Vermont’s prison population has risen near pre-pandemic levels, largely driven by an increase in people held pre-trial, according to the Department of Corrections.
The state’s prison population dropped from around 1,700 in 2019 to around 1,200 in 2021. Pandemic lockdown orders kept people inside, the court system wasn’t fully operating, and the state held fewer people in prisons in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus.
But as Vermont came out of the pandemic, the number of people in its prisons has steadily increased. According to DOC data, as of Wednesday, there were 1,575 people incarcerated in Vermont – a 27% increase from 2021.
“Society reopened, and people are out doing things again, and sometimes they're not doing the things that we want,” DOC Commissioner Nick Deml told lawmakers on Wednesday. “This is the system kind of getting back to its grind.”
The biggest increase has been among the detained population – people who are held in prison, but haven’t been convicted of a crime. Since 2021, the number of men detained in Vermont prisons is up 59.8% and the number of detained women has increased 148.6%, according to DOC.
The increase in pre-trial detentions could be the result of several factors, including the state filling vacant judicial positions, said Defender General Matt Valerio, who oversees the state’s public defenders.
“The judiciary lost a lot of judges immediately post-pandemic, and so they weren't operating at full capacity,” Valerio said in an interview. “And I think constituencies across the state have been demanding that prosecutors be more punitive.”
Criminal justice reform advocates, like Falko Schilling with the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, say they’re concerned that the state has returned to pre-pandemic levels of incarceration.
“We were making smarter decisions about who you're incarcerating and why, and it's been deeply disturbing to see those numbers go up and up and up to historic levels,” Schilling said in an interview.
There has also been a slight increase in the number of federal detainees held in Vermont, but corrections officials say that’s not the primary reason the state’s prison population has risen.
The U.S. Marshals Service has an agreement with the state to hold up to 80 people in Vermont. The people held by the marshals face federal criminal charges.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement also has a memorandum of understanding that allows it to hold people in Vermont prisons.
According to DOC, the average number of ICE detainees in Vermont is 12. The highest numbers that DOC has seen is 22 men and 11 women.
“We’ve seen a slight uptick in the number of detainees, but it’s not astronomical,” Deml told lawmakers.
However, the department is seeing more people brought to Vermont who weren’t arrested here, and ICE detainees are staying in Vermont prisons for longer periods of time, Deml said.
That agreement with ICE has come under scrutiny in recent months amid the Trump Administration's immigration crackdown and some lawmakers have called on Gov. Phil Scott to terminate the contract.
Scott has said he thinks the state should have a contract with ICE and that canceling it would mean people are detained somewhere else. Amanda Wheeler, the governor press secretary, said in an email they’re reviewing the contract and considering changes. The current agreement with ICE expires in August.
