Vermont Discontinues Inmate Contract with Massachusetts Jail

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A year after Vermont inmates at a Massachusetts jail rioted over conditions there, Vermont has discontinued the contract under which it sent inmates there.

Vermont Corrections Commissioner Andy Pallito says the Franklin County Jail and House of Detention in Greenfield reduced the number of Vermont inmates it would take from about 100 to below 50. He says at that point, it didn't make sense to continue the contract, which was allowed to expire June 30.

Vermont inmates rioted at the jail last July, amid complaints about conditions at the facility.

Pallito says Vermont had put out a request for proposals for jails near Vermont to house inmates from the state, but nothing satisfactory was found.

That means Vermont's out-of-state inmates now go to private prisons in Kentucky and Arizona.

Copyright 2012, the Associated Press.