§ 724. Terms and conditions of community supervision furlough

(a) Authority of the Department. The Department shall identify in the terms and conditions of community supervision furlough those programs necessary to reduce the offender’s risk of reoffense and to promote the offender’s accountability for progress in the reintegration process. The Department shall make all determinations of violations of conditions of community supervision furlough pursuant to this subchapter and any resulting change in status or termination of community supervision furlough status.

(b) 90-day interruption or revocation. Any interruption of an offender’s community supervision furlough after the Department has found a technical violation of furlough conditions shall trigger a Department Central Office case staffing review and Department notification to the Office of the Defender General if the interruption will be 90 days or longer.

(c) Appeal. (1) An offender whose community supervision furlough status is revoked or interrupted for 90 days or longer for a technical violation shall have the right to appeal the Department’s determination to the Civil Division of the Superior Court in accordance with Rule 74 of the Vermont Rules of Civil Procedure. The appeal shall be based on a de novo review of the record. The appellant may offer testimony, and, in its discretion for good cause shown, the court may accept additional evidence to supplement the record. If additional evidence is accepted by the court, the Department, through the Office of the Vermont Attorney General, shall have the opportunity to present rebuttal evidence, including testimony, for the court’s consideration. The notice of appeal filed pursuant to Rule 74 shall include a certification that the court has subject matter jurisdiction. The Department shall file an objection to subject matter jurisdiction within 14 days, which shall stay the filing of the record on appeal until the court issues an order on the Department’s objection. The appellant shall have the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the Department abused its discretion in imposing a furlough revocation or interruption for 90 days or longer pursuant to subsection (d) of this section.

(2) An appeal filed pursuant to this subsection shall be limited to determine whether the decision to interrupt or revoke an offender’s community supervision furlough status was an abuse of discretion by the Department based on the criteria set forth in subdivision (d)(2) of this section. The length of interruption or revocation may be a consideration in the abuse of discretion determination.

(3) An appeal filed pursuant to this subsection shall be brought in the unit of the Superior Court in which the offender resided at the time that the offender’s furlough status was revoked or interrupted or the unit in which the offender is detained after the offender’s furlough status was revoked or interrupted. If an appeal is filed pursuant to this subsection in a unit lacking proper venue, the court, on its own motion or on timely motion of a party to the appeal, may transfer the appeal to a unit having proper venue.

(d) Technical violations.

It shall be abuse of the Department’s discretion to revoke furlough or interrupt furlough status for 90 days or longer for a technical violation, unless:

(1) The offender’s risk to reoffend can no longer be adequately controlled in the community, and no other method to control noncompliance is suitable.

(2) The violation or pattern of violations indicate the offender poses a danger to others.

(3) The offender’s violation is absconding from community supervision furlough. As used in this subdivision, “absconding” means: (Added 2001, No. 61, § 89, eff. June 16, 2001; amended 2019, No. 148 (Adj. Sess.), § 11, eff. Jan. 1, 2021; 2021, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. May 23, 2022; 2023, No. 78, § E.338.4, eff. July 1, 2023.)