Andrew Pallito was named commissioner of the Vermont Corrections Department on the last day of 2008, a time when the department’s prison population was still expanding and the state’s financial picture was beginning to contract. Now, 18 months later, the collision between those two forces has Pallito and his 1,042-employee department up against a wall: In the coming year, he has to reduce his budget by $7 million to meet the cost-cutting mandates of the state’s Challenges for Change.

An investigation into the death of a woman in a Vermont prison reveals problems with communication and health care staffing. The Rutland Herald says a report released last week by the nonprofit group Disability Rights Vermont found the death of 23-year-old Ashley Ellis of Rutland could have been prevented if the Department of Corrections and the health care contractor Prison Health Services had done a better job.

As part of the "Challenges for Change" legislation that lawmakers passed this session, the state plans to release more non-violent offenders from prison to save money. But when those inmates leave prison before their maximum sentence is up, they're required to find stable housing. The Department of Corrections says that when it releases an inmate without housing plans in place, that person usually ends up back behind bars.  But for an offender with the support of housing, the success rate is closer to 50 percent.

The Vermont Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the state's inmates serving time in a Kentucky prison who want to use debit cards for telephone calls and get free postage stamps just like inmates in Vermont prisons."It's a good precedent if we're going to be sending Vermont offenders out of state they should be logically and common-sensically treated the same as inmates who are serving time in state," said Vermont Defender General Matthew Valerio. As of Friday when the ruling was issued, 573 Vermont inmates were housed in Kentucky to ease overcrowding in Vermont's prisons.

Attorney General William Sorrell said he’s concerned that a spate of cases involving alleged criminal conduct by police officers might be undermining the trust Vermonters deserve to have in their police departments. “I recognize there may be a perception out there that there’s a problem, that somehow there are more rogue cops, or cops who are not trustworthy, for a state of our size,” Sorrell said. Sorrell said he does not share that perception, but if that’s what others believe, it’s a problem. “The public has got to believe in the integrity of those who enforce the law,” he said.

In Barre, where more than 300 former inmates live, the prospect of taking on more parolees and people on furlough is a sore subject. City officials say the presence of former offenders strains police services, drives up the crime rate and affects the quality of life. And they believe their community is among several in the state that have been unfairly burdened by the state’s placement of former inmates.

Update on Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 10:16AM by VCF Staff

Decades of frustration that date back to a decision to construct the county's criminal courthouse in the heart of their downtown boiled over in the Barre Opera House on Tuesday. More than 200 residents responded passionately to a legislative proposal they fear will solidify Barre's reputation as an "open-air prison," in the words of several speakers. Their reaction was both focused and emphatic: They want no part of a state cost-cutting plan that will result in the release of non-violent offenders, if it means those offenders will take up residence in Barre.

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The number of people Vermont locks up in prisons had been mostly in decline for about two years — until July 2008, when a 12-year-old girl died, allegedly at the hands of a convicted sex offender. Since the death of Brooke Bennett, the number of inmates — and the cost to house them — has risen steadily. The theory: In response to public outrage that the man charged with Brooke’s death had been freed from prison, judges have been sending offenders to prison more readily and for longer sentences. The solution: Legislation that passed the Senate on Wednesday seeks to counteract that boom in the prison population by keeping about 200 nonviolent offenders out of prison and letting others off probation six months early.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) will chair a field hearing of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, March 22, in Barre, Vermont. The hearing will examine the effective efforts of Barre and surrounding communities in fighting drug-related crime. Leahy chairs the Senate panel, and noticed the hearing on “Effective Community Efforts to Counter Drug-Related Crime in Rural America” on Friday.

A local pilot program that offers a break to repeat nonviolent criminal offenders if they take a 10-week life-skills course is working so well that Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan is hoping the program someday can go statewide. To date, 15 participants — all women who have been in jail or on probation for past offenses — have enrolled in the course called “Getting Ahead,” now marking the end of its first year. Only one of the 15 has run afoul of the law, a finding that Donovan said was striking. “The early returns look positive,” Donovan said. “It says this program is worth pursuing. It can help reduce recidivism, help people on the road to recovery and success, and save the taxpayers of Vermont money.”

Ashley Ellis, a 23-year-old anorexic who was convicted of a misdemeanor traffic offense, died in prison last August — just two days after she was incarcerated at Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans — because she didn’t receive the medication she needed. Not long after, the Vermont Department of Corrections decided not to renew its contract with Prison Health Services, Inc., the corporation that has been responsible for inmate medical care in the state since 2005, and invited other companies to bid for the contract. The company that rose to the top of the list and has been in negotiations with the state since October, Correct Care Solutions, is relatively new.

The negative effects of mandatory furlough days imposed throughout the Vermont court system to save money have been building, making timely access to justice an increasingly difficult goal. Public Defender Frederick Bragdon says he first noticed a lag about a year ago. "One of the problems is getting the court time to do what we need to do," he said. Before the cutbacks, if a case were to be set in January for sentencing the hearing might be within a month or two. Now, the same case set for sentencing in January isn't likely to see a hearing until summer, he said, adding that delays in cases add to the anxiety of complaining witnesses who may be awaiting restitution, as well as his clients, who also want closure.

The Rutland Herald reports that Windsor residents will "soon see inmates contributing to the community as the Southeast State Correctional Facility moves from a women's prison to a men's work camp." Currently, "the prison is empty, with the last of the women transferred Jan. 10 to Northwest State Correctional Facility in Swanton. For the past week, the staff has undergone training to prepare for 100 men who will arrive in early February, said Superintendent David Bovat." When the Windsor facility opens in February, it will "host the second work camp in the state." Notably, "the offenders chosen for the camp are considered low-risk compared to the general population, with no violent felony convictions."

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The Burlington Free Press reports that over the past two years, "the number of female inmates in Vermont's prison system has dropped 40 percent, thanks in part to programs specifically designed to keep them out of prison." State Sen. Richard Sears, who chairs the Legislature's Corrections Oversight Committee, called the drop "dramatic." He added that "credit should go to those who made a variety of treatment and social programs available to female offenders." For example, the new female prison in St. Albans is "designed to help address the special issues women face." At the St. Albans' facility, "programs will teach [female inmates] skills that include construction. In addition, "a section of the prison is devoted to mentally ill inmates and women will be able to work in the garden, greenhouse, print shop and other vocational programs."

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The Brattleboro Reformer reports that "the Brattleboro Police Department had a busy year in 2008 as officers responded to more than 10,000 calls" Of those calls, more than ten percent fell into the "Suspicious Person or Circumstance" category. Indeed, "there were 1,267 calls that came in response to a caller who was frightened or worried about a noise, a person, or [a] vehicle seen outside their home." In 2008, the police also investigated 21 incidences of aggravated assault, 76 incidences of simple assault and 66 burglaries, 28 of which were forced entry. Link to article

Vermont Public Radio reports that a new Vermont bill "calls for people to give a DNA sample when they're charged with a felony or with misdemeanor domestic assault or certain sex crimes." According to Senator Richard Sears of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the bill "would expand the number of people required to give DNA samples [and] will probably be amended to give the state more time to be ready [to] process the influx of samples." Sears conculded, "The extra time will be needed so the Vermont Forensic Laboratory can move into a larger facility.

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