UVM survey shows high rates of mental health issues among staff, incarcerated at Springfield prison | Local News

The survey is part of the Prison Research and Innovation Network, a consortium of five states working on a model of transparency, accountability and innovations in prisons. The other four states participating are Delaware, Iowa, Missouri and Colorado.

The effort is a collaboration between UVM’s Justice Research Initiative, the Department of Corrections and the Urban Institute, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.

According to the survey done last June, 49 percent of staff at the Southern State Correctional Facility developed anxiety since starting their career in corrections, 46 percent developed depression, 43 percent became overweight or obese, 40 percent developed high blood pressure and 39 percent developed post-traumatic stress disorder. The study found 10 percent of staff seriously considered ending their life at some point in the past 12 months.

The survey found 94 percent of staff either disagreed or strongly disagreed that there was enough staff to meet the prison’s needs. It said 95 percent either disagreed or strongly disagreed that staff morale is high and 95 percent either agreed or strongly agreed that the incarcerated are more likely to engage in negative behavior if they don’t have enough to do.

For mental health issues, the numbers were worse for the incarcerated. The study found 70 percent of that population developed anxiety, 65 percent developed depression and 55 percent developed post-traumatic stress disorder. The survey also found 36 percent of them seriously considered suicide in the past year.

Those who were incarcerated were asked about prison culture and 49 percent said they agreed when asked whether they did not trust many people in the prison and another 40 percent strongly agreed. They were asked whether some incarcerated people were afraid of others who were incarcerated and 59 percent said they agreed and another 26 percent strongly agreed.

A total of 77 percent of the incarcerated surveyed either disagreed or strongly disagreed that sanctions were applied fairly and a total of 80 percent either disagreed or strongly disagreed that they had a voice in their own discipline process. The survey showed 70 percent of the incarcerated either disagreed or strongly disagreed that they felt safe raising concerns with prison staff. Another 78 percent either disagreed or strongly disagreed that staff rewarded the incarcerated for good behavior.

Deml, the corrections commissioner, said during a media briefing on Thursday, “These findings are disturbing; there’s absolutely no way around it.”

He said this survey is part of a commitment by the state to try to understand the problems the prison system is facing and fix them. He said when issues have been brought up before, they were often anecdotal or someone coming from a certain perspective or with an agenda. Here, he said, the survey was conducted by an independent third party using research methods.

“The results in this study are absolutely disturbing, they deserve immediate attention on a variety of fronts and we’re committed to that. But the first step was really diagnosing it and I think we’ve done a really nice job of that with our partners and now we’re going to make that turn into now let’s go out there and try to start fixing some of these problems,” Deml said.

David Pitts, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, said what this study showed is what’s being reported anecdotally across the country. Pitts said this isn’t a situation that’s unique to Vermont, but a part of the current criminal justice system.

“And it needs to be fixed,” he said. “What is uplifting is, as Commissioner Deml said, Vermont is a state that’s actually going to systematically understand the specific issues as they exist in this facility and find ways to solve them.”

Abigail Crocker, a researcher at UVM who helped conduct the survey, said the results were sad, and she was sometimes left speechless when hearing the stories of those who took the survey. Crocker said what gives her hope is, this information was asked for by DOC because there is a genuine interest in doing something about it.

The second phase of the process involves collecting feedback and further insights from the survey to help DOC address the challenges that were highlighted.

According to the department, a steering committee is now forming “innovation councils” at the Springfield prison to analyze the survey and come up with solutions.

The collaboration is slated to continue until March 2024.

eric.blaisdell @timesargus.com