Incarceration & Corrections
Prison population is small but growing
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Overview
No state has fewer residents incarcerated as a proportion of the total population than Vermont. Through unique approaches such as local Reparative Boards, the state has a history of reserving corrections facilities for the most serious offenders, with only 14% of those convicted incarcerated. But Vermont’s prison rate continues to rise, due in part to a higher volume of crime and tougher sentences.
- By 2011, the Vermont prison population is expected to increase 33%—the fifth highest rate of increase in the nation.
- Transitional housing for ex-offenders is scarce, in some cases extending the time convicts spend in prison beyond the term sentenced.
- Vermont leads the nation in providing meaningful ways for offenders to restore themselves to their communities. Vermont’s community approach to crime places small-time offenders before local Reparative Boards, where they must listen to victim testimony, apologize, and agree to a monitored community service assignment. If they fail to honor the agreement, they are incarcerated.
Read more about Vermont’s prison population in Understanding Vermont or get a copy of the entire publication.