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Vermont DOC details staffing shortfalls and ramps up recruitment, training and wellness efforts
Summary
Interim DOC leaders told the Senate Institutions committee the department faces multi-year staffing shortages that peaked during COVID and described recruitment, retention, training and wellness programs — including education partnerships whose grant support is ending in August.
Interim Commissioner John Muran and department operations leaders told the Senate Institutions committee on Feb. 18 that Vermont’s Department of Corrections continues to cope with multi-year staffing shortages and is rolling out a suite of recruitment, retention and wellness measures to stabilize facilities.
Travis Denton, the department’s chief of operations, said the vacancy trend worsened during the COVID pandemic and that the department “were as high as 30 percent vacancies during the height of COVID.” He told senators that the department’s statewide vacancy rate had improved from those heights but remained meaningful; as of December Denton cited a statewide figure near 12.2 percent and said facility (24/7) posts remain the most acute staffing pressure.
That shortfall affects operations, the DOC said. Denton and committee members described how facility…
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