Vermont
Step 3: Quantify savings and reinvest in select high-stakes communities.
The reorganization of Vermont’s correctional facilities will generate savings in the state corrections budget that policymakers can reinvest in the resources and programs included in the legislative package. In turn, the policies and programs that the state enacted, if implemented effectively, are expected to avert some of the projected growth in the Department of Corrections’ (DOC) prison population: the revised prison population projection shows that the state will need 436 fewer beds by FY 2018. These bed savings will help reduce the state’s need to contract for out-of-state capacity to house the prison population and avert the need to construct new prisons, yielding an estimated $54 million in net savings between FY 2009 and FY 2018.9
State officials developed a plan to reinvest $3.9 million of the projected savings over the next two years. In FY 2009, the state will reallocate $600,000 to design and implement an assessment tool to identify people with substance abuse needs prior to release and expand in-prison substance abuse treatment and vocational training in a new 100-bed work camp for men. The plan also reallocates $3.3 million in FY 2010 for electronic monitoring, a new residential component for the Intensive Substance Abuse Program, and increases funding for the transitional housing program to include housing assistance and life skills training.10
- Ibid, Council of State Governments Justice Center.
- Ibid, Vermont Legislature.