Attorneys and volunteers with the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project used to go into Vermont’s prisons and meet with every immigration detainee, using their phones and computers for language interpretation, according to Jill Martin Diaz, executive director of the organization.

But they say that access changed this fall after Jon Murad took over as interim commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections. Since then, attorneys with the organization said the department has made it harder to meet and work with their clients, citing language barriers and lack of meeting space.

Murad denies those claims and says he has merely enforced policies that predate his time as commissioner, cutting off practices that shouldn’t have been allowed under his predecessor.

Federal immigration authorities use Vermont prisons to hold often more than a dozen immigration detainees at a time per a contract agreement with the federal government. Though detainees can be held in any Vermont prison, they’re most commonly brought to two facilities: Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington and Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans Town.

As President Donald Trump has ramped up his mass deportation campaign, federal immigration authorities often swiftly shuffle people they detain around the country. And the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project has been the main organization routinely providing legal services to all immigration detainees in Vermont.

“I think it’s really important to capitalize on this opportunity that Vermont can be where we disrupt this arrest-to-deportation pipeline that is happening across this country,” said Hillary Rich, an attorney at the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The issue has raised the eyebrows of legislators focused on the state’s prison system and prompted them to write the Corrections Department a memo directing its officials to develop a memorandum of understanding with the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project to guarantee cooperation between the organization and the department.

Attorneys raise alarms

To Martin Diaz, the Corrections Department’s current treatment of VAAP attorneys is a stark contrast to the department’s previous stance.

In July, under former Commissioner Nick Deml, the department agreed to let VAAP lawyers have a designated biweekly meeting time and place within the two state prisons where the majority of immigration detainees are held, according to Martin Diaz. Deml did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Some immigrant activist groups, like Migrant Justice, connect people in their community to legal services, but VAAP is the only organization that routinely goes into Vermont prisons to meet with detainees without counsel, according to Martin Diaz.

Over the summer, the department allowed a handful of VAAP attorneys to bring in a team of trained volunteer lawyers, who were able to bring in their phones and computers, Martin Diaz said. And the department would provide in advance each detainee’s alien registration number, which federal immigration authorities use to identify someone.

In a designated room, the group from VAAP would offer legal services to people detained by federal immigration authorities and use their personal devices to provide language interpretation during their meetings, Martin Diaz said.

During that time, VAAP attorneys were able to meet with 100% of clients at each prison, Martin Diaz said.

Then in August, Murad, a former Burlington Police chief, took the helm of the Corrections Department. That’s when VAAP employees said their access to clients and their cooperation with the department took a turn.

Martin Diaz said that in September the department stopped providing the organization’s attorneys with detainees’ alien registration numbers. In their meetings with detainees, attorneys started to hear complaints that they weren’t receiving medical care or communication from prison staff that was translated into their language, they said.

VAAP attorneys got in touch with one man who was held in solitary confinement because he broke a prison rule. But the rules of the prison were never explained to him in his language, Martin Diaz said.

“He was in solitary and he didn’t know why,” Martin Diaz said.

Murad said he was not aware of the case Martin Diaz described.

In late October, attorneys from the organization were suddenly told they couldn’t bring their devices or volunteer paralegals with them inside the prison, according to Martin Diaz. Instead, their lawyers were given one landline they had to share, they said.

“We’re all sharing this one phone line now that’s a landline and the calls drop repeatedly, like it’s poor service,” they said.

Martin Diaz said with limited staff and interpretation resources, VAAP attorneys have only been able to meet with 25% of detainees. “We’re just really concerned about the irreparable harm that could befall our most vulnerable community members,” they said.

Martin Diaz said in some instances, VAAP lawyers and volunteers have been turned away from prisons. Murad said he was unsure of specific instances in which VAAP employees weren’t allowed to enter facilities. But he said it was possible they might be turned away for safety reasons, including medical emergencies or a prison lockdown.

VAAP employees shouldn’t have been allowed to bring in their own devices under the former commissioner— and department policy prohibits the practice, Murad said.

“That’s an example of a place where we were deviating from our own policies in a way that compromised our security,” he said.

The department has made improvements to language access after hearing complaints, Murad said. In January, the department did an internal evaluation of interpretation services in the two prisons where immigration detainees are usually held, he said.

“We found that there were some inconsistencies,” Murad said.

And to address the issue, the department has begun issuing tablets that provide interpretation services, he said, and attorneys can use those tablets regardless of who their client is.

Martin Diaz said that despite department efforts, VAAP employees still encounter clients who lack language access.

On Friday, VAAP attorneys met with a woman who only spoke Haitian Creole, Martin Diaz said. Since being held in Vermont, the woman had not encountered a single person who communicated with her in her language, they said.

Amanda Wheeler, the governor’s press secretary, said Gov. Phil Scott stands by his decision to permanently appoint Murad as commissioner on Feb. 26.

“In his time as interim commissioner and now as commissioner, he’s worked with his team at the various correctional facilities to ensure long standing policies (that predate him) were being followed consistently,” Wheeler said in an email.

“DOC has worked closely with VAAP and as recently as a week ago received positive feedback from the organization about the operational coordination improvements DOC has made and is continuing to make,” Wheeler said.

‘We want to see DOC course correct’

Rich has worked closely with VAAP — and is concerned that immigrants’ rights are being violated. Regardless of immigration status, detainees are entitled to medical care, access to language interpretation and access to counsel, Rich said.

“I think too often there’s this misunderstanding that we’re talking about special treatment when really what we’re talking about is equitable treatment,” she added

Murad said the department was providing equitable treatment by allowing attorneys to access tablets with interpretation services.

In July, with Scott’s support, the state renewed its contract with the federal government to hold immigration detainees in Vermont prisons. Scott said he thought immigration detainees were best served in Vermont compared to elsewhere.

But Rich said she sees a contradiction between the department’s practices and Scott’s past claims.

“We want to see DOC course correct and prove that these contracts weren’t just a capitulation to the Trump administration,” Rich said.

For people fleeing persecution in their home country, it’s crucial to have access to legal counsel, according to Rich. “Having a lawyer can literally be a matter of life or death,” she said.

After hearing from employees at the ACLU and VAAP, the Vermont Human Rights Commission began investigating discrimination in Vermont’s prisons, according to Rich and Martin Diaz. The commission declined to comment on the investigation.

In the Statehouse, lobbyists with both the ACLU and VAAP have urged lawmakers to take action and put pressure on the department to make changes. Martin Diaz said their organization has had to take time away from the work of their attorneys to try to remediate issues with the department.

With bipartisan support, representatives in the House Corrections and Institutions Committee decided to write Murad a memo, obtained by VTDigger, outlining the committee’s concerns and a directive for change.

During meetings at the Statehouse, the committee heard testimony “describing barriers that impede legal access,” according to the memo.

“Given the urgency of access to counsel within the current federal landscape, the Committee finds informal problem-solving insufficient. Formal structure, accountability, and enforceable standards are now required,” the memo reads.

The memo lists the committee’s concerns including cancelled or disrupted legal appointments, inadequate access to translation services and inconsistent implementation of department policy across facilities.

The committee directed the department to write a formal memorandum of understanding with VAAP that would guarantee reliable legal access, translation services, confidential spaces for attorney meetings and uniform implementation across facilities.

Murad said that after the committee sent the memo, its leaders decided to pull it back. “It’s not something that we’re addressing right now,” Murad said.

“We’ve taken it back temporarily,” said Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield, the committee chair.

Lawyers with legislative counsel, who draft bills in the Statehouse, told Emmons that Scott’s administration took issue with the memo, Emmons said, though she didn’t know why.

“I sent an email out to the committee explaining we’re pulling it back. There need to be more conversations as we go forward here,” Emmons said.

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This story was originally published by VTDigger and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.