On any given day during the early and mid-1980's, the 12 inmates on furlough in the community made up about 2 percent of the sentenced population. In 1990, this percentage increased to about 10 percent of the sentenced population. The policy of supervising furloughed inmates began in 1988 and spread in 1989. Now almost all inmates on prerelease furlough in Vermont are intensively supervised. The prerelease furlough program has become an important means of relieving prison overcrowding in Vermont. However, a comparison of 36 offenders furloughed between January 1986 and April 1988 and 69 offenders furloughed from the same facility between March 1988 and November 1991 revealed that intensive supervision improved offender control but did not affect public safety. Thus, it is not clear whether the benefits gained in offender control are worth the costs in resources and in the further prison crowding resulting from returning offenders. Vermont's furlough program is one reason that the State has never been under court order to release inmates because of overcrowding. However, resources are unlikely to continue to be sufficient to continue intensive supervision. At that point, supervision practices may become both less intensive and more appropriate. Figures and footnotes