This, friends and neighbors, proud Vermonters, is the former gymnasium at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, a.k.a. the state’s only prison for women.

It was the gym until the prison got so overcrowded (130% capacity) that they had to convert it to a temporary shelter where (at last count) 24 inmates are sleeping on the floor in this appalling setting. Although I will admit the jigsaw puzzle is a nice touch, providing the thinnest veneer of hominess to this shitshow.

All of this is according to testimony delivered Monday to the Joint Legislative Justice Oversight Committee by Isaac Dayno, executive director of policy at the state Department of Corrections. (Dayno’s slide deck can be downloaded here.) And this is only the newest outrage at CRCF, which has kept inmates in unsafe, unsanitary conditions for the better part of a decade. (For a dose of unfresh outrage, see Paul Heintz’ CRCF exposé, published by Seven Days in 2019. Or check out Heintz’ 2020 report on the facility’s showers providng a home to maggots and leeches and reeking of human waste.)

Dayno began his appearance by reporting his imminent departure from DOC, about which more below. In this light, his testimony can be interpreted as a not-so-subtle single-finger salute to the Phil Scott administration, which has failed to produce a solid proposal for upgrading or replacing the prison for, yes, the better part of a decade.

“We can do better,” Dayno told lawmakers. “The costs of inaction and apathy are quite high.” Hmm, remind me who’s been in charge of the situation since 2017? Phil Scott, that’s who.

Besides the scandal of forcing inmates to sleep on the floor, the arrangement has forced the suspension of programs carried out in the gym — including child visitation. And many exercise options are off limits because the gym is now a congregate bedroom.

Dayno also reported overcrowding in the men’s prison system, although the consequences have been less inhumane than at CRCF. (So far.) The cause for the population surge: a dramatic rise in detainees — those awaiting the completion of their judicial processes. Over the last four years, Dayno testified, the number of male detainees has risen by 53%, while the number of female detainees is up 103%. In that same period, the number of inmates serving actual sentences has remained virtually steady among males and has risen by “only” 29% among females.

According to Dayno, the number of federal detainees — the victims of Trump’s heartless, illegal border/immigration enforcement regime — account for only a small fraction of the increase. He did not address the causes, nor was he asked. But given what we know about severe backlogs in Vermont’s judicial system, that would seem to be the obvious cause. Longer wait times for trial and sentencing means more detainees, right?

This is likely to trigger the movement of more Vermont inmates to a for-profit prison in Mississippi. Dayno testified that there are currently 153 Vermont inmates at the CoreCivic facility, but that the FY2027 budget requests funding for up to 300. So there’s that.

And entrusting more Vermonters to the tender mercies of a mercenary overseer won’t help the denizens of CRCF, because the Mississippi facility is for male inmates only.

Rep. Alice Emmons, member of the joint oversight committee and longtime chair of the House Committee on Corrections & Institutions, noted that “we’ve been looking to replace [CRCF} since 2018.” Her counterpart, Senate Institutions Committee Chair Wendy Harrison, called the situation at CRCF “distressing” and “unacceptable,” and added that “We need actionable recommendations as soon as possible.”

Yeah. well, easier said than done. The governor has been warning of a very tight budget season at every opportunity, and his specific track record on the women’s prison inspires zero confidence. Plus, the upper levels of the DOC may be in the early stages of a rats/sinking ship situation.

Remember a few months ago when I wrote about the near-total turnover in top management at DOC under departed commissioner Nicholas Deml? At the time, I noted that it would be no surprise at all if his resignation triggered a mass exodus of his appointees.

Well, Isaac Dayno is on his way out. Before him, fellow top Deml appointee Cheyenne Steventon left DOC for a position in — wait for it — Everly, Bly, the consultancy founded by Deml in 2024 and apparently operated out of his home. (Steventon, who had no relevant experience in corrections and the thinnest of resumés in general, worked at DOC for three and a half years. During her tenure, she was promoted three times (according to her LinkedIn profile).

How many more underqualified newbies will join Dayno and Steventon in the nearest available life raft? I’m guessing quite a few, which will leave Murad and his collection of misfit toys with a situation Dayno described as “a crisis moment” for CRCF. And, from this vantage point, that phrase could fairly be applied to DOC writ large.

Given the circumstances, it’d be a real surprise if the Scott administration produced any “actionable recommendations” anytime soon. It’s failed to do so for nine full years, and now the upper levels of the Corrections Department are full of inexperienced “senior” staff who may have one eye on the nearest exit.

Seems like it’ll be a while before our female inmates get to see their kids again. In the meantime, I hope they enjoy their jigsaw puzzles.