Corrections may revamp segregation units amid declining use

As Vermont prisons have shifted away from using a restrictive form of housing for disciplinary sanctions, the Department of Corrections is looking at ways to repurpose some of those units.

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CORRECTIONS MAY REVAMP SEGREGATION UNITS AMID DECLINING USE FEB. 23, 2017, 8:52 PM BY ELIZABETH HEWITT 0 COMMENTS Foxtrot Inside Foxtrot, a segregation unit in Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield. File photo by Phoebe Sheehan/VTDigger As Vermont prisons have shifted away from using a restrictive form of housing for disciplinary sanctions, the Department of Corrections is looking at ways to repurpose some of those units. According to DOC officials, a decreasing use of segregation has left many single-occupancy units empty. Now, they are looking at other ways to use those spaces to reduce the number of Vermont inmates held at a private prison in Michigan. “We have empty beds in segregation, and it’s a shame to have empty beds in a facility when you have inmates out of state,” Acting Corrections Commissioner Lisa Menard said. Segregation is a disciplinary practice that involves holding prisoners isolated in single-occupancy cells for up to 23 hours out of the day, with limited access to television or other privileges. It has increasingly come under scrutiny across the country. “These facilities were built at a time when segregation was considered just a usual correctional practice,” Menard said. More recently, prison administrators have found alternatives to segregation that they say are more successful and keep inmates out of those restrictive cells. Now, Menard said, the department is exploring ways to “soften” the units to make them an option where inmates can stay when they are not under the conditions of segregation. “How do we have people have more general population-type conditions of confinement in a unit that is separate?” Menard said. Lisa Menard Lisa Menard. File photo by Elizabeth Hewitt/VTDigger She estimated there are currently several dozen empty beds in segregation units in the state. Ed Adams, acting superintendent of Southern State Correctional Facility, said prison staff are increasingly trying alternatives to segregation. The prison in Springfield is home to one of the largest segregation units in the state, Foxtrot. Inside, single-occupancy cells are in three two-story wings, each independently enclosed by a wall of vertical bars. The cells lack features common in general population living areas, such as televisions. Adams said the use of the unit has decreased considerably as prison staff have tried using sanctions other than segregation to discipline inmates. An alternative could be restricting somebody to a cell in the general population unit for a period of time, or, in some cases, limiting access to the prisoner’s cell during the day. It may be more effective to restrict that person’s access to certain privileges, he said. “When you get sort of surgical with that thinking you can end up actually making a better outcome,” Adams said. Adams took over administration at Southern State late last summer. In recent months there has been a broad effort to limit the practice of holding inmates in isolation for long periods. The prison greatly reduced the use of a controversial unit for prisoners with mental illness during his tenure. Southern State has already started work revamping one of the three wings on the Foxtrot unit by installing wiring in cells for televisions, according to Adams. The changes in that wing reduce Southern State’s capacity to hold inmates in segregation by a third, he said. Those beds have been sitting empty for some time, he said. “We can do that because we haven’t had the need,” Adams said. There are plans to make similar changes in another segregation wing. Adams said it is important to make changes to the infrastructure in the Foxtrot unit to make it feel more like a general population space if other inmates will be held there. “If you don’t go through that process and you try to utilize (the cells), you actually end up punishing people just to fill a bed,” Adams said. “And the department has no inclination to do that.” The DOC is still exploring different options for how segregation units could be used differently. Menard said officials are considering using a space for prisoners who have tested positive for drugs while in prison, where everybody there is going through some level of treatment. Another option may be using those wings for prisoners who are nearing the end of their sentence, so they would have a quieter space to go back to at night as they’re planning their re-entry into the community, she said.