Agency of Human Services Secretary Mike Smith has named former U.S. Attorney for Vermont Tristram Coffin to lead an investigation into reports of misconduct and drug abuse among corrections staff at the state’s only women’s prison.
In addition, Smith named James Baker, former head of the Vermont State Police, to the post of interim corrections commissioner. Mike Touchette, who had led the department, resigned from the post last week in the wake of the allegations against prison staff.
Smith said Coffin and “his legal team” at the Vermont law firm Downs Rachlin Martin and a corrections expert will head up the investigation, which will begin next week and is expected to run 120 days.
Coffin, according to Smith, will have access to all correctional facilities in the state, though most of his work will focus on the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington.
Smith has also said he would “personally ensure” that anyone who comes forward with factual information about the alleged abuses inside the prison would not face retribution.
Coffin will be “reporting directly” to Smith. Coffin was appointed in 2009 by then-President Barack Obama to the post of U.S. attorney for Vermont, the top federal prosecutor in the state. Coffin stepped down from that post in 2015 and joined the DRM law firm.
Smith said he selected Coffin and his firm because he has a “very good reputation” among law enforcement, federal investigators, and other attorneys.
“He has that ability to get to the bottom of things, to get to the truth,” Smith said.
The corrections expert who will assist in the investigation, Smith added, has not yet been named. “It’s somebody that going to have experience in federal prisons,” he said.
The contract with Coffin and his firm has a cap of $100,000, according to Smith.
Coffin, reached Friday, declined comment, referring questions to Smith.
Baker, as interim DOC commissioner, will take over the “operational and management control” of the department, including the women’s prison, according to the release. He will start Jan. 6.
“Jim Baker has a reputation of coming into organizations that are facing challenges and meeting those challenges and turning around those organizations,” Smith said.
Baker served more than three decades with the Vermont State Police, serving as its director from 2006 to 2009.
He later served as the interim head of the Vermont Police Academy, the chief of the Rutland City Police Department, and director of advocacy for the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Earlier this year, the town of Bennington contracted with the International Association of Chiefs of Police to conduct a review of the town’s police department.
Baker, who lives in Arlington, serves on the team conducting that review of the police department’s practices.
The study was called for after former Rep. Kiah Morris, the only African American woman in the Legislature, decided last year not to seek re-election to another two-year term, citing, in part, racial harassment.
Morris, as well as other people and entities, including the Vermont NAACP, had been critical of the Bennington Police Department’s handling of her and her family’s harassment complaints.
Baker’s pay as interim corrections commissioner will be pro-rated based on the annual salary for the corrections commissioner of $127,400 a year, according to Smith.
Baker also will not be a candidate for the permanent position of corrections commissioner, Smith said.
Baker, reached late Friday afternoon, said he wanted to “get up to speed” on the corrections department before commenting on his plans, and referred questions about his appointment to Smith.
The appointments Friday by Smith follow a report earlier this month in Seven Days about the women’s prison that detailed allegations of sexual abuse and harassment as well as drug use by guards at the prison.
Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia and chair of the Senate Institutions Committee, which has jurisdiction over the corrections department, said Friday supported the appointments of people outside of corrections to lead the investigations and the department at this time.
“I do think it is very smart to get new blood right in there and look around,” he said.
Benning said while he knows Coffin and called him a “very good choice” to lead the investigation, he didn’t know Baker and couldn’t comment on his selection.
The senator did say that as soon as the legislative session begins next month he expects to have Smith testify before the Senate Institutions Committee about the probe into the women’s prison.
“I’ll probably start with Mike Smith and work my way down from there,” Benning said.
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Friday he supported both selections by Smith.
“They’re both talented individuals,” Sears said.
Sears said he expected the pick of Baker to head the department on an interim basis will help steady the DOC and allow for a deliberative process moving forward on a permanent appointment for commissioner’s post.
“Every indication is there needs to be a cultural shift,” Sears said of the corrections department.
This story was updated at 5:20 p.m.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Smith taps former U.S attorney for Vermont to lead women’s prison probe.