Over the last two months, inmates and the Vermont Department of Corrections have offered conflicting accounts about the availability of alcohol-based hand sanitizer behind bars.
Prison officials have told reporters, lawmakers 鈥� even said under oath 鈥� that inmates have access to hand sanitizer made with alcohol, the ingredient recommended by the CDC to kill the coronavirus.
Yet even after department staff reportedly distributed 90 gallons of alcohol-based hand sanitizer to the state鈥檚 six prisons, inmates told VPR the only hand sanitizer they had access to was alcohol-free.
It wasn鈥檛 until a reporter asked DOC for comment on this story that inmates said that changed.
The discord is emblematic of the struggle Department of Corrections officials seem to face coordinating their pandemic response across the state鈥檚 six prisons.
For weeks, Nicole Leroux said, she thought the hand sanitizer mounted on her unit鈥檚 wall would protect her from the coronavirus. Leroux is incarcerated in South Burlington, and she said since the COVID-19 outbreak began, she鈥檚 been using that hand sanitizer all the time.
鈥淚 thought all hand sanitizer was actually supposed to sanitize,鈥� she said, and nobody told her otherwise.
Leroux鈥檚 prison job includes fetching supplies from the warehouse for each unit. And after she learned recently that hand sanitizer needed to have alcohol in it to kill coronavirus, she checked the ingredients.
鈥淎nd on the hand sanitizer box, it says, 'Non-alcohol,'鈥� she said.
This Monday marked six weeks since the . And inmates at facilities across the state recently told VPR they still did not have access to alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
鈥淭here is hand sanitizer in the day room, but it is alcohol-free,鈥� Joel Coon wrote to VPR last week from his cell at Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland.
Michael Hoehl at Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport said the same was true in his unit. 鈥淓ven the CO鈥檚 will tell us [there鈥檚] no [alcohol]鈥� in the hand sanitizer, he said.
Eric Williams at Northeast Correctional Complex in St. Johnsbury said he鈥檚 pretty confident the hand sanitizer in the day room didn鈥檛 have alcohol in it, 鈥渂ecause you can usually smell it.鈥�
While inmates鈥� , explanations from DOC have varied.
At first, officials said inmates did have access to the substance. On March 30, Commissioner Jim Baker told lawmakers on the Joint Rules Committee that, because the Centers for Disease Control recommended alcohol-based hand sanitizer to kill the coronavirus, inmates would receive the product despite a previous ban on alcohol-based substances.
鈥淓ach facility鈥檚 getting delivered today, cases of hand sanitizer,鈥� he said.
A week later, the department said in a press release 鈥漢and sanitizer is available for all staff and inmates.鈥� But when pressed during a news conference the next day, facilities executive Al Cormier said it was only the alcohol-free hand sanitizer which was available.
Cormier added the alcohol-based supply had run out because 鈥渢he inmates were hoarding it.鈥�
But, he said, that was about to change.
Over the last month, DOC officials said they purchased, bottled and delivered to prisons 90 gallons of hand sanitizer that is 80% alcohol. Al Cormier testified under oath to its availability.
鈥淚 know how much hand sanitizer has been pushed into our facilities to understand that there has not been a shortage,鈥� he said.
Yet earlier this week, inmates said, yet again, they still didn鈥檛 have access to hand sanitizer with alcohol in it. That changed Thursday, after VPR reached out to DOC for comment for this story.
鈥淪o they just made alcohol-based hand sanitizer available for us at 8 p.m.,鈥� Joel Coon wrote to VPR from Marble Valley Thursday night.
鈥淭hey actually came in the units yesterday and put a gallon jug with a pump on the officer鈥檚 desk for us to use,鈥� Eric Williams said from his St. Johnsbury prison unit鈥檚 day room on Friday morning. 鈥淲e have a dispenser on the wall with alcohol-related sanitizer.鈥�
Nicole Leroux in South Burlington also called to say officers were now offering inmates alcohol-based hand sanitizer from a desk in her unit.
Friday morning, DOC spokesperson Rachel Feldman responded VPR鈥檚 request for comment: 鈥淲e have verified with all our facility superintendents that alcohol-based hand sanitizer is available in every living unit within our facilities."
