Vermont Is Trying To Shrink Its Prison Population, But 350 Inmates Are Locked Up Past Their Minimums

Prisons are like cruise ships or nursing homes: they are among the riskiest places to be during this pandemic.

Today, about 350 Vermont inmates are past their minimum sentences and could be released. And while Vermont prison officials frequently mention that the department has reduced its population by nearly 300 people in response to the coronavirus, an analysis of DOC policy and data suggests these reductions reflect changes in who is going to prison, rather than who is getting out.

In 2016, when Terry Parson was 36 and living in Barton, the state convicted him of selling methamphetamine and conspiring to manufacture it. He was sentenced to a minimum of two years in prison.

Today, Parson is one of 350 inmates who could be released — either on parole or on furlough, two programs which allow inmates to finish their sentences in the community, so long as they abide by a strict set of rules.

“I could be released at any time,” he said.

Read the rest of this story at VPR’s website.