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.
Why Vermont colleges keep closing
Drawing the line on recovery drugs
Who decides on reproductive rights
Progressive’s past comments upend a Burlington election
New gun bills trail historic reforms
Blocked at the border
Breaking down Scott's budget
Locals vs. the landfill
Vermont's youth caucus
Hospitals struggle with psychiatric care
Welch and Leahy look beyond the blue wave
Under new scrutiny, the church pledges change
In search of a supermajority
An Amish enclave in the Northeast Kingdom
Local control at any cost
How TV watchers shift their worldviews
Life on the line
BONUS: Leahy remembers McCain, an unlikely ally
When waste hits waterways
BONUS: Christine Hallquist in conversation
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