WILLISTON – After an official inquiry by the Joint Legislative Justice Oversight Committee regarding treatment and transfer of out-of-state prisoners, Vermont’s Department of Corrections has announced a new contract with Azkaban Prison to detain many of the state’s inmates indefinitely. This plan will save taxpayers millions of dollars and will ensure that prisoners are no longer regularly transferred from state to state.
Currently Vermont houses many of its prisoners out-of-state, although concerns have arisen over the treatment of the inmates, causing transfers from Vermont to Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania to Mississippi, and now Mississippi to Azkaban. There is not enough capacity currently for Vermont to house its criminals in state, leading to some calling for larger local prisons, and others calling for harsher penalties for convicts that may lead to a decrease in crime. No one, as of yet, has been calling for a decrease in laws.
“This is the best thing for Vermont,” said corrections officer Malcolm Foye. “Azkaban doesn’t charge us a thing to keep the prisoners, and the prisoners are well-treated. All it costs them is a little bit of their soul. It’s definitely a huge step up from Mississippi.”
State health care advocates met with the dementors this week and confirmed that the guards would be comfortable administering hepatitis C treatments, and came away from the meeting looking shaken but satisfied that the inmates would be well cared for at Azkaban.
The newly struck deal calls for the prisoners to be held indefinitely with no hope of escape at no cost to the taxpayers, although future legislators could nullify this arrangement with the private mega-prison if the people of the state ever find a way to deal with criminals without giving up a piece of their souls.
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