TV Show -- Correcting Corrections

Pictured here is T.J. Donovan, Chittenden County State's Attorney, and the first guest to be interviewed on "Correcting Corrections."

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I've launched a new television show. It’s called “Correcting Corrections,” which focuses on…you guessed it, fixing the problems we have in Vermont with Vermont’s system of prisons and jails, called the Department of Corrections.

The biggest problem in Corrections is that we have unsustainable growth in our budget and seemingly unstoppable growth of our prison population, without a clear connection to making society safer.

Did you see the news report on the front page of the Free Press, or in the Rutland Herald? They reported on the national study that came out saying that Vermont’s growth rate for incarcerated people is expected to be the 5th fastest in the nation, growing by a THIRD in just five years. The study also clearly stated that there is NO proven connection between incarceration rates and making society safer.

Unfortunately, there isn’t yet consensus in the statehouse, or in the general populace that we need to worry about what I believe is an over-spending on Corrections with limited positive results, and certainly negative side-effects.

To solve this problem, I believe that we need more discussion. Thus, the birth of the TV show, which I'm hosting. The first episode has aired already on Channel 17, with repeat performances today at 11:58 AM and 4:06 PM.

Click here to listen to the episode.

I must warn you, the half-hour show is virtually joke-free. But it is packed with substance.

My first guest is Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan who speaks on a variety of topics, including alternatives to incarceration, focusing our energies on the most violent crimes, and identifying ways that he can make changes in Corrections from his post.

I’m planning on having future guests representing victim’s groups, community advocates, the Department of Corrections, the judiciary, and many other groups. My belief is that we must engage stakeholders from all aspects of society that impact Corrections. Only then will we have effective prison reform.

And we need it.