WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism hearing this week, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) highlighted the importance of placing a Residential Reentry Center (RRC) in Vermont. 

The hearing followed a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this week where Senator Welch pressed U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director Colette Peters on why Vermont remains one of only two states without an RRC, despite unanimous support for an RRC from the Vermont Congressional Delegation and other federal stakeholders in Vermont’s legal community.   

At a September committee hearing, Director Peters announced the development of an RRC but later stated she misspoke and intended to place another type of facility in Vermont. Crucially, Director Peters said she would reconsider her decision if the Vermont Delegation presented support for the facility, which it did in a December letter to the BOP. At the same time, Judge Geoffrey Crawford, Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont, sent Director Peters a letter expressing the federal judiciary’s strong support for a residential facility in Vermont. 

Watch the Senator’s full remarks. 

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