Work Camp Response

The Randolph selectboard responded appropriately this week when presented with a petition asking that they refrain from even holding discussions with the state about constructing a Department of Corrections work camp within the town.

The board accepted the petition with words of thanks for the feedback, but it was not about to do what the petitioners asked.

Chairman Jim Hutchinson said that the board should study any serious proposal and that not to do so would "abrogate our responsibility" to the townspeople. He was right. No selectboard can do its job by burying its head in the sand and refusing to hold discussions on an important public issue. Fortunately, the selectboard agreed.

It must be noted that the board and its chair are displaying considerable political courage by refusing to knuckle under to the high displays of emotion that some residents have demonstrated with regard to the work camp proposal.

We don't want to pre-judge the issue either, but we don't want to close the door. St. Johnsbury's experience with Vermont's first work camp has been almost entirely positive, from what we can gather, including a conversation with local news media there. The town has benefited from substantial work projects, we were told, and there have been virtually no safety problems traceable to the work camp.

Potential positives also include 46 jobs—guard and custodial positions but also cooks, teachers, counselors, and managers. Good jobs. The town also could likely strike a good financial deal, although that should not be the deciding factor.

Perhaps the most compelling reason to at least talk with state officials is that with its work camps, the Department of Corrections is making a sincere, and so far successful, attempt to pioneer a humane model of treating low-risk offenders. It must be self-evident that a young man will emerge in better shape from a camp such as this, where real skills are taught and daily practiced, than from a traditional prison. The warehousing of young men has never been a good idea, and if there's a better way, the people of Randolph and other towns should do what they can to help.