(Host) The Vermont Department of Corrections is reporting a gradual decrease in the number of people in jail.
Andrew Pallito is Commissioner of the department. He says the prison population reached an all-time high in October of last year, with over 2300 people in jail. The state is now housing about 2100 inmates.
Pallito says the decrease is a result of the governor’s ‘Challenges for Change’ budget initiative.
He says the state has focused on finding better ways to move people through the system and into transitional housing.
(Pallito) "I would say we’re doing a better job as a system of identifying who really needs to be in jail and who doesn’t need to be in jail."
(Host) Pallito says that the department has been able to release more individuals while still keeping communities safe.
(Pallito) "We didn’t do it without investments, we’ve invested in electronic monitoring, and we have invested as a state in transitional housing, so we’re not just putting people out, we’re setting them up into supportive arrangements where they have supervision."
(Host) Pallito says he’ll know by the end of the year how much of the Challenges for Change goal has been reached.