Shortage of NH Treatment Programs Delays Release
State prison inmates trying to earn parole, many of them with alcohol and drug abuse backgrounds, face a shortage of treatment programs they need to attend as a condition of being set free. Alan Coburn, a member of the Adult Parole Board, told a committee studying parole issues yesterday that because treatment options are few, many inmates ready for release remain behind bars for up to a year while they wait their turn. Story in the Union Leader.
Substance abuse treatment and mental health counseling are considered keys to the success of a new state plan to move inmates out of prison more quickly, and focus corrections costs on the most dangerous inmates in custody.
The majority of state prison inmates have drug or alcohol problems, studies have shown. Coburn said demand for treatment upon release is so great that if beds were to double at the Tirrell House he oversees in Manchester, “those beds would be full tomorrow.” The number of treatment facilities around the state has steadily eroded over the past decade, complicating parole decisions, Coburn said.
“In many cases, we feel if we do release them before treatment, they’ll never make it to the program because they’ll relapse while they’re outside waiting,” he said.
The study committee on parole practices was established by the Legislature before it passed the more comprehensive Justice Reinvestment Act. The act is meant to cut what the state spends on corrections facilities. It will allow most non-violent inmates to be paroled after they serve 120 percent of their minimum sentence. They will be expected to stick to counseling sessions and other requirements spelled out in the conditions of their parole, or face a guaranteed 90-day return trip to prison.
The bill was supported by Gov. John Lynch, corrections officials, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Broderick and Attorney General Michael Delaney. Parole officers opposed the bill, saying their workload is already so high they will be unable to keep up with the increased number of parolees.
John Eckert, executive assistant to the Adult Parole Board, said that records from the Corrections department show that more inmates are being sent to prison for new offenses, not parole violations on things like alcohol abuse of moving without notifying parole officers.
Between September 2009 and March 2010, he said, roughly 60 percent of inmates were committed on new criminal activity, about double what had been the case until recently.
Eckert said he disagrees with statements made at an earlier committee meeting that it is difficult for inmates to win parole.
“We parole at least three-quarters of the people we see, which nationally is about the highest,” Eckert said. “I’ve had a consultant come in and say, ‘Wow. That’s awfully high.’/” It is common for parole to be approved, but for an inmate to linger behind bars waiting for treatment or trying to arrange for a job or rental housing, Eckert said.
Joseph Diament, who heads the new community corrections division at the Department of Corrections, said after the hearing that treatment facilities that closed did so because of low reimbursement from private insurers, not because of state budget cuts.
Diament said the state is taking bids from companies that would set up a series of state operated counseling centers to support parolees and probationers. The centers would be operated through a $900,000 federal grant.
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