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Disability Rights Vermont urges state to invest in community supports to reduce institutionalization
Summary
Disability Rights Vermont told the Senate Institutions Committee that the state’s protection‑and‑advocacy role exposes recurring harms inside corrections and that expanding community mental‑health supports and reentry services — including ensuring IDs for people leaving prison — would reduce costly institutional stays and improve outcomes.
Lindsey Saint Amore, executive director of Disability Rights Vermont, told the Senate Institutions Committee on Institutions that the agency’s federal protection‑and‑advocacy authority has repeatedly identified gaps in how the state serves people with disabilities in corrections and inpatient psychiatric facilities. Saint Amore described litigation and settlement outcomes that led to policy changes on self‑harm monitoring, detox supervision after in‑custody deaths, and a 72‑hour transfer expectation for people identified as needing hospital care.
Those cases, she said, show a pattern: people who need supports often remain in…
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