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Committee studies expanding earned-time credits to parolees and for education; administrative, victim-notification hurdles noted
Summary
Lawmakers and corrections officials discussed proposals to let parolees earn the existing 7-days-per-month earned-time credit and to grant reductions for education/apprenticeships; witnesses warned Vermont’s victim-notification system and DOC staffing may be unable to support an expansion.
The Joint Justice Oversight Committee on Oct. 13 reviewed proposals to expand Vermont’s earned-time program so that people on parole could continue to accrue credits and so that offenders could earn reductions for education or apprenticeship programs.
Ben Dobrodsky of the Office of Legislative Council summarized the draft approach and cited the current statutory framework and DOC rule, saying it "allows an eligible offender to earn a reduction of 7 days from the offender sentence for each month the offender is not adjudicated of a major disciplinary violation" and that sample bill language would extend similar reductions to parolees and to those completing approved educational or vocational programs.
Committee members and DOC officials raised practical questions about implementation: who would validate attendance and coursework, how monthly recordkeeping would work, and whether supervisors (DOC or the Parole Board) would have the staff and technical capacity to track expanded credits. Mary Jane Ainsworth, Director of the Parole Board, said parole panels currently review eligibility and that the board works collaboratively with DOC but "we do not have the capacity to be adding the earned time on a parole sentence" without additional staffing.
DOC operations manager Dr. Rutherford clarified that a 2021 one-time set of disqualifying-offense rules applied only to those serving on Jan. 1, 2021, and noted that extending earned time to an additional population would increase sentence-calculation volume and administrative burden. "We did pick up that initial earn time lift," he said, "but I don't think we have room to do it further" without extra resources.
Supporters of expansion said extending earned time to parolees could reduce inequities between community-release statuses; opponents and some advocates warned that education-based credits could favor people with access to programs. The committee’s staff deadline for a recommendation was noted; Ben Dobrodsky said the committee is working toward making a recommendation by its next meeting and flagged November 15 as a target date to transmit materials to other legislative committees.
The committee did not take formal action at the session; members requested additional data on sentence calculations, program validation procedures, and the capacity of the victim-notification system to serve expanded earned-time reporting.
