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Witnesses warn locked youth facilities costly and racially disparate; advocates urge minimal use
Summary
Advocates told the Judiciary Committee that secure juvenile facilities are expensive, associated with racial disparities and risk of harm, and should be used only when necessary while Vermont invests in community alternatives.
Matthew Bernstein and other witnesses described secure juvenile facilities as costly and disproportionately harmful to youth of color. Bernstein cited national research and Vermont figures showing racial disproportionality among incarcerated youths and said past state analyses put annual per-youth costs for institutional placements in the hundreds of thousands. "Youth prisons are immensely expensive, immensely racially unjust, rife with abuses in Vermont and elsewhere," Bernstein said.
Committee members asked for detail about the cited $528,000 per-youth figure. Bernstein said that figure came from a 2020 report that reflected costs associated with the Woodside facility when it was operating and included facility maintenance, staffing and program costs. He and others noted Vermont has made substantial out-of-home placements but that comprehensive, current cost accounting and up-to-date data are needed.
The advocates highlighted the limited number of secure placements and the state's obligation to use the least restrictive appropriate setting. Bernstein described Red Clover, a secure program operating in Vermont, and a proposed Green Mountain Youth Campus; he and his colleagues said secure treatment should be exceptional and reserved for youth whose needs cannot be met in community-based or residential-treatment settings. "People say secure crisis stabilization or secure long-term treatment. That is synonymous with youth incarceration," Bernstein told the committee.
Legislators and presenters also discussed demographic patterns. Witnesses said Vermont data shows Black and brown youths are incarcerated at disproportionate rates compared with white youths and that many juveniles who enter restrictive settings have prior child-welfare involvement. Advocates argued that overreliance on secure facilities risks perpetuating those disparities and that investments should focus on diversion and supports that address trauma, housing instability and other upstream drivers.
Panelists recommended the committee require and obtain current, disaggregated data on placements, costs, racial composition and prior system involvement before expanding secure capacity. They urged the Legislature to prioritize creating Medicaid-billable community services as alternatives to secure placement.
