Vermont Human Rights Commission Settles Discrimination Complaint with Department of Corrections

Montpelier, VT – The Human Rights Commission (HRC) has reached a legal settlement with the Vermont Department of Corrections (DOC), with support from the ACLU of Vermont and the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project (VAAP), a crucial steps towards ensuring that people detained by the Department of Homeland Security are treated with dignity and have their human rights upheld while they are in our state. The settlement promises meaningful language access for non-English speakers in correctional facilities and improves immigrant detainees’ access to legal counsel and ability to attend immigration hearings.“

This settlement represents significant progress in HRC’s work of advancing full civil and human rights in Vermont,” stated Big Hartman, Executive Director and General Counsel of the HRC. “This agreement ensures that all people incarcerated in Vermont, including ICE and Border Patrol detainees, will not be denied equal treatment in state correctional facilities due to language barriers. We are pleased that HRC’s complaint process provided an effective mechanism for HRC, DOC, VAAP, and ACLU to engage in real problem-solving together around these issues. We are encouraged by the settlement terms by which DOC and HRC promise to continue the dialogue that this settlement process set in motion. We appreciate DOC’s willingness to explore solutions with us in good faith and discuss practical measures to provide equal treatment for individuals housed in DOC facilities who do not speak fluent English.”

As stated in the settlement document, the HRC filed a public accommodations and housing discrimination complaint against the DOC in January of 2026. The complaint alleged that DOC discriminated against a class of individuals whom DOC was detaining at the request of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. HRC alleged that DOC discriminated against those detainees on the basis of citizenship, immigration status, race, color, national origin, and/or religion.

The HRC filed its complaint after the ACLU of Vermont and VAAP raised concerns about DOC treatment of non-English speakers in its custody. In legislative testimony earlier this year, the ACLU and VAAP reported that DOC had severely restricted attorney access, failed to provide intake materials in non-English languages, failed to consistently use qualified interpreters, and omitted translated instructions entirely for vital services such as phone, commissary, and medical access.

“We are glad that all partners in this work were willing to come to the table and work together to achieve creative solutions for the unique problems that ICE detainees face,” said Hillary Rich, Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU of Vermont. “ICE has erected so many barriers to justice for noncitizens, and we appreciate DOC’s commitment to ensuring its facilities are not creating any more. Regardless of citizenship status, anyone held in a Vermont prison has rights that must be respected. At the end of the day, this is an important step towards that shared goal.”

With this settlement, DOC takes positive measures toward providing fair treatment and clear communication for all individuals in custody. The agreement establishes robust measures to guarantee comprehensive language access, including multilingual rights postings, guaranteed interpreter use in accordance with policy, streamlined legal support access for advocacy groups, and staff training. Furthermore, by committing to regular, collaborative oversight meetings with community partners and the HRC, this resolution fosters greater transparency, accountability, and protection of detainees’ essential rights.

“VAAP wholeheartedly applauds this agreement, reached after months of collaborative negotiations,” said Jill Martin Diaz, Executive Director of the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project. “The agreement advances critical and meaningful protections for ICE detainees at Vermont’s correctional facilities and helps see to it that people in detention can understand their rights, communicate effectively, and access legal counsel. Because of this collaborative approach to ensuring both language access and access to attorneys, VAAP legal staff and volunteers will be able to continue providing legal assistance to ICE detainees, just as we did this past year, meeting with dozens of individuals and securing release from unlawful ICE detention for several more. VAAP is grateful to the HRC, the ACLU, and DOC for their unwavering commitment to a collaborative, constructive process, and for helping achieve our shared goal of safeguarding critical due process rights for immigrants detained in Vermont.”

The settlement agreement can be viewed here.

Big Hartman, Esq., HRC Executive Director & General Counsel, [email protected];
Sumi Sin, Digital Communications Specialist, ACLU of Vermont, [email protected]