STATE OF VERMONT
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY
VERMONT STATE POLICE
CASE#: 25B1010524
RANK/TROOPER FULL NAME: Detective Sgt. Daniel Hall
STATION: Vermont State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations Troop B East – Westminster
CONTACT#: 802-722-4600
DATE/TIME: 9:40 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025
INCIDENT LOCATION: Southern State Correctional Facility, Springfield, VT
INCIDENT TYPE: Death investigation
VICTIM: Gregory H. Penn
AGE: 68
CITY, STATE OF RESIDENCE: Rutland, VT
UPDATE:
On 3/23/26, the Vermont State Police received the final autopsy for Gregory Penn. The Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington, determined the cause of death to be from complications of an ongoing medical issue. The manner of death was classified as natural.
***Initial news release, 9:40 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025***
SUMMARY OF INCIDENT:
The Vermont State Police is investigating the death of a man who was in the custody of the Vermont Department of Corrections. VSP was notified at about 9:40 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, that Gregory H. Penn, a 68-year-old inmate at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield, had died while receiving palliative care in the prison infirmary for a terminal illness. Per standard protocol, a detective from the Vermont State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations was assigned to the case and began a death investigation.
The death does not appear to be suspicious. Mr. Penn had been in the infirmary following his diagnosis this fall. He was pronounced dead at about 9:25 p.m. Sunday. Following normal procedures when an inmate dies, an autopsy will be performed at the Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington to confirm the cause and manner of death.
According to Department of Corrections records, Mr. Penn had been incarcerated since December 2008 on a 40-year sentence following convictions for aggravated sexual assault and attempted sexual assault.
No additional details are available from the Vermont State Police. Further questions should be directed to the Department of Corrections.
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