The Vermont Department of Corrections is the government agency in the U.S. state of Vermont charged with overseeing correctional facilities, supervising probation and parolees, and serving in an advisory capacity in the prevention of crime and juvenile delinquency. It is a part of the Vermont Agency of Human Services.[2]
As of 2018, the Vermont Department of Corrections manages the operations of six prison facilities in the state of Vermont. There were 1,334 prisoners in the system in 2022.[11]
Vermont's former Dale Women's Facility in Waterbury, Vermont closed in early 2009.[13] State officials considered closing the Caledonia Community Work Camp (adjacent to the Northeast Regional Correctional Facility) in St. Johnsbury in March 2016 because of underpopulation.[14]
While security is handled by state employees, services, such as health services, have been contracted out.[15] There are 600 corrections officers.[16]
The State of Vermont contracted with Corrections Corporation of America to house inmates in out-of-state private prisons beginning in the mid-1990s, and has continued the practice.[17] About 115 prisoners are held outside the state of Vermont. These prisoners cost half as much as the prisoners in state because of the economies of scale in larger prisons, and because only healthy prisoners are exported.[18]
There are 13 community-based probation and parole offices throughout the state of Vermont. These are under the administrative jurisdiction of the Vermont Department of Corrections. The offices are located in Barre, Bennington, Brattleboro, Burlington, Chelsea (sub-office in Hartford District), Hartford, Middlebury (sub-office to Rutland), Morrisville, Newport, Rutland, St. Albans, St. Johnsbury, and Springfield.[21]
Fallen officers
Since the establishment of the Vermont Department of Corrections, three officers have died in the line of duty.[22]
^"About the Department of Corrections." Vermont Department of Corrections. Retrieved on February 24, 2020. "A map showing where the Department of Corrections Central Office is in the Waterbury State Office complex."
This template pertains only to agencies that handle sentenced felons (with sentences over 1-2 years). In many states, pre-trial detainees, persons convicted of misdemeanors, and felons sentenced under state law to less than one year are held in county jails instead of state prisons.