SOUTH BURLINGTON— The political debate about plans to replace Vermont’s only women’s prison, Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, is marked by calls for reform, fiscal responsibility and abolitionism.
But for those who are incarcerated at or work inside the 50-year old facility originally built for short term confinement, the debate centers on quality of life.
“This place is just too old and small,” Erika Cassani, who’s incarcerated at CRCF, said in an interview. “There’s not enough natural lighting or fresh air circulation. In many places, the building is too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer.”
Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility sits not far from the bustle of commuters traveling along Route 7. Inside, more than 100 women are awaiting trial or serving sentences. They make up less than 10% of the people held in Vermont’s six prisons.
The state has slowly pursued building a new women’s prison, one focused on rehabilitation and reentry, according to officials. That facility is tentatively expected to cost about $70 million, with roughly $15 million already set aside. This summer, VTDigger reported that officials are eyeing one of two sites in Essex.
For years, state Department of Corrections officials have stressed the need to replace the South Burlington facility, calling conditions there “an embarrassment.” Advocates have also decried ailing infrastructure at the building, which was built for short-term stays rather than people serving long sentences. Others have argued the state should close the prison without replacing it.
Last month, VTDigger toured Chittenden Regional’s seven units.
The facility’s heavy doors slammed constantly, echoing through the fluorescent-lit halls.
Jordan Pasha, Security and Operations Supervisor at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington, on Monday, August 27. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
Most rooms hold four people. In one of the general population units, dual metal bunk beds adorned opposite sides of the small cell. Three small desks, each with a stool affixed to the ground, allowed some residents a work space. The cells are “dry,” meaning they don’t have toilets or water. During the night, their residents can ask the officer on duty to let them use the bathroom.
Outside the cells, the day room had a smattering of tables and books starkly labeled “CRCF.” There was no shortage of bibles and Alcoholics Anonymous materials. The walls, brightly colored, are ever changing, painted by residents as a way to make the space a little more homey.
For recreation, incarcerated people have access to a small gym, with weights, weight machines and treadmills.
A common room at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington on Monday, August 27. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
The outdoor recreation yard is small, and in late August, the plot was in need of a mow. A small gravel track sees frequent use, according to staff, but the rest of the space isn’t often utilized. In one corner, a sprawling garden was producing well. Tomatoes grew all over, and swiss chard, lettuce and herbs sprouted up beside them. All that food is used in the kitchen, where residents work alongside prison staff.
The special mental health unit, Bravo, also has access to a small garden, and in the unit’s day room, residents had gathered the latest harvest: zucchini, cucumber and some peppers.
In Delta, the ‘honors unit’ home to a small group of people with positive disciplinary records, a rare window illuminated the common area. On the coffee table lay crocheted coasters and other knit accouterments. Residents there access their own washer and dryer, living without constant oversight of officers.
Cassani lives in the honor unit. In an interview, she rattled off a series of infrastructure-related concerns, including a lack of natural light and fresh air, limited ventilation in the bathrooms, a leaky roof, mold and inadequate temperature control.
A phone inmates use to communicate with attorneys inside the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington on Monday, August 27. The handset is upside down in the cradle to show that it has been cleaned. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
But more importantly, Cassani said, an ideal new prison would focus on re-entry rather than merely holding people behind bars.
“For most of us, the plan is to do our time and get back into the community,” she said. “Treat people like people and (they) will act like people. If you treat them like caged animals, (they) will act like caged animals.”
In addition to her support for a new prison, Cassani said more funding should go toward initiatives that support women after they’re released.
“There is nothing out there for housing,” she said. “Many women sit here well past when they need to because of lack of residence.”
Most of the women VTDigger spoke to shared Cassani’s support for a new prison, especially one that better prepared its residents for life “outside.”
Katelynn Senecal offered a more tempered perspective.
“I feel like the money could be better spent for groups like Mercy Connections and others like it,” she said, referencing a Burlington organization that provides mentorship for women in prison.
Senecal described herself as “on the fence” about the idea of a new facility. On the one hand, the current prison lacks adequate space for volunteer groups and has infrastructure issues such as “sewer flies,” she said. But Senecal also said she feared the money spent on a new facility could limit the funds invested in programs and amenities that already support women in prison.
Maybe, she said, it’d be better to “fix” Chittenden rather than start over.
Corrections leaders, for their part, say the state sinks millions into upkeep at CRCF every year, and the prison no longer reflects the department’s vision for modern incarceration.
Staff who work regularly in Chittenden Regional have also expressed support for a new facility.
Jess Kell, who leads the Kids-A-Part parenting program, stepped out of a restorative justice session she was sitting in on to discuss her experience working at the prison.
Jess Kell of Lund’s Kids-A-Part parenting program for inmates at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington on Monday, August 27. She spoke of the challenges of working in a fifty-year-old building. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
Kids-A-Part, which seeks to reduce the trauma of parental incarceration, works out of a couple of makeshift rooms created adjacent to the prison’s gymnasium. The state constructed interior walls to create the classrooms, where no rooms previously stood.
“This building is not fit to house people, to have people living in it and working in it,” she said, describing “bugs coming up from the bathrooms.”
Gesturing to the ceiling, Kell said the room had had a persistent leak, which caused water to “pour” from above.
“I used to jokingly call it my water feature,” she said, “I assume I’m breathing in some amount of mold on a regular basis.”
The recreation yard is seen through a barred window at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington on Monday, August 27. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
Kell worked at the previous women’s prison in St. Albans, which had much more light and fresh air, she said. The correctional complex had multiple buildings and a variety of jobs for incarcerated people to take on.
“There was a purpose to their days,” she said.
Vermont remains years away from a new women’s facility. In order to pursue the possible Essex locations, the state will need zoning approval from the town. How to pay for a new prison is also an open question.
Read the story on VTDigger here: The state wants to build a new women’s prison. What do those held there think?.