Title 28, Public Institutions and Corrections

§ 374. Witnesses; production of records (a) The Board may issue subpoenas requiring the attendance of any witnesses and the production of any records, books, papers, and documents as it may consider necessary for investigation of the case of any person before it. Subpoenas may be…

§ 401. Construction This chapter shall be construed to provide a method of supervising the serving of a sentence through the provision of parole services, but is not intended to affect the constitutional power of the Governor to fully, partially, or conditionally pardon inmates. …

§ 402. Definitions As used in this chapter: (1) “Parole” means the release of an inmate to the community by the Parole Board before the end of the inmate’s sentence subject to conditions imposed by the Board and subject to the supervision and control of the Commissioner. If a cou…

§ 403. Powers and responsibilities of the Commissioner regarding parole The Commissioner is charged with the following powers and responsibilities regarding the administration of parole: (1) To supervise and control persons placed on parole, subject to the rules and orders of the…

§ 451. Creation of Board (a)(1) A Parole Board of seven members is created. The Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint members for terms of three years in such a manner that not more than three terms shall expire annually. Initial terms may be less tha…

§ 452. Official seal; records (a) The Board shall adopt an official seal of which the courts shall take judicial notice. (b) The Board shall keep a record of its acts and shall notify each correctional facility of its decisions relating to persons confined in that facility. (c) […

§ 453. Advisory board for pardons On request of the Governor, the Board shall act as an advisory board to assist or act for him or her in investigating or hearing matters pertaining to pardons, and may make recommendations to him or her regarding such matters. (Added 1971, No. 19…

§ 454. Finality of Parole Board determinations The determinations of the Parole Board shall not be reviewable except as to compliance with the provisions of this chapter. (Added 1971, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 20.)

§ 455. Director (a) The position of Parole Board Director is created. The Director shall be appointed by the Governor after consultation with the Board. (b) The Director shall serve for a term of four years commencing on March 1 and continuing until a successor is appointed. (c) …

§ 456. Parole Board independence (a) The Parole Board shall be an independent and impartial body. (b) In a pending parole revocation hearing, the Parole Board shall not be counseled by: (1) Assistant Attorneys General; and (2) any attorney employed by the Department of Correction…

§ 501. Eligibility for parole consideration An inmate who is serving a sentence of imprisonment who is not eligible for presumptive parole pursuant to section 501a of this title shall be eligible for parole consideration as follows: (1) If the inmate’s sentence has no minimum ter…

§ 501a. Presumptive parole An inmate who is serving a sentence of imprisonment shall be eligible for presumptive release in accordance with subsection 502a(e) of this title at the expiration of the inmate’s minimum or aggregate minimum term of imprisonment if the inmate: (1) has …

§ 502. Parole interviews and reviews (a) The Board shall interview each inmate eligible for parole consideration under section 501 of this title before ordering the inmate released on parole. The Board shall consider all pertinent information regarding an inmate in order to deter…

§ 502a. Release on parole (a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (d) of this section and section 501 of this title, no inmate serving a sentence with a minimum term shall be released on parole until the inmate has served the minimum term of the sentence, less any reductio…

§ 502b. Terms and conditions of parole (a) When an inmate is paroled, the Parole Board shall establish terms and conditions of parole that it deems reasonably necessary to ensure that the inmate will lead a law-abiding life and that will assist the inmate to do so. Such terms and…

§ 502c. Parole agreement (a) When an inmate is paroled, the Parole Board shall issue a parole agreement, which shall set forth the name of the inmate paroled, the crime the inmate was convicted of, the date and place of trial, the sentence, and the terms and conditions of the par…

§ 503. Adoption of rules The Board may adopt such rules, consistent with the provisions of this chapter, as it considers proper or necessary regarding the eligibility of inmates for parole, the conduct of parole interviews and reviews, or the conditions to be applied to inmates r…

§ 504. Witnesses; production of records (a) The Board may issue subpoenas requiring the attendance of any witnesses and the production of any records, books, papers, and documents as it may consider necessary for investigation of the case of any person before it. Subpoenas may be…

§ 505. Cooperation of correctional facility officials (a) The Board shall adopt rules regarding and shall direct, control, and supervise the administration of a system of paroles from any appropriate correctional facility. (b) Officials in charge of correctional facilities shall …

§ 506. Termination and discharge (a) If warranted by the conduct of the parolee and the ends of justice, the Board may terminate the period of parole supervision and discharge the parolee from parole supervision. Supervision of a parolee serving a life sentence may be terminated …

§ 507. Notification to victim and opportunity to testify (a) The Department of Corrections shall, unless waived by the victim: (1) at least 30 days prior to a parole hearing concerning the defendant, notify the victim of a listed crime as defined in 13 V.S.A. § 5301(7) as to the …

§ 551. Issuance of warrant; arrest without a warrant; confinement pending hearing; authority of correctional officers and law enforcement officers (a) Parole Board warrant. The Board may issue a warrant for the arrest of a parolee, or may issue an order, to be served personally u…

§ 551a. Law enforcement powers of correctional officers; training requirements (a) The Commissioner of Corrections shall establish training requirements necessary for a correctional officer to be authorized to exercise the power to arrest a person on probation under section 301 o…

§ 552. Notification of Board; hearing (a) Upon the arrest and detention of a parolee, the parole officer shall notify the Board immediately and shall submit in writing a report describing the alleged violation of a condition or conditions of the inmate’s parole. (b) Upon receipt …

§ 553. Ineligibility for future parole An inmate who has been re-confined following parole may be reparoled by the Board. No person having been found guilty of more than two violations of parole by the commission of any offense whose maximum term of imprisonment is more than two …

§ 554. Service of term for additional crime The Board may permit any parolee who commits a crime while on parole and who is convicted and sentenced therefor to serve the sentence concurrently with the term under which he or she is paroled. (Added 1971, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 20.…

§ 601. Powers and responsibilities of the supervising officer of each correctional facility The supervising officer of each facility shall be responsible for the efficient and humane maintenance and operation and for the security of the facility, subject to the supervisory author…

§ 701. Commitment to the custody of the Commissioner (a) When a person is convicted of an offense and the court commits him or her to a term of imprisonment, the commitment shall be to the custody of the Commissioner. (b) The Commissioner shall have the authority to designate the…

§ 701a. Segregation of inmates with a serious functional impairment (a) The Commissioner shall adopt rules pursuant to 3 V.S.A. chapter 25 regarding the classification, treatment, and segregation of an inmate with a serious functional impairment as defined and identified under su…

§ 701b. Classification of persons or defendants (a) When a defendant or person in a civil or criminal action is sentenced to the custody of the Commissioner or committed to the Commissioner’s custody pending a prosecution on a misdemeanor charge or for sentencing, the Commissione…

§ 701c. Classification and housing placement determinations (a) The Department shall make classification and housing placement determinations for transgender, gender-diverse, and intersex inmates consistent with this section. (b) During the initial intake process, and in as priva…

§ 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…