Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Mississippi currently houses about 230 Vermont inmates. Photo by Alan Keays/VTDigger
The Senate Judiciary Committee has heard testimony that no single act of criminal justice reform will keep Vermont from having to send 230 prisoners out-of-state, but instead it will be several different steps.
The panel is taking up a challenge from Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden, to come up with reforms that will allow the state to house all of its inmates in Vermont, or move them out of prison, by 2022.
He challenged the committee in a letter sent to the panel’s five members last month and again in testimony Wednesday to reduce the state’s prison population by no less than 250 inmates, or about 15 percent of the roughly 1,750 Vermont prisoners, by that 2022 timeline.
To reduce Vermont’s prison population, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard suggestions Wednesday ranging from changes in how violations for those on furlough are handled to expanding access to drug treatment courts.
In addition, options discussed included providing more transitional housing to help inmates leaving prison as well as expanding electronic monitoring for those charged with crimes awaiting trial.
Another suggestion involved allowing prisoners to obtain “earned good time” to reduce their sentences while behind bars.
No decisions were made at the hearing and no specific proposal were put forth.
Instead, throughout the roughly 90-minute session, committee members as well as those testifying discussed the importance on compiling accurate data on who is incarcerated in Vermont and why they are behind bars as a first step.
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington and committee chairman, said he believed the panel was ready to take up Ashe’s challenge.
“I think we can make progress,” Sears said, “but whether we can get to 250 is very ambitious.”
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
Those who testified Wednesday included Assistant Attorney General David Scherr, Vermont Chief Superior Judge Brian Grearson and John Campbell, director of the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs Association. They all talked about steps the state has already taken to reduce incarceration in recent years.
Those steps have included bail reform measures as well as increased use of programs intended to divert cases out of the criminal justice system before they even enter a courthouse.
Sears said he would like to look deeper into how many inmates are detained pretrial, and why.
In addition, he said, he would like more information on prisoners who currently have served their minimum sentence, but for a variety of reasons, including lack of appropriate housing, have not been released.
“We think there are opportunities within the detention population and perhaps the people who have not been released, but have made their minimum sentence,” Sears said. “Looking at that two groups, we believe there are significant opportunities, but in other ways it would be chipping away.”
Michael Touchette, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections, told the committee that the department averages about 1,750 prisoners on any given day, with about 155 of those inmates women.
Of that 1,750 daily average, Touchette said, roughly 230 are being housed at an out-of-state prison in Mississippi” due to lack of capacity in Vermont, and about 400 people are being detained prior to trial.
Touchette also provided the committee with a breakdown of the makeup of the prison population on a particular day, Jan. 19. Those numbers showed that 1,293 prisoners were sentenced inmates, while 380 were detainees awaiting trial.
Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe. Photo by Mike Dougherty/VTDigger
A further breakdown showed that of those sentenced prisoners, 756 — or 58 percent — were incarcerated on what the state terms “serious felonies,” such as murder, sex assaults and aggravated assaults.
That breakdown also showed that about 60 prisoners — or roughly 5 percent — are serving sentences for misdemeanor offenses, ranging from domestic assaults to driving violations, such as repeat drunken driving offenses.
Touchette said that among Vermont’s sentenced prisoners, roughly 140 of them have already served the minimum portion of their prison term, but for lack of appropriate housing remain incarcerated.
In addition, of the 380 detainees, 231 prisoners — or about 61 percent — were being held on serious felony charges, including 20 for murder, 70 for aggravated domestic assault and 23 for aggravated sexual assault.
The commissioner said that about a year ago the state put out a request for proposals seeking “transitional,” or “re-entry,” housing for sex offenders, but the state received no bids. Another problematic group of prisoners to find such housing for are those convicted of arson offenses, he said.
Chloé White, policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, attended the session Wednesday, but did not testify. Her organization last year launched a Campaign for Smart Justice with a goal of cutting Vermont’s prison population in half.
“There are multiple strategies to get there,” White said of reducing the state’s prisoner population. “A lot of the ways that were discussed today could be very helpful.”
She said one important aspect to address is data collection, and the “consistent and standardized release” of that data so that decisions that are being made are based on accurate information.
She also talked of the importance of reducing racial disparities among Vermont’s prison population.
While latest Census figures show blacks make up a little more than 1 percent of the state’s population, a report issued last year revealed that blacks made up 8.5 percent of Vermont’s prisoners.
“We can’t reduce our prisoner population, without reducing our racial disparity,” White said. “That would be a failure.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Panel takes on Senate leader’s challenge to reduce prison population.