑discretionary costs.

Commissioner testimony emphasized operational bottlenecks created by the shift to remote court hearings during and after the COVID‑19 pandemic. He described remote court as inefficient for many jurisdictions and said the correctional system lacks staff whose primary job is to facilitate court appearances. "Remote court, where court has been shifted into the correctional facilities, is actually slowing down the whole process, not speeding it up," he said, and added that staffing and scheduling constraints have led to longer stays for detainees waiting adjudication.

The commissioner asked the committee to consider a modernization priority: installing secure Wi‑Fi in facilities to expand education and reentry programming and reduce administrative workload. He said a heat‑mapping and design study shows implementation would cost about $3.5 million and that the department had sought federal community‑broadband funds without success. "If we could get Wi‑Fi in our facilities, it would dramatically change our ability to offer services and assistance to the population and our staff," he said.

Committee members asked several operational questions: whether the system could absorb a projected 10–20% increase in detainees or sentences; how out‑of‑state placements factor into bed capacity; and the relationship between compensation and retention. The commissioner said the system currently manages in‑state bed capacity and retains a limited out‑of‑state contract (about 115 individuals historically at times) as a pressure valve, but he warned that additional detention policies or expanded penalties could outpace available staff.

The commissioner closed by reiterating that the department would return to the committee for more detailed briefings and that lawmakers should weigh carefully any proposals that would increase detention or sentence lengths without addressing staffing and operational capacity.