Vermont State police officers shot and injured Eric Jackson of Lyndonville Wednesday morning, after he allegedly stole a car and led officers on a high-speed chase.
Police said they fired on Jackson after he repeatedly used the vehicle to ram their cruisers.
After the shooting, police disclosed that Jackson was on “escape status” from the Department of Corrections.
But that doesn’t mean Jackson made a daring escape from one of the state’s correctional facilities.
Before he was listed as on “escape status” by Vermont officials, Eric Jackson was one of more than 900 convicts in the state’s furlough program.
"It's a criminal offense called escape. It's really a walk away. It's not like an escape where they're breaking out of a jail." - Dale Crook, Department of Corrections
The program allows some incarcerated Vermonters to finish their sentences under supervised conditions in the community.
Dale Crook, director of field services for the Department of Corrections, oversees the furlough program. He says furloughs are often helpful for inmates.
“This allows us to have the release under supervision to assist them in getting their lives in order,” he said.
But a small minority of offenders evade corrections officials and join 20 to 30 others on escape status.
“It’s a criminal offense called escape,” Crook said. “It’s really a walk away. It’s not like an escape where they’re breaking out of a jail. So they’re already in the community and they’ve gone missing or we’ve been unable to locate them.”
When corrections officials can’t find someone, an arrest warrant goes out for the escape. The new crime can carry a sentence of up to five years, according to state law.
Eric Jackson’s escape ended in a high-speed chase and a shooting – both things police go great lengths to avoid. But Crook said the Department of Corrections doesn’t generally grant furlough if people seem like they might pose a threat to the community.
“I wouldn’t consider them really dangerous individuals that are going out on escape,” he said.
More often, Crook said, people dodge officials to find drugs and they’re picked up inside Vermont and charged with the new offense.
Despite the small minority of abusers, Crook said the furlough system works well.
“It’s really an in between between jail and parole,” he said. “Most states just have parole. So this is kind of an in between that allows us to provide supervision and support and structure that does benefit the community because people are going to be reintegrating back under supervision instead of just opening the door and letting them go.”
More than 95 percent of people on furlough are accounted for and may never be incarcerated again. The 20 people on escape status will likely find themselves back in prison soon.
Meanwhile, the two officers involved in the Wednesday shooting are on paid leave while the incident is investigated. That is standard procedure in cases of officer-involved shooting.
