WASHINGTON (WCAX) – When it comes to residential reentry centers, Vermont Sen. Peter Welch says the U.S. Bureau of Prisons is leaving Vermont behind.
Vermont is one of only two states that doesn’t have a facility designed to help formerly incarcerated people reenter society with housing, substance use, and unemployment help.
According to Welch, D-Vermont, the BOP director said she would consider putting a reentry center in Vermont if the congressional delegation supported it, which it did in a letter in December.
In a hearing on Wednesday, Welch followed up on what he calls the BOP’s refusal to put a center in the state. The senator read a letter from U.S. District Court for Vermont Chief Judge Geoffrey Crawford to the BOP director, that said, in part: “The lack of facilities in Vermont interferes with every pro-social activity necessary to normal life including long-term employment, connecting with family, and locating housing… Our judges all believe that opening an RRC in Vermont is a significant step towards the improvement of public safety and rehabilitation.”
The BOP said that because so few people are released back into Vermont, it doesn’t make financial sense to put a center in the state.
Welch said the state needs one regardless, and he plans to keep advocating for a residential reentry center.
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