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| N.H. Corrections Boss Blasted in Legislative Report |
| By The Union Leader |
| Published: 11/18/2002 |
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In a stinging appraisal of corrections Commissioner Phillip Stanley that stopped short of demanding his ouster, legislators have proposed the creation of an independent investigative office to assess complaints from the 2,300 prisoners and 1,100 employees who live and work in New Hampshire's prisons. The criticism of Stanley is in a report filed by a legislative study committee. The panel spent more than a year looking over the commissioner's shoulder as he wrestled with issues - many inherited from his predecessor - ranging from alleged sexual harassment, to computer inadequacies, to soaring inmate medical costs. 'Management's progress to date in addressing these issues is not impressive,' the committee said in its report. Stanley was a regional corrections administrator in Washington State before he took charge of New Hampshire's four-prison system in May 2000. He was picked by Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and the Executive Council to succeed Hank Risley, who died in a helicopter crash while sightseeing in Hawaii. The lawmakers on the study committee gave Stanley one more year to shape up. 'Restructuring of the department must be made if significant progress is not recognized by November 2003,' warned the last paragraph of the report, which was signed by Rep. Karl I. Gilbert, R-Newmarket, the retired police chief of Greenland who chaired what was titled 'The Committee to Study Certain Policies and Procedures in the Department of Corrections.' Serving with Gilbert was a retired Wolfeboro police chief, Rep. Stanley E. Stevens, who recalled in an interview that committee members had considerable discussion on 'the most judicious way' to emphasize that the corrections commissioner 'has got to get off the spot, that somebody has got to get something going over there.' Stevens said that despite some signs of progress, the committee felt it important to recommend the establishment of an independent investigative office, which would decide whether complaints filed by inmates or employees should be handled administratively or forwarded to the Attorney General's Office, the Human Rights Commission or some other agency. 'We think it would look better to have certain things taken outside initially, so it doesn't look like they are making decisions on what they are going to do about their own problems,' Stevens said. |
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