MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermont lawmakers are addressing a gap in the criminal justice and mental health system over where to house criminal offenders deemed mentally unfit to stand trial.
It’s been five years since Kelly Carroll’s daughter Emily Hamann was killed in Bennington.
“Public safety and the rights of victims and survivors must come first,” Carroll said.
Hamann’s alleged killer, Darren Pronto, had been found not competent to stand trial on another nonviolent crime. He was being treated in the community, and it was then that he allegedly killed Hamann.
Her mother has since become an advocate for victims and a backer of a proposal to create a forensic facility, a space where violent offenders who are not competent to stand trial can be held.
In front of a key legislative panel on Wednesday, Carroll said current state law is failing families. “They are not in appropriate treatment settings, they are not being restored, and in some cases like mine, they are refusing treatment altogether, and the system allows it,” Carroll said.
The Vermont Senate recently passed a proposal to set aside a section of beds at the Chittenden women’s prison in South Burlington and at the Springfield prison. Offenders incompetent to stand trial or those not guilty by reason of insanity would be held under the supervision of the Department of Corrections and would be required to create a therapeutic environment.
“We need to do what’s right and keep the public safe, including the person who’s done the crime,” said Rep. Ken Goslant, R-Northfield.
Many agree on the need to help victims and to assist those who are accused. But others worry prisons are already strained.
“Placing this responsibility under an already strained department is a misuse of resources that would be better spent putting those resources into community providers,” said Jordan Souder of the ACLU of Vermont. “Historically, we have seen correctional facilities are not therapeutic in nature.”
The facility would only serve a handful of violent offenders facing life sentences. Even though the narrower bill would not have applied to Darren Pronto originally, families say it’s an important piece of accountability.
The proposal has run into roadblocks over the years with concerns over Vermonters’ civil liberties and whether a locked facility is the best setting for them.
The proposal is in the House Judiciary Committee and has a few stops before a full vote in the House.
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