The Vermont Department of Corrections has reached a legal settlement with the state Human Rights Commission related to a discrimination complaint filed in January about the treatment of federal immigration detainees.
The settlement agreement, made public on Tuesday, requires Corrections to ensure detainees have access to legal counsel, medical care and other services in their native language. As part of the deal, the department does not admit to any wrongdoing.
The original complaint is confidential, according to Big Hartman, executive director of the Human Rights Commission.
Hartman’s organization filed the complaint after the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project and the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont testified before lawmakers about language barriers detainees experienced in state prisons.
The Department of Corrections has long-standing agreements to hold federal detainees in Vermont prisons, a practice that has come under new scrutiny as the Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement.
The settlement sets standards for allowing lawyers to visit and meet with detainees and expands the availability of tablets and other devices for providing translation. The department will also distribute documents detailing detainees’ basic rights to legal counsel and medical care and display phone numbers and email addresses where they can report rights violations.
“It was a unique process, but one that was very important to the department to be responsive,” said Lauri Fisher, general counsel for the Department of Corrections.
The settlement agreement is the result of months of collaborative work and discussion to update the DOC’s existing policies, Hartman said.
“I just want to express my real gratitude that the Department of Corrections leadership took this issue really seriously and was fully engaged in coming to the table and working out solutions with us,” Hartman said.
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