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Formerly incarcerated Kalani Gagne tells Senate committee of abuse, urges stricter vetting under H.550
Summary
At an April 7 Senate Committee on Institutions hearing on H.550, witness Kalani Gagne recounted transfers to out-of-state prisons, alleged staff harassment and uninvestigated PREA complaints, and urged clearer clinical vetting and mandated reporting to protect transgender and cisgender people in custody.
Kalani Gagne, a formerly incarcerated Vermont resident, testified to the Senate Committee on Institutions on April 7 that she endured repeated harassment, assaults and misgendering while held in several out‑of‑state prisons and at regional facilities, and urged lawmakers to strengthen H.550 to require expert clinical vetting and clearer reporting procedures.
Gagne recounted being shipped out of state after conviction — to Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Mississippi — and said Vermont’s policies did not govern care or investigations once she was compacted to other states. "Vermont Department of Corrections knew this," she told the committee, arguing that PREA complaints and other reports of assault were not consistently investigated by DOC or by outside…
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