Opinion ID: 782843
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Vermont's Extended Furlough

Text: 21 28 V.S.A. § 808(a) permits the DOC to grant furlough to a prisoner for a variety of reasons. 6 The statute states that furlough is not equivalent to parole: 22 (c) The extension of the limits of the place of confinement authorized by this section shall in no way be interpreted as a probation or parole of the inmate, but shall constitute solely a permitted extension of the limits of the place of confinement for inmates committed to the custody of the commissioner. 23 28 V.S.A. § 808(c). That Vermont's furlough statute expressly denies equivalence between furlough and parole is of little assistance in our inquiry, however. If the conditions of extended furlough are sufficiently similar to the conditions of parole described in Morrissey, then a furloughee has a liberty interest in furlough that commands due process protection. 24 Under the authority of 28 V.S.A. § 102(c)(1), the Commissioner of the DOC may promulgate rules and regulations to discharge his or her responsibilities. DOC Directive 372.03, entitled Furlough Revocation, sets forth the basic contours of the procedures for revoking furloughs. The directive distinguishes between furlough for fewer than fifteen days and furlough for fifteen or more days. DOC Directive 372.03, at 1. The second type of furlough, as noted above, is called extended furlough, and may be renewed every fifteen days. DOC Directive 372.03, at 1, set forth in pertinent part in footnote 1, above. 25 Under the directive, non-extended furlough may be terminated at any time at the discretion of the person who authorized the furlough.... No formal procedures are required. DOC Directive 372.03, at 2. Extended furlough, by contrast, may only be terminated for any behavior that may be detrimental to the offender, the community, the facility or the Department of Corrections, and such termination must be preceded by an administrative due process hearing. DOC Directive 372.03, at 3. 26 It is clear that these furlough protections apply to termination of extended furlough: During the course of a fifteen-day period of extended furlough, DOC may not terminate the furlough without a hearing. But it is not clear whether they apply to the refusal to renew extended furlough: Neither the Vermont statute nor DOC regulations tell us whether DOC may, at the end of a given fifteen day period, decline to renew furlough without giving the furloughee a hearing, or whether such refusal must also be preceded by a hearing and justified by a finding of improper behavior. 27 We think that this question must be resolved in order for us to determine whether Vermont's extended furlough is sufficiently similar to Morrissey 's characterization of parole to constitute a liberty interest requiring due process protection. In Morrissey, the Court focused on the parolee's reliance on at least an implicit promise that parole will be revoked only if he fails to live up to the parole conditions. 408 U.S. at 482, 92 S.Ct. 2593. If extended furlough must be renewed every fifteen days absent a finding of improper behavior, there is a good argument to be made that the furloughee has a reasonable expectation that he or she will maintain his or her status so long as he or she behaves properly. If, on the other hand, DOC may decline to renew extended furlough entirely at its discretion, the argument that the furloughee has such an expectation is severely, perhaps fatally, weakened. 28