Some of the 865 male sex offenders in the New Hampshire state prison system are being held past their parole dates because there are just 90 spots in the treatment program most of them must take.

One man told the Concord Monitor that he wasn’t allowed to apply for the 18-month program until a year after he became eligible for parole. Keeping an inmate in prison one year past his parole date costs about $30,000, versus $800 for a year of parole.

Prison officials acknowledge the backlog but say some prisoners cause the delay themselves. Sex offenders can’t begin the program until they admit to their offense and those who misbehave while enrolled can get kicked out of the program.

vericatrajkova Inmate Programs, New Hampshire, Sex Offenders

New Hampshire’s newest correctional facility is a three-story brick walk-up that looks like any other along Manchester’s upper Elm Street. But step inside Hampshire House and enter the highly structured and supervised world of a federal prison inmate.  This report from the Manchester Union-Leader.

The newly renovated townhouse … is a locked facility laced with surveillance cameras. Here federal offenders serve out the final two to six months of their sentences. Inmates must submit to random and routine drug testing, thrice nightly head counts, spot room checks, pat downs and, once employed, rigorous staff oversight.   “Everything they do is structured,” Hampshire House Director John L. Sullivan explained during a tour of the building yesterday.   “They are still technically inmates. If they fail our program, they go back to prison,” he said.

The first inmate arrives tomorrow. By June, there should be a waiting list to get one of the 30 beds — 20 for men and 10 for women, Sullivan said … Up until now, the only halfway houses available to federal inmates convicted of New Hampshire offenses were in Boston …

Inmates first undergo a skills assessment and training for employment readiness, money management, parenting and other life skills, Sullivan said. They then must get full-time work and connect with counseling or other social service programs. Inmates gradually earn more freedoms — such as a pass to briefly visit with family or go out to dinner — as they prove they can handle them, Sullivan said.   “When they leave here, they will have a pretty good chance of making it in a community,” he explained …

There aren’t enough halfway houses to accommodate every returning inmate, Sullivan said. But every inmate isn’t suitable for a halfway house …”The Bureau of Prisons does not send out serious, violent criminals and serious sex offenders,” he said.

vericatrajkova Federal Systems, New Hampshire, Re-Entry

New Hampshire Corrections Commissioner William Wrenn, with the support of Gov. John Lynch, is creating a new state division to help keep parolees free even after they have violated their parole agreements, as long as the violations do not involve new crimes.

Wrenn estimates the division, called the Division of Community Corrections, will cost between $1.4 million and $2 million and involve hiring between 10 and 20 case managers at 10 local parole offices around the state. He hopes to have at least some of the programs up and running by summer.   “I’d like these positions to work with individuals out in the community, keep (parolees) in their houses and jobs and with their families,” Wrenn said. “If they do step over the line, deal with them there; don’t always bring them back.”   The aim is to help parolees succeed and reduce costs, Wrenn said …

According to Wrenn, keeping an inmate in prison costs about $100 a day plus their full medical care, while keeping someone under the direction of field services costs about $2.80 a day. Even if the cost went up to $5 to $10 a day with new programming, he said, that would be a substantial savings …

Veteran probation/parole officer Keith Phelps said the pressure is coming from the top of the Department of Corrections to work with offenders in the community rather than return them to prison when they violate parole. He also said he understands why Commissioner Wrenn is exerting that pressure.  “It’s budget-driven. I blame the Legislature for slashing budgets,” Phelps said … Keeping parole violators out of prison without adequate services only increases the likelihood they will commit new crimes, and there are not enough substance-abuse and mental health treatment options available in the community, Phelps said …

Paul Cascio, a corrections lieutenant and president of local 255 of the New England Police Benevolent Association… believes budget dollars, not public safety, are driving changes in the DOC … Cascio said Wrenn’s parole plan won’t work because there aren’t enough treatment programs in the community to support it, especially when some parole and probation officers’ caseloads already are more than double what they should be. “If you’re going to put more people on the street, more supervision is required — more enforcement and more programs,” Cascio said. “There are not enough programs to meet the needs of people getting out of prison already” …

Parole Board Chairman George Khoury said Wrenn promised there would be more substance-abuse counselors at local parole offices.  Khoury also expects greater participation from community treatment services working under contract with the state.   “Nobody is minimizing how difficult it is to overcome drug and alcohol problems, but we need to give them all the assistance we can,” Khoury said. “Our job is to do the best we can and never at the public risk.”  In preparing to open the Division of Community Corrections, according to Wrenn, state officials are working with the National Institute of Corrections on writing policies and procedures.

vericatrajkova Community Corrections, New Hampshire, Probation and Parole

Some states are starting to believe that the solution to problems with corrections is not to throw more money at the system. Instead, they’re talking about putting fewer people in jail.  This report from National Public Radio.

“There’s this long New Hampshire tradition of tough on crime, but there’s a huge New Hampshire tradition of being pretty darn stingy,” says Chris Keating, executive director of New Hampshire’s public defender program.   But being tough on crime can be expensive, and Keating says in New Hampshire, the tradition of stinginess is starting to win out. The insider term is “decriminalization.”

New Hampshire’s state Legislature is considering measures that would take away the threat of jail time for some offenses, and in the U.S., the government only has to pay for a defense lawyer when poor defendants face incarceration. So taking away the threat of jail saves money, and Keating believes New Hampshire is trying to distinguish between people society is mad at and people society is afraid of … “I think they want to move these people and cases through the system because they realize they’ve got finite resources and these cases are just bogging them down.”

William Wren, the commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Corrections, says tough budget prospects are forcing him to look at closing a whole prison and laying off 97 positions. For that reason, Wren wants fewer people sent to prison, and he is asking lawmakers to examine which crimes really deserve time behind bars.   “I’ll give you a good example — our theft statutes, the threshold dollar amount for going from a misdemeanor to a felony crime is $500. That was set 31 years ago. What $500 was 31 years ago is a lot different from what it would equate to today,” he says.

These kinds of conversations are happening across the country.

Chief public defender for Massachusetts, Bill Leahy, says cuts have to come from somewhere.  “We’ve got a 3 1/2 billion-dollar deficiency in Massachusetts this year, all kinds of worthy programs are being cut, and we’re continuing to waste money on prosecuting crimes that are criminal only by statute,” Leahy says …

“I think it’s a major shift,” says David Carroll, the director of research for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association. “We’ve had a hangover on the tough-on-crime movement and realize that to keep going down that path we’re only escalating costs at ever greater rates.”

vericatrajkova Economic Issues, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Re-Entry

In this time of economic turmoil some legislators in Kansas and elsewhere say the price of justice is too high. They have introduced legislation to take the death penalty off the books over financial concerns. CNN reports.

“Because of the downturn in the national economy, we are facing one of the largest budget deficits in our history,” state Sen. Carolyn McGinn, a Republican, said in an opinion piece posted on TheKansan.com Friday. “What is certain is we are all going to have to look at new and creative ways to fund state and community programs and services.”   The state would save more than $500,000 per case by not seeking the death penalty, McGinn wrote, money that could be used for “prevention programs, community corrections and other programs to decrease future crimes against society” …

A 2008 study by the Urban Institute, an economic and social policy research group based in Maryland, found that an average capital murder trial in the state resulting in a death sentence costs about $3 million, or $1.9 million more than a case where the death penalty is not sought.  A similar 2008 study by the ACLU in Northern California found that a death- penalty trial costs about $1.1 million more than a non-death-penalty trial in California …

New Mexico, which also has a bill before the Legislature to abolish the death penalty, has already seen a case where costs dictated the outcome. Last year, the New Mexico attorney general’s office agreed to drop the death penalty for two inmates involved in the stabbing death of a guard, Ralph Garcia, during a 1999 riot at the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility.   The change came after the state Legislature failed to provide additional funding for defense attorneys contracted to handle the case by the public defender’s office.  In court documents filed at the time, Attorney General Gary King said his office could not “in good faith under these circumstances” pursue the death penalty against Robert Young and Reis Lopez …

In Colorado, House Bill 1274 proposes to put the anticipated savings from abolishing the death penalty toward the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s cold case homicide team.

Other States with bills for an economic end to the death penalty include Washington, Montana, Nebraska, Texas and New Hampshire.

vericatrajkova California, Colorado, Death Penalty, Economic Issues, Kansas, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Texas, Washington

New Hampshire Corrections Commissioner William Wrenn is looking at new ways to reduce the state-prison population while putting on temporary hold another new program that offers early release to inmates the department deems suitable.

Wrenn also defended remarks to lawmakers regarding whether the state should incarcerate habitual offenders.   On average, about 500 paroled inmates return every year for violating the terms of their release, the commissioner said. Reducing recidivism could mean substantial savings, given that there are 2,600 inmates in the entire prison system in facilities in Concord, Goffstown, Berlin and Laconia.   The Laconia facility is scheduled to close due to the state’s budget crunch, with an anticipated savings of $8 million to $10 million …

Wrenn … wants to put case managers and program workers in district probation and parole offices to provide additional treatment at the local level, and leave supervision and enforcement to parole officers.  The prison staff also needs to help inmates find housing and jobs after their parole plans are approved, he said.

New Hampshire has about a 40 percent recidivism rate. Reducing that even modestly could free up about 300 beds a year, Wrenn said.  “That’s what we’re hoping for. In closing Laconia, we have to do a better job keeping people on the outside. We’re not going to have a lot of bed space,” Wrenn said, adding that he also plans to improve education programs …

A program allowing inmates to file petitions with a newly formed clemency board to seek early release, quietly launched Jan. 1, has been temporarily suspended while the new policy is rewritten, Wrenn said.   Of the nine inmates whose petitions already have been heard by the board, only a few will likely be accepted, Wrenn said. The hearings are not open to the public. A revised law requires Wrenn to accept applications for early release and to make recommendations to the sentencing court if the inmate is a “suitable” candidate. A judge will have the final say.

The policy outlines how inmates can become suitable candidates by completing programs and remaining on good behavior. All inmates are eligible to apply except those convicted of capital or first-degree murder and those deemed to be sexually violent predators, a small percentage of all sex offenders.

The Union-Leader article has a lot more information.

vericatrajkova Early Release, New Hampshire, Overcrowding, Recidivism

Early reports by AP from the New Hampshire Governor’s budget proposal include closing the state prison in Laconia, speeding up deportation of illegal immigrants in custody and making a gym at the Berlin prison into a dorm to handle about 100 Laconia inmates.

vericatrajkova Economic Issues, New Hampshire

As the recession worsens, some New Hampshire towns are asking Grafton County to hold off on plans to build a new jail.

With at least 15 towns calling for a delay in construction of a new county jail, two of the three Grafton County Commissioners last week said they are open to scaling back the size of the $38 million project.   But, they said, the existing facility, which includes sections that are more than 110 years old and is often overcrowded, still needs to be replaced soon … The current jail was designed to hold about 70 inmates but often sees its headcount top 100. A new 108,000-square-foot, 206-bed jail was narrowly approved by the county delegation — comprising House members from Grafton County — last winter, but the jail project has been temporarily stalled by a court case challenging the vote on the construction bond. A Superior Court judge upheld the vote, but the plaintiffs might appeal.  Besides reducing overcrowding, the new facility would also have space for substance-abuse treatment programs and other activities corrections officials say are critical to reducing recidivism …

“I am willing to compromise a bit on the size of the jail, because I just feel so strongly we need this new facility now,” added Commissioner Martha Richards, a Holderness Democrat. “If we can knock off a few million here and there with some changes, I’m all for that. But I will not in one iota change that mental health unit we need so badly.”   The third commissioner, Bath Republican Ray Burton, said he was opposed to delaying the project but said the jail plans are “an ongoing process”.   “In my opinion, (the existing) jail is not a safe facility for the number of inmates that are put in there by the court,” Burton said.

The article in the Valley News contains a fuller account.

vericatrajkova County-City Issues, Economic Issues, NH Grafton County

New Hampshire’s corrections budget is one of the biggest and one of the hardest departments to cut because Commissioner William Wrenn can’t simply close his prisons and send inmates home. But many think this economic crisis might be the state’s best chance to find cheaper, better ways to do its prison business.

“There is nothing like lean times to make you smart,” said former speaker of the New Hampshire House Donna Sytek, who saw lawmakers through a similarly severe downturn in the 1990s. It was out of that crisis that Sytek persuaded lawmakers to rewrite misdemeanor laws so more minor offenses could be punished with just a fine, not jail time.  Doing so has meant big savings for the state, she said. Those low-level offenders weren’t getting jail time anyway, but because incarceration was a possibility on the books, the state was obligated to provide a free lawyer to those poor defendants. By eliminating the threat of jail time, the state eliminated its obligation to pay for lawyers in minor cases … “It’s like eating an elephant,” she said of tackling the rising costs of corrections, whose budget was about $107 million last year.    “You have to start somewhere. Start nibbling at the ear. You can’t do it all at once.”

Wrenn has delivered his requested budget to Gov. John Lynch, but the details and bottom line won’t be shared with the public or lawmakers until mid-February, when Lynch unveils his proposed budget. In the meantime, Wrenn has been preparing legislators to think beyond budget cuts as the solution to the corrections budget.  For one, he’s asked legislators to rethink the threshold for theft cases. Stealing something worth $500 or more can carry a prison sentence, lesser values are punishable by a fine or jail time. Wrenn likes to say a good bike costs more than $500 and wonders whether stealing one is severe enough to send someone to prison, where a year’s stay costs taxpayers about $32,000. “Is that being smart on crime?” Wrenn asked in a recent interview …

Inmates cost the state not only the $32,000 a year for basic incarceration, but also thousands in medical bills because the state is obligated to cover medical expenses when inmates are behind bars. Inmates supervised on the outside, however, are eligible for private insurance or Medicaid, which means savings for the state.  It’s also far cheaper to pay a probation officer to supervise an inmate in an intense alternative program than to house someone inside a prison. In a recent study, The New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies compared that cost by looking at a year inside prison against a year in Strafford County’s Drug Court, an intensive supervision and treatment program that lets inmates live at home.  The difference was staggering: $32,000 a year in prison versus about $11,400 a year in the Strafford County’s alternative program …

Wrenn at least has some supporters in the right places.  Rep. David Welch, a Kingston Republican who sits on the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, supports Wrenn’s notion of rethinking penalties for nonviolent crimes. He also remains hopeful that the state will build a new women’s prison, which is one of Wrenn’s top priorities. The investment now would save money, Welch believes, because the current facility’s infrastructure requires more staff than a properly built prison would need. He’d also like to build a women’s prison on the state’s initiative rather than be forced into by a lawsuit over the lack of programming offered at the women’s prison. Rep. Marjorie Smith, a Durham Democrat who chairs the House Finance Committee, also liked what she heard from Wrenn on alternative ideas. And while she believes violent offenders belong in prison, she doesn’t believe it makes financial or moral sense to keep people there who could be supervised and better treated outside the walls.

This is just a sample of the long and worthwhile article in the Concord Monitor.

vericatrajkova Early Release, Economic Issues, Female Inmates, New Hampshire

The Bureau of Justice Statistics has just released the 2005 Census of Federal and State Correctional Facilities.  The document has a wealth of data across all States, including the numbers of privately-operated facilities.

The document can be accessed from the Basic Stats list at the top right sidebar.

vericatrajkova Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Federal Systems, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Private Prisons, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming