Part of the Problem

It's hard to be critical of the Randolph Selectboard for caving in so quickly on the Corrections Department's work camp proposal, even though some board members recognized it as a worthy project which might, with a little negotiating, result in a modest economic benefit for the town.

Regardless of any such feelings the selectboard may have had, however, the board pulled the plug on the work camp proposal a mere six days after a group of just 20 opponents organized to fight it. The quality of the campaign to come may have been telegraphed by the fledgling organization's crude acronym: C.R.A.P.

There's no mystery about why even those on the board who looked kindly on the work camp turned around so quickly. They could see clearly that this would be a divisive fight—and that, furthermore, the opponents were going to win.

There was never any doubt about it, really. That's because the opposition to the work camp was based on fear—the easiest kind of campaign to wage and the hardest to fight. That's true whether or not the fear has much of any rational basis—and in this case it did not. Neither the fear of felons overrunning the town nor the fear of a double-cross by state corrections officials had any solid evidence to support it, especially given St. Johnsbury's positive experience. Nor did the fear of becoming known as a "prison town" such as, perhaps, posh Woodstock (for many years the home of a correctional center), or posh South Burlington, or thriving St. Albans.

Fear, though, does not thrive on evidence; as FDR told us, it thrives on itself.

So now, the Vermont Corrections Department still has a problem. It still needs a town or towns to welcome a facility that will reduce the expensive out-of-state prisoner backlog, a facility that will help non-violent offenders develop new skills in preparation for their inevitable release.

One of the most famous slogans of the civil rights movement of the '60s was this: "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." Randolph, having abruptly declined to be part of this humane and reasonable solution, has become part of the problem.