UVM researcher tells Vermont Senate committee PRIN surveys reveal staffing gaps and weak reentry preparedness

Dr. Abby Crocker, associate professor of statistics at the University of Vermont and director of the university’s Justice Research Center, briefed the Vermont Senate Institutions Committee on Jan. 14 on the Prison Research and Innovation Network (PRIN) and its statewide prison surveys and uses of the data.

Crocker said PRIN is a research‑practice partnership between UVM and the Vermont Department of Corrections that centers the lived experience of people inside facilities and staff, produces independent research and creates a structure to translate findings into operational change. "PRIN at a functional level is a research‑practice partnership between UVM and the Department of Corrections," she told the committee.

The surveys were cocreated inside facilities with staff and incarcerated people through focus groups and interviews to identify priority questions. Crocker said PRIN administered two 150‑question surveys (one for staff, one for people who are incarcerated) in person using validated instruments and Likert‑style items. She described unusually high participation and completion: response rates on administration were about 75–85% and those who started often completed the full instrument, which commonly took about one to two hours.

Key results have driven operational changes in the corrections system, Crocker said. She reported that in 2021 roughly 94% of staff respondents said there were not enough staff to meet facility needs; that figure declined to about 84% in 2024, which Crocker characterized as a statistically measurable improvement but still a significant shortfall. She also said roughly 83% of incarcerated respondents reported they did not feel prepared for release.

"Data help provide focus," Crocker said, explaining how the surveys have guided investments in staffing support and recruitment strategies, piloted programs such as an on‑site coffee shop and an honors unit, and prompted outreach on reentry services, including exploring use of a Medicaid 1115 waiver to expand reentry supports.

Crocker described PRIN’s governance and operational model: a steering committee made up of DOC executive leadership for troubleshooting and an anchor facility (Southern State, Springfield) that houses a weekly PRIN council of lived‑experience partners who meet with researchers and managers. She said the Urban Institute supported an early multi‑state grant that helped launch the work and that Vermont was one of five states selected for that learning community.

On transparency and independence, Crocker told lawmakers Vermont kept broad question sets other states did not allow and that the DOC agreed to make 100% of PRIN results public. She said the UVM‑DOC contract includes provisions that prevent DOC suppression of PRIN findings. "The department cannot suppress any of our findings," she said.

Crocker said PRIN conducted survey waves in 2021, 2022 and 2024 and plans annual administration across all six state facilities, with data briefs and targeted analyses to make findings actionable. To support that work, UVM launched the Justice Research Center in April 2024 to institutionalize capacity, and PRIN has started a scholars program to build a bench of researchers trained to work in correctional settings.

Committee members asked detailed questions about survey format, timing, repeatability and funding. Crocker said most data collection is in‑person, confidential and supported by legal protections in the contract; she described the contract as a no‑cost arrangement between UVM and DOC that preserves independent research while grant funding can be used to expand specific projects.

Crocker emphasized the limits of corrections‑only solutions: survey and qualitative results show many reentry barriers originate in the community (housing, casework access, stigma) and require a collective impact approach. She said PRIN is moving toward a Vermont Health and Justice Collaborative to coordinate cross‑sector action and that the project’s next steps include expanding to Marble Valley and Rutland, producing targeted data briefs and using composite, lived‑experience narratives to inform policy and practice.

The committee did not take any formal vote on PRIN during the session. Crocker asked committee members to identify specific topics for deeper dives at future visits and welcomed follow‑up. "If there are specific things you want us to dive deeper into, I encourage you to look at them, because then we can come prepared," she said.

What happens next: PRIN will run annual surveys, roll out data briefs, expand onsite councils to other facilities and continue coordination with DOC leadership and community partners. The committee scheduled a follow‑up visit to the Springfield facility on Feb. 9.