ACLU warns DOC placement of Vermont forensic facility could invite constitutional challenge
The ACLU told the House Corrections & Institutions Committee that placing a new forensic facility under the Department of Corrections risks making it carceral in practice; the group urged a feasibility study and statutory language that ensures therapeutic design and shared authority to reduce legal and operational risk.
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Jordan Souer, a policy advocate for the ACLU of Vermont, told the committee the ACLU supports creating a forensic facility in principle but is deeply concerned about housing it under the Department of Corrections. "Prison systems are not, nor have they ever historically been a therapeutic environment," Souer said, adding that DOC facilities are overcapacity and understaffed and that those conditions "call into question DOC's capacity to effectively manage a forensic facility."
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