Lawmakers examine Department of Corrections policy keeping more people in prison past their minimum sentences

Vermont lawmakers responsible for overseeing the Department of Corrections are taking a closer look at a department policy that has expanded the criteria the department uses to keep people incarcerated beyond their minimum sentence.

The policy, known as risk containment, has prompted concern from advocates and lawsuits from incarcerated people. VtDigger first reported on the policy in July.

Now, lawmakers are scrutinizing the policy, with some expressing concern. In a hearing last week, the Joint Legislative Justice Oversight Committee heard testimony about risk containment, and legislators indicated that they intend to examine it in the upcoming legislative session.

The policy outlines how the department will designate individuals as “risk contained.” People who receive the designation are not released on furlough, a form of supervised release, and do not receive a positive parole recommendation from the department. To designate a person as risk contained, a committee of corrections employees has to determine that the individual “constitutes a threat to the life, safety, or physical or mental well-being of others.”

The department has broad discretion over when to release someone between their minimum and maximum sentence, but some prosecutors and defense attorneys told VtDigger that policy changes have altered norms in the system. In court documents, one judge wrote that the policy “had the likely effect of significantly increasing the length of the in-prison incarcerative portion of a to-serve sentence that a person with (the defendant’s) criminal history would serve.”

Risk containment was first introduced in July 2024, when it replaced the department’s former “Level C” policy. It was then broadened in April 2025 to make anyone with a felony conviction eligible for risk containment review. Prior to April 2025, only people convicted of a sex offense or a listed offense –– a category that includes some especially serious crimes –– could be considered for risk containment.

The review process to receive the classification has also left some people incarcerated past their minimum sentence for months, as VtDigger previously reported. Corrections officials told lawmakers in the hearing last week that they had cleared “a good amount” of the backlog of cases for people who were incarcerated past their minimum while awaiting a risk containment determination.

Corrections Commissioner Jon Murad defended the policy in his testimony to the committee.

“It is in keeping with our obligation to protect the people and the property from offenders of the criminal law,” Murad said, “and it is in keeping with our obligation to provide treatment and care for those who are given to us by the courts, so that they may successfully return, eventually, to the community.”

Murad also said that he thought concerns may be out of proportion.

“I think there is a certain element of people making this a more ominous and troubling program than it is, considering it is something that has been long the practice and prerogative of the Department of Corrections, even if under a different name,” he told the committee.

Seventy-seven people were designated as risk contained as of Sept. 1, according to data presented by the department. That includes some people previously classified as Level C.

Defender General Matt Valerio, who also testified at the hearing, said that risk containment is causing people to remain incarcerated who previously would have been released. That includes some people who were sentenced before the new policy took effect. Valerio’s office is representing multiple people in cases challenging the policy, he said.

“Clearly what has happened is that there has been a second look at sentencing by the department, which will hold these people longer than they would have reasonably expected at the time they were originally sentenced,” Valerio said.

He also expressed concern about individuals’ abilities to meaningfully challenge the classification without access to legal counsel.

In interviews this week, lawmakers on the committee said they expected the Legislature to continue to scrutinize the policy in the upcoming session.

“There are a lot of questions here,” said Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden Southeast, who serves as vice chair of the justice oversight committee.

“Why did it change? How did it change? What information was being sent out, if any at all, to folks who were affected? All of those things just are problematic,” she added.

According to previous court testimony from Jordan Pasha, a corrections employee who oversees the risk containment process, Gov. Phil Scott sparked the policy change.

“We had received direction from the Governor’s office to look at mechanisms that the department had to slow down releases in the interest of public and victim safety,” Pasha testified in December 2025, according to a hearing transcript obtained by VtDigger.

Rep. Martin LaLonde, D-South Burlington, and Sen. Robert Plunkett, D-Bennington, two of Lyons’ colleagues on the committee, also said they wanted more information about how the department makes risk containment decisions.

LaLonde, who also chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said he is concerned about the department considering a person’s convictions in risk containment decisions, because that information is already taken into account in the sentencing process.

“It’s the judicial process that determines what the length of incarceration should be, both the minimum and maximum,” he said in an interview. “They shouldn’t be considering those factors again and determining whether to hold the person past their minimum. That’s, you know, essentially that’s de facto resentencing.”

Plunkett, who works as a prosecutor in addition to his role in the Legislature, said in an interview that he didn’t share the concern about considering a person’s convictions in a risk containment decision.

“I’d be shocked if DOC didn’t take every factor into consideration when they made their determinations,” he told VtDigger. Plunkett also emphasized that there was no guarantee that a person would get released at their minimum sentence.

Last week’s hearing seems likely to be just the beginning.

“I’m sure this is going to continue being looked at,” Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield, who is chair of the oversight committee and leads the House Corrections and Institutions Committee, said during the hearing.

“Be prepared once the new session starts.”

This story was first published by VtDigger and is republished with permission as part of the Vermont Journalism Trust’s Community News Sharing Project.