MURDER???10-29-15 Vermont:
An attorney who works with Vermont’s aging prison population asked lawmakers Thursday to consider releasing sex offenders and murderers on furlough after they reach age 50.
People age more quickly in custody than in the general population, said Seth Lipschutz, supervising attorney for the Prisoners’ Rights Office at the Office of the Defender General.
Vermont has 70 male inmates and five female inmates in their 60s, 21 male inmates in their 70s, three male inmates in their 80s, and one man in custody who is older than age 90, according to Department of Corrections data presented to lawmakers Thursday.
Lipschutz believes many older inmates are unlikely to commit another crime. He said the change would save state general fund dollars and provide humane treatment for people who have committed serious crimes.
"They’re in my opinion highly unlikely to reoffend, but we’re punishing them,” Lipschutz said. “I question the social utility of leaving individuals in prison for such long periods of time.”
The suggestion comes as lawmakers are considering the need for a Department of Corrections nursing facility to care for senior prisoners or establishing better relationships with nursing homes for released prisoners.
“I’m trying to figure out why simply because I’m over 65 I’m less dangerous,” said Sen. Peg Flory, 67, a Rutland County Republican.
Other committee members said risk might vary according to each prisoner’s condition.
“If a person’s in a wheelchair, it’s awfully hard to run away,” said Sen. Dick Sears, 72, D-Bennington, who last year introduced a bill that would have granted furlough to nonviolent offenders at age 65 after a minimum sentence. The bill passed the Senate with some changes but did not pass the House of Representatives.
The group of lawmakers, operating as the Joint Legislative Justice Oversight Committee, is expected to make recommendations in January about whether and how Vermont could close a prison in 2017, build a centralized prison facility or continue to reduce the number of prisoners held out-of-state. ..Source.. by April Burbank
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