Vermont’s prison population has hit a five-year peak.
That’s according to new Vermont Department of Corrections data shared with lawmakers Wednesday in a key committee overseeing the criminal justice system.
“This is a direct reflection of the court system and the backlog,” Jess King-Mohr, the department’s director of research and data analytics, said at the Joint Legislative Justice Oversight Committee meeting.
Starting in 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic altered all aspects of daily life, Vermont’s prison population plummeted by more than 500, to under 1,240 people. The reduction was due to criminal justice reform legislation and Covid-conscious efforts — releases and limits on detainment — to prevent the disease’s spread in congregate settings.
But five years later, Vermont now incarcerates more than 1,550 people, a number corrections officials expect to continue growing. The spike is driven by people detained while awaiting trial.
Vermont’s courts have tens of thousands of cases on their dockets, according to state judiciary data. That backlog, coupled with new, stricter bail laws, are likely keeping more people locked up pre-trial.
The male detained population — people incarcerated while awaiting trial — has increased by 60% since 2021, according to corrections department data. The women’s detained population skyrocketed by almost 150% in that time, leading the state to incarcerate more female detainees than sentenced women.
While federal detainees — especially those held for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — have drawn most of the political scrutiny, state data indicates federal detainers make up a modest portion of the total spike.
Vermont’s prisons lack the general population beds needed to hold every person the state incarcerates. An increase in the incarcerated population — especially men — has resulted in more people being sent out of state to the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Mississippi, King-Mohr said, where Vermont holds a contract with a for-profit prison provider.
Nick Deml, the commissioner of corrections, also updated lawmakers on Vermont’s push to build a new women’s prison in Essex. State leaders and many advocates for incarcerated women say the current South Burlington facility’s ailing infrastructure does not lend itself to rehabilitation, problems exacerbated by a growing population.
But according to Deml, work on a new prison isn’t going well.
“We’re at a bit of an impasse,” he said, describing the state’s work with the town of Essex.
State leaders said they expect more information regarding zoning changes from Essex officials in September.
