Springfield residents present feedback to Dept. of Corrections via tele-meetings.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20121207/NEWS02/712079943
Springfield residents share crime concerns
By Christian Avard
Staff Writer | December 07,2012
Rutland Herald
SPRINGFIELD — Springfield residents and community outreach workers participated in a televised meeting Tuesday to voice community concerns about the state Department of Corrections.
The meeting, set up by Vermont Interactive Television and held by the Department of Corrections, was the first of four meetings to take place across the state.
More than a dozen residents, restorative justice workers and Springfield Prison officials attended one of 17 locations to speak on camera about prison issues.
“We’d like to give you a series of things in the future and we’d like comments on them. This is the goal,” said Department of Corrections Commissioner Andrew Pallito.
George McNaughton of Springfield took advantage of Pallito’s offer. He advised that the state keep its promise with the town of Springfield regarding the prison facility.
In return for hosting the Springfield prison, the state provided the town a number of considerations. The state extended municipal water and sewer to the prison, created an industrial park, rebuilt the Skitchewaug Trail and donated $3 million to the Edgar May Health and Recreation Center.
There was also an agreement that no non-Springfield residents would be released into the community to live there following jail time. McNaughton did not believe the state was living up to the agreement.
He said families of prisoners relocate to Springfield. According to McNaughton, once they are released, many go to rehabilitation centers and remain in the area.
“If this is true then the state violated the spirit of agreement with Springfield. If it’s not true, the state needs to be clear,” McNaughton said.
Another concern is the influx of out-of-state drugs and gangs. McNaughton asked what preventative measures are being taken in prison to prevent the problem from growing.
“What policies do you have to keep out-of-state drug traffickers with gang connections sequestered from in-state prisoners so that the prison does not become a recruitment center for more gangs and trafficking?”
Pallito told McNaughton the Department of Corrections did not violate the agreement with the town. He spoke with Rep. Alice Emmons of Springfield about the situation and they are taking steps to make Springfield safer.
“That will be emerging over the next month or so,” Pallito said.
McNaughton hopes the state will step up their efforts on monitoring out-of-state prisoners.
“Until they’ve done studies then I don’t think the public should believe what the state is saying,” he said. “If they want to end the rumor, they need to be tracking them six months after release.”
The Department of Corrections said they will respond to feedback in the coming weeks. The responses will be posted on their website at www.doc.state.vt.us.
The next interactive, televised meeting will take place in February. A date has not been determined.
Any prisoners who are found or even suspected to be related to a gang should be incarcerated as far away from their hometown as possible like in the Aleutian island's. That should adjust their attitudes rather nicely.
ReplyDeleteWould support that if you could get the judges to favor it.
DeleteOh really? Only is the judges would favor it? Keep looking and maybe you'll find a spine!
DeleteIf the judges won't order it then you have to find another approach. Personally, I agree with the idea of sequestering gang related prisoners so they cannot recruit from inside the prison. But, its fairly clear that the DOC is only interested in sequestering the sex offenders.
DeleteWell, that would be wonderful except you have the economics of the situation which further exacerbate the problem even more. Restorative justice centers push to have the prisoners released early so they can "reintegrate" them back into society. The restorative justice people and HCRS make money from the system to treat and reintegrate these criminals. So now we have allowed these people to open shop in towns like Springfield and look at the problems created. You can't stop a family from moving to VT to be closer to their "loved one" and especially when articles are being written about Vermont having one of the easiest welfare systems to qualify for with FREE healthcare. Now they move and are considered Springfield residents hence them being released and staying in town. As far as I am concerned restorative justice does not and has not ever worked. When we had prisons like Alcatraz which was known for being a horrible experience, those prisoners who were released from there NEVER went back into the system. NONE of them. Now that we hold hands and worry about it being nice and warm and friendly, with good meals and exercise equipment and tv and all the boloney over the past decades we allowed our prison system to change. Now the attitude is it is to rehabilitate a criminal instead of the purpose prison was to originally serve and that was to PUNISH someone for their crimes. Not to mention you have a state full of idiots who re-elected Shumlin again. The very man who is pushing for early release and restorative justice in Vermont. Nobody ever learns!
ReplyDeleteSo, if Springfield and Vermont are that bad, why haven't you moved to a state you'd like more? Just asking....
DeleteSome of us have moved away to escape the debacle that the town and state have become - leaving CG and the sewer rats to snivel on about social injustice.
DeleteChuck- I'm guessing that stands for woodchuck...Why are you always the antagonist? Do you like having criminals released in your town? Is it that you believe in restorative justice? Are you an ex-con who thinks that you deserve amenities while being incarcerated? I mean what angle are you coming from? You ALWAYS have the same negative response to people. You know what? This is the EXACT problem with the people of Springfield. Because a person does not have the same opinion or may not agree with your opinion, they are always automatically attacked and told to move away blah blah blah! Look-it doe not take a rocket scientist to look around and see that the town in rotting into the ground. It is deplorable. At this point even BF looks better and has a thriving downtown area with new and operational shops. Maybe you are mad over my comment about Shumlin..do the research buddy. He has been the single most pushing force to release the states prisoners back into the public. It is on the record for all to read..it isn't made up accusations. As a matter of fact one of our own representatives sits on the corrections board up north. So let's not throw my comments under the bus because I choose to not want criminals released in my neighborhood. The sex offenders now in this town alone has doubled in the past 5-6 years. DOUBLED!!! That is not safe for my children, your children or anyone's grandchildren. To fix a problem you have to have the ability to not only look at the past contributions and factors affecting but also forward thinking to see what the future effects may be. I don't know woodchuck maybe it is time for YOU to move your antiquated beliefs along a retirement village somewhere. Just sayin!!!!
DeleteGood for you Chuck.
DeleteAnonymous
I agree with much of what Anonymous 8:30am said. The system is currently broken. The article has some innaccuracies, however, there were not a lot of citizens -- there appears on the film to have been basically two, maybe three, the majority of the people attending the session in Springfield were DOC officials looked like 2 Prison Supt.s, one Assistant, other DOC officials, the rest were either not-for-profit or agency agents, Alice Emmons and a Rutland Herald reporter. The time of the meeting didn't encourage attendance by private citizens who are employed in some fashion with the system and network of agencies. Only two people spoke from Springfield and I am not sure they were totally representative. One was McNaughton who is quoted in the article and the other was Wendi Germain who is involved in the network. One of the concerns that McNaughton raised that was not mentioned in the article, and was raised by people from other communities is that they are not teaching the courses while the people are incarcerated, but rather after they are released. Most can't afford those courses and the way the DOC schedules their mandatory appointments it makes it improbable that they will be able to get and keep employment. I for one think we have a major problem with the number of not-for-profits with their hands in the till, including in particular HCRS -- I am not completely sold on the restorative justice program either.
DeleteAnonymous 10:50, don't agree with you about BF. Yes they have done a much better job of downtown redevelopment -- but they have a gang and drug trafficking problem that is as bad, if not worse than Springfields. What they don't have is a blog called Bellows Falls News. But people are getting beat up, windows smashed in, etc. Frequently, when you read of drug trafficking busts they include BF residents right along with Springfielders, and Chester isn't that far behind.
DeleteSomehow restorative and justice doesn't make sense to me.
ReplyDeleteWhat would make sense to me is "Hard labor and restoring justice"
Phil, restorative justice doesn't make sense to most rational people and certainly not to law enforcement.
ReplyDeleteAs the saying goes, "follow the money." There's a profit to be had, and restorative justice's biggest advocates are lining their pockets handsomely. Makes you wonder who the biggest crooks are?
Well HCRS comes to mind. They seem to have expanded considerably in the last ten years. What a concept: The liberals rehabbing the violent outlaws.
DeletePhil, HCRS is for people with developmental disabilities or for you shallow minded people, retards. They have nothing or do with "rehabbing violent outlaws"
Deleteum i think they offer the required programs. ya know the ones the politicians invented as job creation. what happened to going to court paying your fine or going to jail? classes and more classes. its sad to think that it started out as mental health services and grew into a vampire of the courts.
DeleteAnonymous 3:55 PM, you are wrong. HCRS has its hands in the rehabilitation of prisoners its a major money maker for them and they are doing a lousy job. Basically, they are pushing AA out of the way and seem to be basically mandating that their involuntary "clients" be hopped up on Suboxen. The whole reintegration of prisoners concept is becoming a self-serving racket for these groups which ill serves the public and which makes it very difficult if not impossible for these former prisoners ever to extricate themselves from the system. I am personally beginning to favor a sentencing system which calls for shorter sentences with probation with heavy conditions -- but the conditions are only applicable if they stay in the State of Vermont, if they permanently leave the State and don't come back then the restrictive conditions don't apply. I don't know if that would be legal, but the last thing we want to do is anchor them to Vermont.
Deleteprobation doesnt work. look at the numbers. its either bad enough to go to jail or not. its part of the revolving door.
DeleteRE: As the saying goes, "follow the money." There's a profit to be had, and restorative justice's biggest advocates are lining their pockets handsomely.
DeleteYep, follow it all the way to those in the "social services" sector, plying their quackery on oblivious clientelle whose bills are paid by the government...endlessly...with no worthy results...
Now, now, the rehabilitative services programs and networks are very important in sustaining the economic stability of the area. The dumb and the power get caught up in the pepetual system, the smart and the middle-class are the system. Its how life is supposed to work. I don't understand all this whining about money, it moves in a very nice closed circuit. So long as they don't start actually rehabilitating the prisoners while they are still in prison, things will continue to work just fine. Now if they would just fully privatize the system and let everyone enjoy the fruits of capitalism at its finest we could spread the wealth around so people weren't always jealous of those poor dedicated HCRS workers.
DeleteDumb and the power?
DeleteOh Jack you prissy... the dumb and the poor... you feel better now you progressive pinko?
DeleteHas HCRS formally taken over the Turning Point Club yet, or are they just controlling it by proxy?
DeleteVermont needs to take a page from the book of Sheriff Joe Apiro (sp?) in AZ. Prison is just that! Hard labor and baloney sandwiches. No TV, cooking classes and donuts.
ReplyDeleteIt is Joe Arpaio...dismissed prisoners bellyaching about the heat by pointing out that soldiers serving in Iraq cope with similar conditions. Told inmates that were being held in a tent city in Maricopa County AZ that "it's 120 degrees in Iraq and the soldiers are living in tents and they did not commit any crimes, so shut your mouths." The prisoners get 2 meals a day (baloney sandwiches),work outside a hard labor, no pillow for the cots and have to wear pink underwear. Now that is what I call restorative justice.
DeleteAmen! Anon 7:22 and 7:52
DeleteQuien es el hombre Jose Arpaio ?
DeleteAriba! arrrrrrrrrrrrriiba !!!
I have a family member that is a retired warden in another state. Class action law suits filed on the behalf on prisoners included: too much butter in the food, not getting donuts on Saturday mornings, the color of the paint in the shower area, etc. The job is tough enough without have to bend over for people who have broken the law and think that jail should be like going to a resort.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to all the "positive aspects" that building a prison in Springfield was supposed to bring to the town? Seems to me it just brought us down a few more notches on the socioeconomic ladder.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't just bring the town down a few notches on the socioeconomic ladder, it completely lowered it into the proverbial well of despair. It was yet another case of a town grasping at economic straws; so desperate for salvation and willing to throw itself at any half-baked to totally ridiculous folly without considering the long term consequences. The town threw themselves at Gov. Dean's prison as though it were a diamond in the rough without realizing that like a diamond, a prison is FOREVER. Springfield well never climb out of this well in our lifetimes.
ReplyDeleteThere were other things involved such as the Rec Center, etc.
DeleteLIAR!
DeleteHow do you tell the comunity that you care about how special it is to you ?
DeleteThis Hoiday season build a prison.
Prisons are forever
if i remember it was pretty close on the vote for the prison. some of us warned you what would follow. they chose to listen to the wrong voices. remember it just barely passed but was a mandate by the people according to "funny noise" dean.
DeleteI didn't vote for the Prison / rec center...
DeleteI voted for the Prison and to knock down the gastly Bakery Building and the awful former VNA building behind it.
If the rest of you fools voted with me, we could have had a bigger green space, more parking, and all of our neighbors could look at our claim to fame waterfall
What is the VNA building?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete- What is the best organized thing in our world?
ReplyDelete- Crime
AN OLD FARMER AND THE CIRCLE FLIES
ReplyDeleteAn old farmer was hauling a load of manure when he was stopped by a state trooper. "You were speeding," the cop said. "I'm going to have to give you a ticket."
"Yep," the farmer said as he watched the trooper shoo away several flies.
"These flies are terrible," the trooper complained.
"Yep," the farmer said. "Those are circle flies."
"What's a circle fly?"
"Them flies that circle a horse's ass," answered the farmer. "Them are circle flies."
"You wouldn't be calling me a horse's ass, would you?" The trooper angrily asked.
"Nope, I didn't," the farmer replied. "But you just can't fool them flies.
Been a whole lotta circle flies around the town office for years now!
DeleteI was always lead to believe that Democrats were "progressive", I guess Springfield proved that theory wrong. You get what you vote for, deal with it....
ReplyDeleteWell, depends on whether the State is keeping the spirit of their agreements...does anybody have a copy of the agreement so we know if they are even keeping the letter of their agreement.
DeletePLEASE direct ALL complaints to Bob Forguites at the town office!!! 802 885-2106
ReplyDeleteWhy? This guy has been in place a long time while the town continually deteriorates. Calling him up won't do anything. Firing him is the answer.
DeleteYou are hilarious. Bet he can't locate the phone on his desk. We wrote letters. blah blah blah
Delete