Title 28, Public Institutions and Corrections

§ 702. Transfer between facilities of the Department (a) The Commissioner may transfer any inmate committed to his or her custody between any of the correctional facilities except that the Commissioner shall not have the authority to transfer a child, as defined in this title, to…

§ 703. Transfer to the Department of Mental Health (a) If it becomes necessary to transfer a person who is under the supervision of the Department of Mental Health, the transfer shall be accomplished in accordance with the provisions of part 8 of Title 18. (b) When a person is so…

§ 704. Disposition when person recovers When the Commissioner of Mental Health determines that a person whose sentence has not expired no longer requires to be under the supervision of the Department of Mental Health, the Commissioner shall return the person to the custody of the…

§ 705. Hospitalization upon expiration of sentence If it is determined by the Commissioner of Mental Health that a person who has been transferred by the Commissioner to the Department of Mental Health is in need of further care and treatment after the expiration of his or her ma…

§ 706. Transfer to federal correctional facility (a) The Commissioner may enter into and execute a contract or contracts with the United States for the transfer of any inmate from any facility to a federal correctional facility when, in his or her opinion, the inmate needs partic…

§ 707. Confinement of persons convicted by U.S. courts (a) The Department shall have the authority, on such terms and conditions as it may prescribe, to receive into custody any person ordered detained or convicted by any court of the United States. Any person against whom such s…

§ 708. Discharge (a) An inmate shall be released from confinement at the expiration of his or her term of sentence less the time deducted for good behavior. (b) When an inmate is released from a correctional facility, either on parole or upon final discharge from the custody of t…

§ 710. Approval of residence (a) Before approving a residence for a sex offender who is being released from confinement or whom the court has released on a probationary sentence or an alternative sentence under community supervision by the Department, the Commissioner or the Comm…

§ 721. Offender reintegration; State policy The Department shall establish an offender reintegration process that requires offenders to be held accountable to their victims and the community. This process shall provide opportunities for victims of crime and other members of the c…

§ 722. Definitions As used in this subchapter: (1) “Absconding” means: (A) the offender has not met supervision requirements, cannot be located with reasonable efforts, and has not made contact with Department staff within three days if convicted of a listed crime as defined in 1…

§ 723. Community supervision furlough (a) The Department may release from a correctional facility to participate in a reentry program while serving the remaining sentence in the community a person who: (1) has served the minimum term of the person’s total effective sentence; (2) …

§ 724. Terms and conditions of community supervision furlough (a) Authority of the Department. The Department shall identify in the terms and conditions of community supervision furlough those programs necessary to reduce the offender’s risk of reoffense and to promote the offend…

§ 725. Parole hearing for offenders on community supervision furlough The Department shall submit to the Parole Board a recommendation relative to whether the offender should be released to parole pursuant to section 501 of this title when: (1) an offender sentenced solely for th…

§ 726. Reduction of sentence Each day an offender is supervised in a conditional reentry program shall be counted as one day served for the total effective sentence. (Added 2001, No. 61, § 89, eff. June 16, 2001; amended 2005, No. 87 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. Feb. 8, 2006.)

§ 751a. Definitions For purposes of this subchapter: (1) “Assembled product” means a good produced by combining articles or components where none of the articles or components were fabricated, changed, or altered by the use of offender labor. (2) “Offender service labor” means th…

§ 751b. General provisions governing offender work (a) To return value to communities, to assist victims of crime, to establish good habits of work and responsibility, to promote the vocational training of offenders, to pursue initiatives with private business to enhance offender…

§ 752. Offender Work Programs Special Fund (a) An Offender Work Programs Special Fund shall be maintained for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of section 751b of this title, which Fund shall include any appropriations made from time to time by the General Assembly and a…

§ 753. Work release program (a) The Commissioner shall have the authority to permit any inmate of any correctional facility to be gainfully employed outside the facility when the employment is determined to be in the best interests of the inmate and of the State, and when the inm…

§ 754. Powers and responsibilities of the Department regarding the work release program The Department is charged with the following powers and responsibilities: (1) To supervise and consult with inmates participating in any work release program. (2) To assist in locating availab…

§ 755. Disposition of earnings An inmate participating in a work release program shall cause to be given to the Commissioner the inmate’s total earnings less payroll deductions authorized by law, including income taxes. Upon receipt of the earnings the Commissioner, to the extent…

§ 757. Inmate not an agent of the State No inmate participating in any work release program, or engaged in work, industry, or employment at a correctional facility, or any community service or a public works activity or vocational training at a correctional facility or in the com…

§ 758. Release from a correctional facility to do work in the service of such facility or of the Department The supervising officer of any correctional facility may permit an inmate to leave the facility for the purpose of performing maintenance work or farm work, or any other wo…

§ 759. Employment and furlough of an inmate during the pendency of prosecution (a) A person confined at a correctional facility during the pendency of a prosecution against him or her may request to be employed pursuant to the provisions of section 751 of this title. Upon receipt…

§ 760. Compensation of offenders (a) The Commissioner, in consultation with the Department of Labor, shall adopt rules establishing an injured offender compensation program for offenders or their dependents for injuries suffered while under supervision by the Department and arisi…

§ 761. Offender work programs expansion The Vermont Correctional Industries component of the offender work programs shall not expand into an existing market until the Commissioner or designee has evaluated the impact of expansion on private sector business. (Added 1997, No. 62, §…

§ 801. Medical care of inmates (a) Provision of medical care. The Department shall provide health care for inmates in accordance with the prevailing medical standards. When the provision of such care requires that the inmate be taken outside the boundaries of the correctional fac…

§ 801a. Pregnant inmates (a) It shall be the policy of the State of Vermont to respect the unique health issues associated with a pregnant inmate. The Department of Corrections shall not routinely restrain pregnant inmates who are beyond their first trimester of pregnancy in the …

§ 801b. Medication for opioid use disorder in correctional facilities (a) If an inmate receiving medication for opioid use disorder prior to entering the correctional facility continues to receive medication prescribed in the course of medication for opioid use disorder pursuant …

§ 802. Correspondence of inmates (a) Any authorized employee of any correctional facility shall have the right to inspect all correspondence by or to inmates of the facility. The employee shall have the right to withhold and prevent the transmission of material intended to be sen…

§ 802a. Telephone use; debit and collect call systems (a) Upon admittance to a correctional facility, the inmate shall within 24 hours be allowed access to a telephone for outgoing telephone calls at the expense of the inmate. (b) An inmate shall be allowed easy access in placing…

§ 803. Exercise of religious beliefs (a) An inmate at any correctional facility shall have the right of free exercise of his or her religious beliefs, and shall have the right to receive visitations from a clergyperson or other representative of his or her faith in case of illnes…

§ 804. Right of inmates to confer with counsel If an inmate in any facility expresses a desire to see and confer with a practicing attorney of the State, the supervising officer of the facility shall authorize, except in cases of imminent danger of injury to person or of escape, …

§ 805. Counsel for an inmate confined during the pendency of prosecution When a person is confined to a correctional facility during the pendency of a prosecution against him or her, such inmate shall be allowed conference with his or her counsel of record, which conferences may …

§ 806. Allowances to inmates It shall be within the discretion of the Commissioner to authorize the payment of allowances, from funds appropriated by the Legislature, to inmates of any correctional facility for the purpose of allowing the inmates to purchase personal articles and…

§ 807. Voting rights (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person who is convicted of a crime shall retain the right to vote by early voter absentee ballot in a primary or general election at the person’s last voluntary residence during the term of the person’s commit…

§ 808. Temporary furloughs granted to offenders (a) The Department may extend the limits of the place of confinement of an offender at any correctional facility if the offender agrees to comply with such conditions of supervision the Department, in its sole discretion, deems appr…

§ 808a. Treatment furlough (a) An offender may be sentenced to serve a term of imprisonment, but placed by a court on treatment furlough to participate in such programs administered by the Department in the community that reduce the offender’s risk to reoffend or that provide rep…

§ 808e. Absconding from furlough; warrant (a) “Absconded” has the same meaning as “absconding” as defined in subdivision 724(d)(2)(C) of this title. (b) The Commissioner of Corrections may issue a warrant for the arrest of a person who has absconded from furlough status in violat…

§ 809. Pardons; application; notice; hearing; decision (a) When a person in confinement under sentence for a term of one year or more at any correctional facility applies to the Governor for a pardon, the application shall be in writing stating in substance the reasons for the ap…

§ 810. Conditional pardon; breach (a) In his or her discretion, the Governor may grant a pardon for offenses against the State upon the conditions as he or she judges proper. Until a person to whom a conditional pardon is granted is excused from the performance of the conditions …

§ 811. Work camps; reduction of term A reduction of up to 30 days in the minimum and maximum terms of confinement may be made in accordance with a policy established by the director of a work camp in which an inmate is confined for each month during which the inmate demonstrates,…

§ 812. Denial of good time credit If during the term of confinement an inmate commits any offense or violates any rule or regulation of the facility wherein he or she is confined, all or a portion of his or her good behavior reductions for the month of the offense or violation ma…

§ 813. Restoration of reductions The supervising officer of any facility wherein an inmate is confined may restore, following the established procedures within the facility, any denied or forfeited good behavior reductions or such portions thereof as he or she deems proper upon a…

§ 814. Appointment of agent, attorney, or trustee for an inmate (a) A person confined under a sentence of imprisonment shall not be allowed to engage actively in the pursuit of business or other economic interests unless he or she is placed on work release pursuant to section 753…

§ 815. Development of guidelines; visitation and recreation (a) Those sheriffs who administer jails or county lock-ups shall provide all inmates reasonable visitation and recreation opportunities. (b) The Commissioner, in cooperation with those sheriffs who administer jails or co…

§ 816. Inmate Recreation Fund The Department shall accept monies generated by commissions on telephone services, commissary sales, and sales of approved items not available on commissary by the Department to inmates at its correctional facilities and shall establish with such mon…