It Passed!

Legislation that I’ve been working on for the past three years became law this month.

It’s a prison reform measure that will save millions of dollars for Vermonters, improve community safety, and avert us from sending hundreds of inmates out of state (and our dollars with them).

It's been heralded as one of the defining pieces of legislation for the year. As it should be, especially given the context of Vermont's crime and prison outlook.

Vermont has a low and declining rate of crime, yet we continue to lock up more and more people, many for non-violent offenses. Despite the countless studies that demonstrate more cost-effective ways to deal with crime, Vermont government still needlessly spends tens of millions of dollars in added costs each year. But that’s going to start changing in a dramatic way. The new law, called Justice Reinvestment, will provide more alternatives to incarceration than we currently have by investing in drug and alcohol treatment programs, transitional housing, and community-based solutions.

It aims to reduce recidivism -- known as repeat customers to the prison system -- and is estimated to save, in reduced prison costs alone, $50-to-$200 million dollars over ten years. That’s some long-term planning and benefits that are well overdo. Justice Reinvestment seed money will come from the reorganization ofour prisons. The savings produced from Justice Reinvestment plus the prison reorganization savings will fuel not only further investments inalternatives to incarceration, it will provide tens of millions ofdollars left over to benefit tax-payers.

The key to the success of this effort stemmed from how we approached it from the get-go. Knowing that there were potential political landmines, we started out by involving not only all three political parties in Vermont, but also by involving all three branches of government --judicial, executive, and legislative. That’s extremely unusual inVermont. The end-result was a comprehensive bill that had overwhelming support.

Investing in alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders will not only save us millions, it will also make our communities safer.

More Education for Offenders

It’s not just a coincidence. Over 90% of young male adults who are in prison have no high school education. Here in Vermont, we’re currently doing something about that and thanks to pending legislation (H.135), we may soon be doing even more.

First, some background. Did you know that the Community High School of Vermont (CHSVT) is the state’s largest high school? Last year CHSVT became the nation’s first prison-based school to become accredited. That was a big deal. But it’s a bigger deal that offenders who get an education have lower recidivism levels. That's why we need more educational programming in our prisons.

Our committee hopes to pass a bill that mandates education for incarcerated men and women without a high school diploma until their 26th birthday (current law says up to their 23rd birthday). For those housed in Vermont prisons, they'll be required to attend CHSVT. For Vermont's inmates who are housed in other states (due to overcrowding), they'll be required to attend classes if such classes are offered (which aren't as good as schooling in Vermont, but it's still much better than no schooling).

The cost for all of this? Either nothing or a negligible amount, says the Department of Corrections (DOC), because we’ve already got the staff – adding the students is free or practically free. With more education, DOC believes that these offenders will be more successful reintegrating into society and getting jobs, and we’ll all benefit from that.