Attorneys and advocates say Vermont’s Department of Corrections is impeding their ability to consult with immigration detainees in state prisons, raising alarms among civil liberties groups and prompting lawmakers to push for formal standards on legal access and language interpretation. The dispute centers on the work of the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, which is described as the organization that routinely provides legal services to immigration detainees held in Vermont prisons under contracts with the federal government.
According to Jill Martin Diaz, executive director of VAAP, attorneys and volunteers previously had more room to work inside the prisons. Diaz said VAAP staff had used phones and computers for language interpretation during visits, and that access included designated meeting time and location in two prisons where detainees are most commonly held: Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington and Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans Town.
Diaz and other advocates said the situation changed after Jon Murad became interim commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections. They said Murad stopped providing VAAP attorneys with detainees’ alien registration numbers in September, which federal immigration authorities use to identify detainees. They also said detainees began complaining that they were not receiving medical care or communication from prison staff that was translated into their languages, and that prison rules were not being explained to them in their language.
VAAP attorneys said in late October they were told they could not bring their devices and volunteer paralegals into the prison. Instead, they said they were given a single shared landline that they described as unreliable because calls dropped repeatedly. Diaz said that with limited staff and interpretation resources, the organization had been able to meet with about 25% of detainees, and she said VAAP was concerned about “irreparable harm” to detainees in vulnerable situations.
Murad disputed the claims, saying he was not aware of the case Diaz described and that he had enforced policies that he said predated his tenure. Murad said his department should not have allowed practices under a previous commissioner that he said compromised security, including what he described as allowing VAAP attorneys to bring in their own devices. He said the department has made improvements to language access after hearing complaints, including an internal evaluation in January of interpretation services at the two prisons and the start of issuing tablets that provide interpretation services that attorneys can use regardless of their client.
In response to the dispute, Amanda Wheeler, the governor’s press secretary, said Gov. Phil Scott stands by his decision to permanently appoint Murad on Feb. 26. In an email, Wheeler said Murad and his team worked to ensure that long-standing policies “were being followed consistently,” and she said the Corrections Department received “positive feedback” from VAAP about operational coordination improvements, including feedback “as recently as a week ago.”
The Vermont Human Rights Commission began investigating possible discrimination in prisons after hearing from VAAP and the American Civil Liberties Union, according to advocates. The commission declined to comment on the investigation, but the scrutiny became part of a broader legislative push: the issue raised the attention of lawmakers focused on the state prison system and led them to direct the Corrections Department to create an agreement with VAAP.
With bipartisan support, representatives in the House Corrections and Institutions Committee decided to write Murad a memo, obtained by VTDigger, outlining the committee’s concerns and a directive for change. During Statehouse meetings, the committee heard testimony “describing barriers that impede legal access,” and the memo said informal problem-solving was not sufficient. It called for formal structure, accountability, and enforceable standards, listing concerns including canceled or disrupted legal appointments, inadequate translation services, and inconsistent implementation of departmental policy across facilities.
The committee directed the department to develop a memorandum of understanding with VAAP to guarantee reliable legal access, translation services, confidential spaces for attorney meetings, and uniform implementation across facilities. Murad said after the committee sent the memo, its leaders decided to pull it back, saying, “It’s not something that we’re addressing right now,” and state Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield, said “We’ve taken it back temporarily,” adding that more conversations were needed as the lawmakers continued their work.
Hillary Rich, an attorney at the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said immigrants should receive equitable treatment and said detainees are entitled to medical care, access to language interpretation, and access to counsel. Rich argued that the contracting relationship between Vermont prisons and federal immigration authorities—where detainees can be held in any Vermont prison but are most commonly in the two facilities—creates an urgency for consistent legal access. She said the state should “course correct” and said her view was that the department’s practices conflicted with Scott’s statements about how detainees are served in Vermont.
Rich said, “Having a lawyer can literally be a matter of life or death,” and she urged lawmakers to press the department for changes that ensure access to counsel in the federal immigration landscape. Diaz and Rich both framed legal access and translation services as necessary for detainees to understand their situation and communicate effectively while detained.