Vermont prison church services on hold, primary turnout way up

By Guy Page

Vermont’s state prisons won’t be open to volunteers offering religious services anytime soon, Agency of Human Services Secretary Mike Smith said at Tuesday’s press conference.

Vermont Daily asked: “Volunteer church groups are hoping to return to holding safe church services inside Vermont state prisons. They say it is an inmate’s religious right, just as the public is allowed to go to church as long as they are following the CDC guidelines. Has your team discussed this and what can volunteer groups expect?”

Guy Page

“We are very, very cautious about who comes into the correctional facilities,” Smith answered. “We have learned that the infection comes in from the outside. Whether it comes in through someone who is being booked into the facility, or visitors to our facility, we have been very cautious. It continues to be closed off until we can get a handle on what happens in our facilities.”

Corrections has been successful in limiting transmission with these strict contact management practices, and “I don’t see those changing anytime soon,” Smith said. “We will make changes as quickly as we can.”

Vermont Daily also asked Gov. Phil Scott:  “My wife and I went to the Cornerstone Restaurant in Barre at 6:30 last Saturday night. It’s normally packed then, but there were only three other parties there. Since most of the Covid-19 deaths are in Chittenden County, and most of the returning students are coming back to Chittdenden County, and the interstate maps are already registered by county, how about a two-tiered system with stricter regs for CC and less elsewhere? And if not why not?”

The governor didn’t address a possible two-tiered system, and suggested customer caution, not regulations, are slowing diners’ return to Vermont’s restaurants. “A lot of people are cautious,” he said. “I’m not sure I’m excited about going out in a social way to a restaurant.” The state is offering grants and other economic support for the hospitality industry, he said.

Read more of Guy Page’s reports. Vermont Daily is sponsored by True North Media.

Image courtesy of Public domain

6 thoughts on “Vermont prison church services on hold, primary turnout way up

  1. I have been doing volunteer religious services for over twenty years. Why do we go into prisons? Because Jesus told us to in Mathew 25:36,”Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick and ye visited me. I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” Inmates need the Gospel and I have known many born again in prison that didn’t hear the Gospel until they were incarcerated. It is not mandatory that they attend services.
    Some of you had some pretty harsh words. I trust the inmates more than I do a lot Democrats.

  2. It does appear that Phil’s “abundance of caution” has become overreach. The current confirmed case count remains stable, under 120 confirmed cases and now one hospitalization. This range of confirmed cases has been slowly decreasing for several weeks, from an average of 160 active cases and 3-5 hospitalizations. Note that this trend started before Phil’s “mask mandate” The at-risk population knows whom they are and can act accordingly. Certainly the risk level in Chittenden County is greater than Orleans or Essex County- but all of Vermont gets held hostage by what Chittenden County wants and does. Phil’s “mask mandate” certainly seems to be a response to political pressure, not any sort of requirement to “Flatten the Curve”. Vermont already did that. Perhaps it is time to “Open the Spigot” fully outside of Chittenden and Washington Counties, before there is nothing left to “open”.
    The economic damage hasn’t been fully realized yet- and the legislature will re-convene to add to the damage in just a few weeks…

  3. I don’t particularly care what prisoners feel like they’re entitled to.

    If you pull a custodial sentence in the People’s Republic of Moonbatistan, you did something more than running a red light. Boo hoo for these losers. Meanwhile, I’ll be saving up (ie not spending on things for myself) for my prop taxes. And flipping the bird to everybody who works for the state. And not wearing my little mask.

    I’ll never vote again. Voting won’t change a thing at this point.

  4. They could just let prisoners watch services on TV. Usually they are inside for a reason. Criminals tend to be untrustworthy people. Why give them special privileges? Maybe to get a hacksaw in a bible?
    Why do we elevate criminals, and let their victims suffer? Prison is not supposed to be fun. For some, it is.

    • You must never have been in a prison. You go through all kinds of security including a metal detector beforen you can go in.

  5. Question for the readers, I’m over on Digger reading that the votes are all being counted ahead of time, how is that legal? How is it that people are counting ballots before the election is over? Why is this a good idea?

    Seriously, people talk, please gossip is the heart or Vermont town halls.

    Doesn’t this make things more likely to be corrupted?

    We need to get things simple again, one vote one day in person.

Comments are closed.