News & Commentary

The ACLU and our allies have called on the Scott administration to test Vermonters incarcerated out of state for months, and they have refused to do so. 

Governor Scott has signed the most ambitious criminal justice reform from this past legislative session into law. S.338, “an act relating to justice reinvestment,” is intended to “reform the State’s approach to criminal justice.

In the midst of nationwide protests against racialized police brutality, the ACLU of Vermont joins the National ACLU and countless partners and allies in calling for justice for George Floyd, a Black man, killed by Minneapolis police last week, and voicing solidarity with all communities impacted by police violence.

The following op ed was written by ACLU of Vermont Executive Director James Duff Lyall. It first appeared in the Bennington Banner on May 8, 2020.

This week, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) issued a series of recommendations for reforming the Bennington Police Department (BPD).

State officials yesterday reported the first case of an incarcerated person testing positive for COVID-19, in Vermont’s Northwest State Correctional Facility.

Yesterday Vermont’s Department of Corrections announced the first case of COVID-19 inside the Northern State Correctional Facility, and another person is under observation.

In the wake of Vermont’s first confirmed cases of coronavirus/COVID-19 and the temporary adjournment of the state legislature, the ACLU of Vermont is monitoring state and local responses to the pandemic and is in contact with state officials to lend support as needed.

The following op ed was written by ACLU of Vermont Executive Director James Duff Lyall. It first appeared in VT Digger on January 22, 2020.