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State employees union calls for 'state of emergency' to handle juvenile detention
https://vtdigger.org/2023/10/27/state-employees-union-calls-for-state-of-emergency-to-handle-juvenile-detention/State employees union calls for ‘state of emergency’ to handle juvenile detention
The union described a scene of “desperation” among staff caring for sometimes-violent youth in the justice system. But the defender general said the “reckless” proposal would only “inflame” the conversation.
By Lola Duffort
October 27, 2023, 7:56 pm
The union representing Vermont state employees has called on Gov. Phil Scott to declare a state of emergency and deploy the National Guard to deal with the state’s shortage of adequate placements for justice-involved youth.
The idea of bringing in the Guard was quickly dismissed as “not realistic or appropriate” by Scott’s office. And some officials who work on behalf of the children in state custody went further, arguing that such thinking is what got Vermont in trouble in the first place.
But the union’s call for help nevertheless underscores the untenable situation both the children and adults in Vermont’s juvenile justice find themselves in. Since shuttering the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in late 2020, Vermont has had no secure facility for justice-involved youth. At the time of its closure, the 30-bed Essex facility had been near empty and operating under the terms of a settlement agreement with Disability Rights Vermont, a nonprofit that had sued the state alleging “dangerous conditions” and an excessive use of restraints.
[...]
The union described a scene of “desperation” among staff caring for sometimes-violent youth in the justice system. But the defender general said the “reckless” proposal would only “inflame” the conversation.
By Lola Duffort
October 27, 2023, 7:56 pm
The union representing Vermont state employees has called on Gov. Phil Scott to declare a state of emergency and deploy the National Guard to deal with the state’s shortage of adequate placements for justice-involved youth.
The idea of bringing in the Guard was quickly dismissed as “not realistic or appropriate” by Scott’s office. And some officials who work on behalf of the children in state custody went further, arguing that such thinking is what got Vermont in trouble in the first place.
But the union’s call for help nevertheless underscores the untenable situation both the children and adults in Vermont’s juvenile justice find themselves in. Since shuttering the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in late 2020, Vermont has had no secure facility for justice-involved youth. At the time of its closure, the 30-bed Essex facility had been near empty and operating under the terms of a settlement agreement with Disability Rights Vermont, a nonprofit that had sued the state alleging “dangerous conditions” and an excessive use of restraints.
[...]