It’s not unusual for Vermont’s Department of Corrections to be at the center of debate. The department manages six prisons across Vermont, with more than 1,000 incarcerated people in the system.
The department is perpetually facing challenges, which only increased during the pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic. There are perennial discussions over the ethics of sending people to out-of-state prisons, the conditions that incarcerated people face and what working conditions are like for the department’s employees.
Since January 2022, 16 incarcerated people have died — 12 at one prison, the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield. That has focused even more attention on the Department of Corrections as well as the health care and conditions in Vermont’s prisons.
In this episode, host Sam Gale Rosen talks about some of these issues with reporter Ethan Weinstein. He covers southeastern Vermont for VTDigger, and much of his recent journalism has focused on the Department of Corrections.
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Edi Abeneto of Feeding Chittenden on fighting hunger and breaking down cultural barriers
How to raise emotionally intelligent kids
The star-studded history of a small island in Lake Bomoseen
Who is the University of Vermont for?
Synagogue sold — what happens when a historic house of worship becomes something else
‘It dominates anxiety’ — unpacking the process and impact of health insurance premium hikes
How flooding affects Vermont’s wildlife and ecosystems
‘I was in shock.’ — Reporters on the impact of Vermont’s catastrophic flooding
The fraught politics of Vermont’s motel housing program
A VTDigger reporter’s guide to the Statehouse
Deep in the forest, a patch of common ground
What’s happened at Vermont sheriffs’ departments
To go big, or go bigger, on child care
Noah Kahan on ‘existing in a place that you've just written about’
Leveling the funding field for small towns
What 97 acres means to Williston
What’s next for Montpelier’s water system?
What keeps Vermonters together across a widening income divide?
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