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Union urges weekly oversight, pay and facility fixes as corrections staffing crisis deepens
Summary
VSEA testimony to the House Corrections & Institutions Committee described chronic mandatory overtime, short retention and a multi‑year staffing crisis in Vermont prisons, and urged weekly legislative oversight with specific data requests and facility‑level remedies.
The Vermont State Employees Association told the House Corrections & Institutions Committee Jan. 13 that chronic overtime, mandated 16‑hour shifts and high turnover have produced a staffing crisis in the Department of Corrections that threatens both staff welfare and inmate programming.
Steve Howard, executive director of VSEA, told the committee that frontline corrections workers face long mandatory overtime, high stress and frequent lockdowns that cancel recreation and education programs. "The life expectancy of a correctional officer is 59…
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