Vermont out-of-state prison contract expiring

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The Vermont Department of Corrections is searching for a contractor to house about 500 inmates who are now serving their sentences in Kentucky and Arizona.

The current four-year contract with the Corrections Corporation of America is going to expire next July.

For almost two -decades the department has sent hundreds of inmates to prisons and jails in other states because there aren’t enough prison beds in the state.

It costs Vermont about half as much to house in inmate out-of-state than it does in the state’s prisons.

Corrections Commissions Any Pallito tells Vermont Public Radio (http://bit.ly/1u60N2a ) there are about 100,000 beds on the market across the country and Vermont needs between 400 and 600.

Pallito says it’s unlikely any contract will be close to Vermont.

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Information from: WVPS-FM, http://www.vpr.net

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