At least one of Vermont’s Superior Court judges could benefit from a stint in the hoosegow — purely as an educational experience. But maybe a couple days behind bars should be a requirement for the job. After all, they send plenty of people to prison; shouldn’t they have first-hand experience of the “correctional” experience?
The judge in question is Samuel Hoar, who just dismissed a lawsuit by inmate Mandy Conte over unsanitary conditions in Vermont’s women’s prison. Hoar’s opinion could have been delivered by the unghosted version of Ebenezer Scrooge. In it, he acknowledged the disgusting conditions in the prison’s shower facilities, but decided to do nothing about it.
Sounds like he needs a long rinse in the showers that, according to the inmate who filed suit, “reeked of human waste and were infested with sewer flies, maggots and mold.”
Before we go on, I should mention that Hoar is the same judge who almost lost his seat in 2019 over allegations of “sexist, degrading and condescending behavior toward women.” The charges put an extra twist in what’s usually a pro forma reappointment process, but in the end Hoar was given another six years on the bench.
And this is the dude who rejected very valid complaints from a female inmate. I smell a pig.
After the jump: A deeper dive into Hoar’s terrible ruling.
Seven Days‘ Paul Heintz wrote that the judge “likened conditions in a shower room at the state’s women’s prison to an outhouse. But, he wrote, the situation was not dire enough to warrant action by the court.”
So, taking a shower in an outhouse is just fine? Your Honor, there’s a Porta-Potty with youir name on it.
Sewer flies and all, Hoar wrote, the showers were nothing more than “episodically unpleasant.” After all, he might have added, with conditions like that, you’re going to be spending as little time as possible in the shower.
And finally,
Hoar found that the state had taken reasonable steps to address some of the problems cited in Conte’s suit and argued that while the court could force the department to do its job, it could not tell the department how to do its job.
Which is a distinction without a difference in practical terms. I mean, doesn’t it depend on how you define the Corrections Department’s “job”? If you say the job is to keep inmates alive and behind bars, then sure. If, on the other hand, you say that the state has chosen to relieve inmates of their freedom — and thus, should be required to keep inmates safe and in good condition. That is, if you mean prisons as places for inmates to undergo “correction,” rather than simple punishment.
I’d think being treated like a human being with innate worth is a prerequisite for “correcting” inmates and preparing them to live productive lives after their sentences are up. That ought to involve, if nothing more, basic sanitation and security.
But the judge chose to wash his hands of the whole thing. He might have sung a different tune if he’d been forced to spend some time in a shower stall with “sewer flies, maggots and mold.”
The Vermont Political Observer. 
I have a very low opinion of law enforcement in this country and this does not help. I had put judges in a different room from the police, the sheriff’s office, and the state police. I know law enforcement it is a risky job and you have to be safe out there, but VT is not South-central LA, or Chicago’s southside. This article kind of reminds me of my Middlebury gym where I have been swimming for 10 years and complaining about all the people who enter the pool without showering for as many years, you know, it’s a swimming pool, with other people in it, not your personal bathtub. It came to a head recently when they started letting people come directly from the lobby into the pool area and undress because they were uncomfortable with people being too close and exposure to Covid-19 in the locker room, My membership was terminated citing the complaints were more like harassment. The staff and owner are the judges I guess – cleanliness? Be damned.
Hello, I am one of the two lawyers who testified against this judge. I am the law clerk that worked for him. My concern was actually the elitist and dismissive treatment of various parties and attorneys. I wanted to go on the record to let people know that this type of treatment was not acceptable, and that it was their fault. The sexism was a tangential matter that detracted from this greater issue. I do not know this case well enough to say whether the plaintiff carried her legal burden to prove her case by preponderance of the evidence. I do know that stating that the prison was not a “luxury spa” demonstrates a sickening disregard for the conditions, and the same troubling elitism that undermines respect for our judicial system. This is what causes people to think that the system is rigged against them, that it doesn’t see them.
*not their fault
This is yet another example of a broken judicial system that involves Judge Hoar. I witnessed his egregious, morally and sexist torment towards my female attorney in 2019. When I say “any” respectable persons who had the opportunity to witness his behavior would have made your blood boil. judge Hoar you broke the “Cannons Of Law “ your oral and physical threats towards my attorney were disgusting at best. When and how will justice be served for any human kind? Chalk it up for your “ Biography perhaps “ for just those whom are adjoined with your negligence will read it. Had my mom been present and alive you would have met your match. I feel for the victims who have suffered by this neglect and treatment.