The Agency of Human Services has alleviated one of its biggest financial headaches by pulling the plug on funding for people coming out of prison with “serious functional impairments (SFI).”
AHS Secretary Doug Racine proposed the plan to lawmakers in February and put it into effect soon after. Racine had proposed that inmates with SFI be kept incarcerated for their full terms, but an AHS official said that will not happen. Agency officials say Racine misspoke when he made that suggestion.
SFI is a designation used by the Department of Corrections for people with a developmental disability, a traumatic brain injury, or other serious mental impairment. These are inmates who don’t quite qualify for other AHS services upon their release. Some, for instance, might have IQs just above the threshold of eligibility for the Developmental Services program.
When community providers deem these people pose a risk to public safety, they have, up until now, provided intensive supervision for them. These arrangements, funded by AHS, can be quite costly. The agency had to request $2.5 million during the budget adjustment this year to pay for the 22 people in this category.
Lawmakers responded to the problem by passing a bill, which the governor signed into law on May 15, to study how to meet the needs of this population. The findings are due in December.
In the meantime the 22 people — a few of whom are supervised 24 hours a day by several people — will continue to receive care indefinitely, but these services are no longer available for the 112 current inmates with SFI upon their eventual release from prison.
Monica Hutt, director of policy and planning for AHS, said the agency starting funding the services for former inmates with SFI in an ad hoc manner and it spiraled out of control. “It’s really a DOC facility designation that took on a life of its own in the community. It sort of crept up on us. They came in one by one.”
Had AHS continued to shoulder the financial burden, which was never built into its budget, it would have to “shrink resources across the board for everyone receiving our services,” Hutt said.
But advocates are worried that without these support systems, the former inmates will end up back in prison without the care they need. A recent independent study unearthed problems with the treatment provided to SFI inmates.
Julie Tessler, executive director of the Vermont Council of Developmental and Mental Health Services, said that although these arrangements come with a problematic price tag, they can make a difference.
“Some people do well and over time need less supervision because they receive treatment and are doing better in their lives,” she said. And that, Tessler added, can save the DOC resources in the long run.
“My concern is for the people coming out of corrections who don’t meet eligibility requirements for other programs. What will happen to them? Will they have their needs met? Will there be risks to other people if they don’t have their needs met?” Tessler questioned.
Hutt conceded that these released prisoners with SFI generally don’t qualify for AHS’s other programs, and they are at risk of falling through the cracks when they come out of prison. “There is a definitely a pocket of people that fall just outside the eligibility criteria, and it’s hard for those folks to function and succeed.” But, she added, community providers are working to figure out what other public benefits they qualify for.
Ed Paquin is the director of Disability Rights Vermont, one of the community providers that helps released inmates find services. Paquin said it’s unlikely those public benefits will be enough to meet the needs of the former inmates, and the agency could end up spending more in the long run.
“Absent a good robust support system, they are going to end up back in the system. How much have you gained by not setting up the support structures that at least give them a chance of success?” he asked.
Hutt clarified that the DOC won’t automatically keep inmates with SFI in prison until they have fulfilled their full sentence. Racine told legislators in February that this was an alternative to serving them in the community. Hutt said the Corrections Department will use the same standards to evaluate whether or not inmates with SFI are eligible to leave prison. “If they can get out at their minimum, they absolutely will,” Hutt said. But, she added, without community providers offering them a stable living situation, they may find it more difficult to qualify for parole.
Correction: Ed Paquin said other public benefits are unlikely to suffice for former inmates. Due to an editing error, we originally reported that Paquin said they would likely suffice. Story updated 9:45 a.m. on May 2, 2013.
