Vermont sheriffs, state officials tell House committee prison transports are understaffed and costly
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Summary
State transport deputies and county sheriffs told the House Corrections and Institutions Committee Jan. 27 that long drives, frequent last‑minute moves and a shrinking per‑diem pool have made prisoner transports costly and logistically complex; officials urged block scheduling and modest budget fixes while noting structural limits.
Tim Lidders Dumont, executive director of the Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs, told the House Corrections and Institutions Committee on Jan. 27 that prisoner transports have become a costly, resource‑heavy operation driven by court schedules, facility locations and medical needs. “Weare at 75% for this fiscal year for overtime,” Lidders Dumont said, summarizing the immediate budget pressure.
Law enforcement officers and sheriffs described a system where long travel times, unexpected detainee moves and court scheduling decisions force deputies into extended shifts. Lidders Dumont said the transport program has 25 full‑time positions, with several vacancies, and that the unit handled roughly 4,035 transports in the last reported fiscal year. “If you do the math, 600 detainees, 21 people on the roads, That's a ton of work,” he said.
Why it matters: Committee members heard that most criminal transports are handled by state transport deputies and county sheriffs, and that relies on a shrinking per‑diem workforce that previously provided surge capacity. Timely transport affects defendantsability to meet lawyers and appear for speedy trial deadlines; inefficient scheduling increases overtime and reduces capacity for emergency arraignments.
Sheriff Jennifer Harlow of Orleans County described daily operations: courts send transport orders to sheriff offices, deputies verify where detainees are located, then perform a handoff at the correctional facility and stay with detainees in the courthouse. Harlow estimated that preparing and handing off a detainee at a facility can take about "20 minutes to half an hour" and said two deputies in a vehicle is preferred for safety, particularly for female detainees.
Washington County Sheriff Mark Poulan, a former transport deputy, and Wyndham County Sheriff Mark Anderson gave examples of operations that stretch staff. Poulan described cases when detainees are moved the night before a hearing, forcing last‑minute recoordination or long weekend travel; Anderson said extraditions "are only done by sheriffs or sheriff's deputies, period," and noted long interstate trips add complexity and cost.
Officials proposed practical, low‑cost steps and short‑term budget fixes. Several counties are piloting block scheduling — concentrating hearings into a mid‑day window — to reduce waiting times and limit overtime. Lidders Dumont said the department has a pending Budget Adjustment Act request of about $180,000 to cover an unfunded position, overtime and per‑diem needs; he said roughly $50,000 of that would go to overtime and $50,000 toward per diem support.
What remains unresolved: Committee members flagged information gaps between courts and corrections about where detainees are housed, difficulties in reassigning beds across facilities on short notice, and national‑level staffing and training trends that have reduced the available pool of part‑time deputies. Lidders Dumont and the sheriffs warned that longer‑term structural changes (for example, shifting all transport responsibility to DOC or building different physical infrastructure) would be expensive and require new investments.
The committee did not take formal action at the hearing; members thanked sheriffs and staff for the briefing and indicated there would be follow‑up conversations with appropriations staff and court operations.
