Vermont
Step 1: Analyze the prison population and spending in the communities to which people in prison often return.4
In 2007, the Vermont governor, chief justice, and state legislative leaders requested intensive technical assistance from the Council of State Governments Justice Center (“Justice Center”). State policymakers established a bipartisan, bicameral, and inter-branch Justice Reinvestment Working Group to collaborate with the Justice Center to review analyses of the prison and community supervision populations and develop data- and consensus- driven policy options that could increase public safety, avert growth in the prison population and save taxpayers’ money.
As the state did not have a prison population projectionmodel, policymakers commissioned the Justice Center to provide an analysis of the prison population and identify the factors contributing to its projected 23 percent increase by 2018:
- Property and drug offenders were the fastest growing segment of the prison population, accounting for over half of the increase in the felony prison population between 2000 and 2006.5
- People in need of substance abuse treatment were not screened prior to sentencing while people in prison were not assessed prior to their release, and the availability of drug treatment inside the prisons was very limited. Although 77 percent of people sentenced to prison for property and drug offenses reported substance use disorders, only 13 percent were in an in-prison treatment program.6
- The state established a reintegration program to provide an intensive set of supervision and community- based services targeted at offenders immediately upon release, but it was under-utilized: although approximately 70 people per month met the program’s requirements, just under half were denied placement on reintegration status due to insufficient housing options in the community. Further, most program participants were not released 90 days prior to their minimum sentence date as permitted by state law.7
- Geographical analyses of Vermont’s communities were provided to state policymakers by the state’s Department of Corrections prior to the Justice Center’s assistance to the state. Consequently, Justice Center staff did not prepare such analyses for Vermont policymakers as part of their technical assistance efforts.
- Council of State Governments Justice Center, Increasing Public Safety and Generating Savings: Options for Vermont Policymakers, 2008.
- Ibid, Council of State Governments Justice Center.
- Ibid, Council of State Governments Justice Center.