Vermont Parole & Probation Facing Cuts To Staff
As the Vermont Department of Corrections has cut positions in the last two years, jobs on the front lines at probation and parole offices have largely been spared. But that may be about to change, corrections officials said this week. Reported by the Times Argus.
Around the state, people who work in the probation and parole unit of the Vermont Department of Corrections were among the 24 Corrections employees who accepted the state’s early retirement offer, part of an effort to reduce the state budget in response to declining revenues because of the recession. The loss of probation and parole officers and community corrections officers will mean there are fewer people monitoring convicts who are serving their sentences in Vermont communities. Those boots-on-the-ground positions could still be filled, but officials remain non-committal when asked whether the departing employees will be replaced, and they left open the possibility that those positions would remain vacant.
“The essence is that while all these other cuts have happened across state government and other agencies, we’ve been fortunate to almost entirely spare probation and parole,” said Rob Hofmann, the secretary of the Agency of Human Services, which includes the Department of Corrections. “But as the state revenues decline, it’s going to be increasingly difficult to continue to do that.” Out of the 24 early retirements in Corrections, eight positions will remain vacant, but as of now, it’s unclear which positions those will be, said Corrections Commissioner Andy Pallito.
In Barre, two probation and parole officers left their jobs at the end of August. In Rutland, a community corrections officer retired early, which leaves the field office there with two vacant positions in that category after another community corrections officer quit, said Michael O’Malley, the district manager in Rutland. An administrative assistant also retired early, said O’Malley, and the office has lost a secretary, a program manager and a victims advocate to layoffs. In addition, the top three managers at the probation and parole unit of the department of Corrections retired early, taking a combined 102 years of experience with them, said Pallito. They are already recruiting to fill the top management position at probation and parole, said Pallito.
The cuts come at the same time the number of incarcerated prisoners in the state has increased by about 100 in the last year, said Pallito. The number of probation and parole cases in the state has increased as well after a roughly 20 percent decline in the past five years, said Pallito …
“I’m not overly worried,” said Pallito. Pallito acknowledged “the more staff we have, the more public safety we can deliver,” but said that as long as Corrections doesn’t violate the statute that limits the number of cases probation and parole officers can manage, the department should be able to fulfill its mission of keeping the public safe. As for the loss of experienced managers, Pallito acknowledged it left a vacuum, complicated by the fact that it has happened all at once. “Any time when you have that much knowledge walk out the door, there is a little bit of a gap,” said Pallito. But he said people are stepping up to the plate and the department will be fine in the short and long term – as long as the economy bounces back.
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