Vermont DOC officials describe how beds are used as facilities run near capacity

House Corrections and Institutions Committee Chair presiding Wednesday heard a detailed briefing from Vermont Department of Corrections staff on how the department counts and uses beds across state correctional facilities, which specialty beds exist, and how intake and temporary placements (including ICE and U.S. Marshals detainees and out‑of‑state transfers) are handled.

The briefing, led by Jordan Pasha, director of classification for the Vermont Department of Corrections, explained that the department tracks multiple bed categories—medical, mental‑health specialty, risk‑intervention services, honors dorms, restrictive housing/close custody, protective custody, work camp beds and admissions/booking beds—and that not every facility contains every category. "These are the different ways that the department utilizes the beds that are available to us," Pasha said, noting facility‑by‑facility differences and that the presentation's counts reflected occupancy as of 6:30 a.m. the same day.

Why it matters: committee members pressed that public discussion of "bed counts" can mislead unless the differences among bed types, intake booking, specialty housing and custody designations are clear. Committee members and DOC staff emphasized that custody placement is driven principally by behavior and classification assessments after intake—not solely by the crime of conviction.

DOC staff summarized facility‑level counts and operational practices. Highlights included:

- Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility (female facility, South Burlington): 174 total beds, 133 occupied; general…