Friday, December 18, 2020
Vermont Superior Court Judge Samuel Hoar rejected a bid by inmate Mandy Conte to compel the Department of Corrections to fix up the House 2 showers at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility. Hoar handed down his decision two months after a bench trial on the matter.
Conte, who has been incarcerated in the South Burlington prison since February 2019, sued the state that September, alleging that the department had failed to maintain safe and sanitary conditions at the facility. She claimed that the showers, which serve 30 to 40 women, reeked of human waste and were infested with sewer flies, maggots and mold.
"It smells like a sewer," she told the court in October.
Tags: Mandy Conte , Samuel Hoar , Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility , Vermont Department of Corrections , Web Only , Image
Monday, December 14, 2020
A 59-year-old Vermonter serving time for attempted murder died Sunday at a Mississippi prison, the Vermont Department of Corrections announced Monday.
Roberto Vargas of Newport City was found unresponsive in his cell at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility on Sunday morning and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter, according to a press release issued by the department.
Rachel Feldman, a department spokesperson, said it was not yet clear what caused Vargas' death, though she said it was not suspicious and did not appear to be related to a COVID-19 outbreak that has plagued the prison. According to Feldman, Vargas had tested negative for the virus prior to his death.
Defender General Matthew Valerio, who oversees Vermont's Prisoners' Rights Office, said he also was unaware of the cause of death. "The only thing I know is that it was somewhat unexpected because we aren't aware of any preexisting medical conditions that would have given rise to it," he said.
Tags: Roberto Vargas , Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility , Vermont Department of Corrections , Rachel Feldman , Web Only , Image
Friday, December 11, 2020
The department has 81 sworn officers, nine fewer than it did in June when the city council passed a resolution to reduce the force by attrition to 74 cops. Five of those cops said in exit interviews that they're leaving because of the council's efforts to "defund the police," Murad said.
And Murad expects the numbers to keep dropping. Two officers are expected to leave by early January, bringing the roster to 79. Six others could also leave next year: Three who are seeking other employment, two who will be on long-term military deployments and one who is taking a family leave. Still others could be tapped by the Vermont National Guard to help distribute the COVID-19 vaccine, Murad said.
When the number hits 76 officers, the department would have to cease coverage between 3 and 7:30 a.m., according to the chief. The officers on duty would be assigned to staff the police station and would only respond in person to the most serious calls, he said.
The shift "is not something that we are thinking about ending lightly," Murad said. "This is a serious move."
Tags: Jon Murad , policing , Burlington Police Department , defund the police , staffing , chief , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Inmates at the South Burlington facility have not been tested for the coronavirus since November 24, Feldman said, but all inmates and staff at the prison are scheduled to be tested on Thursday as a result of the positive case.
Feldman declined to describe the staff member's role at Chittenden Regional, citing medical privacy laws, but said that contact tracing was underway to determine whether inmates had been exposed.
To date, the facility has been relatively unscathed by COVID-19. One staff member tested positive in May and one recently admitted inmate tested positive in June, but neither case led to community spread within the prison. According to Feldman, this is the first time Chittenden Regional has been fully locked down as a result of a positive test.
Tags: Department of Corrections , Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility , Rachel Feldman , Ashley Messier , Mandy Conte , Web Only , Image
Thursday, November 19, 2020
The civil complaint, filed Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court, accuses Officer Cory Campbell of using excessive force when he punched Kilburn in the face, breaking multiple bones. The officer's actions in March 2019 ultimately caused Kilburn's "unjustified death," his family asserts.
The suit also targets former police chief Brandon del Pozo and Mayor Miro Weinberger, claiming they tried to conceal Campbell's wrongful conduct by seeking to change the state medical examiner's conclusions in the case.
Tags: Douglas Kilburn , Burlington Police Department , City of Burlington , Cory Campbell , Brandon Del Pozo , Miro Weinberger , Wrongful Death , Excessive Force , Web Only , Image
Monday, November 16, 2020
The Department of Corrections could have done more to save the life of an inmate who died last December at a northern Vermont prison, according to a law firm hired by the state to investigate his death.
In a 38-page report issued Monday, attorneys with Downs Rachlin Martin concluded that DOC policies and personnel failed to protect Kenneth Johnson, a 60-year-old Black man who died after an undiagnosed tumor obstructed his airway. The firm also faulted Centurion, the medical contractor that ran the infirmary at Newport’s Northern State Correctional Facility, where Johnson was lodged.
The report questioned whether Johnson’s race contributed to his substandard treatment, concluding that “implicit bias likely played a role.”
The investigation found that authorities were aware that Johnson was in medical distress as early at 10 p.m. on December 6, but failed to respond appropriately to his requests for help. Though Johnson “appeared to be gasping for air,” according to one officer, staff neglected to summon a doctor or transport him to a nearby hospital.
After a Corrections officer found Johnson collapsed on the floor of an infirmary bathroom at 12:38 a.m. the next morning, prison staff ordered him to stay in bed and threatened to send him to a holding cell if he failed to comply, the report found. One supervisor told him to “knock it off.”
Johnson was discovered unresponsive at 2:17 a.m. and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
The firm concluded that the department and Centurion "could have and should have done more to assist Mr. Johnson during his health crisis," noting that he was "clearly and visibly in substantial distress during that time period.”
"While corrections staff did not completely fail in responding to these complaints, at the end of the day, their response was insufficient to keep Mr. Johnson from dying from a tumor-caused breathing obstruction," the report’s authors wrote. "That should not have happened."
Tags: Kenneth Johnson , Vermont , DOC , Department of Corrections , Jim Baker , Tristram Coffin , Mike Smith , Web Only , Image
Friday, October 30, 2020
University of Vermont Health Network hospitals continued to rely on old-fashioned, paper-based systems Friday, two days after a cyberattack crippled key digital infrastructure. And according to Dr. Stephen Leffler, president and chief operating officer of UVM Medical Center, it remains unclear when its electronic medical records system and other operations will be back online.
"I can tell you that there's days in front of us where we'll be using a paper system," he said during an afternoon phone briefing with reporters.
Leffler emphasized that the six Vermont and northern New York hospitals within the network continue to serve patients — albeit at a slower pace and with some limitations. "We have been caring for people without issue," he said, adding that staff were well-trained on contingency plans and had "switched pretty seamlessly to paper."
According to Leffler, UVM Medical Center on Friday performed roughly half of the surgeries it typically does. "The biggest issue really is efficiency," he said. "When we're on the electronic medical record [system] and all the pieces are connected normally, we can be very efficient in how we deliver care."
Tags: Stephen Leffler , Phil Scott , Neal Goswami , Web Only , Image
A story posted to the online news website Thursday evening said that neighbors of a West Pawlet facility known as Slate Ridge have experienced a number of confrontational exchanges with property owner Daniel Banyai and his associates.
The neighbors, who requested anonymity out of fear of retribution, told VTDigger that they are terrified Slate Ridge's trainees may one day act on the threats they've made on social media. One quote from the report summarized their fears: “You’re gonna pick up the paper someday, and it’s going to be mass murder up on Briar Hill Road," one of the neighbors said.
Tags: Slate Ridge , Phil Scott , Daniel Banyai , Pawlet , firearms , Web Only , Image
Thursday, October 29, 2020
The University of Vermont Health Network fell victim to a cyberattack Wednesday, disrupting operations throughout the Vermont and northern New York hospital chain. The attack appears to be part of a coordinated assault on the nation’s health care system allegedly perpetrated by Russian hackers.
The hospital conglomerate experienced "a significant and ongoing system-wide network issue,” spokesperson Neal Goswami said Thursday, describing it as a “confirmed cyberattack.” A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albany field office, Sarah Ruane, later said that it was investigating the incident alongside state and local authorities.
According to Goswami, the network lost access to a web portal that patients use to schedule appointments and access electronic medical records, slowing services throughout the hospital system.
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency issued a warning Wednesday "of an increased and imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers." The federal agency said the hackers were using malware to steal data from hospitals and hold it hostage.
At a press conference Thursday evening outside of the UVM Medical Center in Burlington, hospital officials would not say whether the attack was related. They also would not say whether it involved the same type of ransomware that has disrupted patient care at other hospitals around the nation, deferring questions about the investigation to the FBI.
Dr. Stephen Leffler, the hospital’s president and chief operating officer, said at the press conference that he had received no such demands. “I’ve had no contact with anyone at this point,” he said. “So I really can’t comment on that.”
Tags: UVM Health Network , UVM Medical Center , Neal Goswami , Stephen Leffler , Michael Schirling , Phil Scott , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
The settlement ends a federal lawsuit filed two years ago that alleged ICE had illegally sought to stifle Migrant Justice's political activism through a campaign of harassment, surveillance, arrests and deportation.
The agreement requires ICE to send a memo to its Vermont employees reiterating that they should not profile, target or discriminate against any individual or group for “exercising First Amendment rights.”
Tags: ICE , Immigration , Settlement , Migrant Justice , Web Only , Image