RUTLAND — Over coffee on Wednesday, five men detained at the Marble Valley correctional facility talked about how to turn away from criminal thinking.
Armed with worksheets from Mike Daly and Lewis Nielson, visiting addiction recovery coaches, the prison residents discussed situations that could ignite their anger and trigger violent behavior. They spoke about the potential consequences of such behavior — including getting arrested and being placed in solitary confinement if they’re in prison — and how they could avoid potentially explosive situations.
“I can vent to you all about the shit I’m going through,” said Eric Sardo, 34, who is facing drug charges and allegations of violating probationary conditions.
“I calmed myself down,” said Coy Hill, 42, who is serving time for multiple felonies while being prosecuted on charges that include burglary and grand larceny. “I gotta help myself, so I don’t keep doing this.”
The men are the latest participants in addiction recovery group meetings at Marble Valley, which the Rutland Turning Point recovery center introduced in 2016. Several former participants told VTDigger last year how the weekly meetings — as well as individualized recovery coaching — have helped them find sobriety and rebuild their lives outside the prison walls.
Now recovery-coaching leaders are working to set up regular group meetings in all Vermont correctional facilities, after the state Legislature this year provided $1.56 million so people in the corrections system can receive community-based recovery support.
Of the total amount, legislators gave the Department of Corrections $500,000 for the recovery group meetings and coaching sessions. Isaac Dayno, a department executive who is overseeing the project, said the funding will go to six community-based recovery centers that will run the services in the six state prisons: Chittenden Regional (South Burlington), Marble Valley (Rutland), Northeast Correctional Complex (St. Johnsbury), Northern State (Newport), Northwest State (St. Albans City) and Southern State (Springfield).
Another $1.06 million will benefit Vermont’s 12 recovery centers and a recovery residence, said Gary De Carolis, of the Recovery Partners of Vermont network. The money, which will also flow through the corrections department, would enable the locations to provide recovery support to people who have just been released and those on probation or parole, as well as prison residents.
The corrections department has tapped Tracie Hauck, director of the Turning Point Center of Rutland, to develop a manual that would guide peer recovery coaches in this specialized work. In June she is scheduled to formally start training recovery coaches in Newport, followed by those in Burlington, with the goal of rolling out group meetings in their local prisons this year.
“I think we’ll be able to help them figure out if they’ve got some pretty good people to go in,” Hauck said. Recovery coaches in Springfield began holding group meetings at Southern State Correctional last summer.
Eight years after Rutland Turning Point introduced recovery services at Marble Valley — during which the programs hardly received public recognition or direct government funding — Hauck is pleased that state leaders are now integrating them into the corrections system, especially as Vermont continues to battle the opioid epidemic.
“I’d like to think that it’s them thinking outside the box and that they need to do something different,” she said.
A preliminary state report shows that, last year, 231 Vermonters died of an opioid overdose, the second highest count since the state established its current tracking system 15 years ago. Surveys show people who’ve just been released from prison are some of the most susceptible to fatally overdosing, partly because they misjudge their tolerance for drugs or alcohol after being locked up and lack access to health care upon release.
Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland.
Photo by Tiffany Tan/VTDigger
On any given day, Vermont’s correctional facilities house 1,300 to 1,400 people who are either serving their sentences or awaiting trial. Of the total population, 70% — nearly 1,000 individuals — are receiving buprenorphine, a type of medication for opioid use disorder, according to Dayno, of the corrections department.
When addiction to other types of substances, such as alcohol and stimulants, is factored in, he said national data shows that the affected prison population is somewhere around 85%.
VTDigger reported on the successes of Rutland Turning Point’s recovery programs at Marble Valley in May 2023. In September of that year, Corrections Commissioner Nicholas Deml told his staff to prioritize implementing this type of program in coordination with peer recovery coaches, citing the article in a memo.
“Given this proven success and the project’s high strategic importance, I am directing the Department to scale this program model across all DOC facilities,” Deml said in the memo, referring to the Department of Corrections. “This project will begin as soon as possible.”
In a recent interview, Deml said introducing community-based recovery programs in prisons is crucial because it can help incarcerated people rebuild their lives when they return to society.
“We know that that’s such a critical juncture,” he said. “They can either succeed or face some pretty dire circumstances.”
Recovery centers in towns with no prisons would primarily offer support to incarcerated people who are returning to their communities, and those placed on probation or parole. The idea is for recovery centers throughout the state to be alerted of potential clients from the corrections system.
Deml said the peer-coaching model is especially effective because it is run by people who understand first-hand the difficulty of battling addiction. Most peer recovery coaches are in yearslong sobriety from substance misuse, and some have done time in jail or prison.
“We’ve had to change the way we think — about bringing folks who had previously been incarcerated back into correctional facilities,” the commissioner said. “We’re willing to try things, to take an innovative approach.”
At the Marble Valley dining area where the recovery meeting was taking place, Daly, the recovery coach, told participants he understood that people outside the prison walls can judge them harshly by their appearance or by their criminal record. The residents, seated on metal chairs bolted to the floor, nodded or voiced their agreement.
Daly, 42, has been sober for 10 years but used a wide variety of substances for nearly 20 years before that. He said he has been arrested “too many times” to count, culminating in a felony conviction with a probationary sentence.
The challenge when people look down on you, he told the men that morning, is to prove them wrong by rising above their expectations.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont state prisons open door to community-based addiction recovery services.