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| NHDOC Numbers already Delpeted |
| By JOHN KOZIOL - citizen.com |
| Published: 05/05/2009 |
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Prison numbers already depleted By JOHN KOZIOL - citizen.com Although the decision remains tentative pending final Legislative budget action, the Lakes Region Facility prison is becoming an increasingly vacant place, down from a high of 362 inmates on Jan. 26 to just slightly more than half that number now. By the end of the month, there will probably be just a small caretaker crew left that will prepare the minimum-security prison for what could be a protracted period of inactivity, Department of Corrections Spokesman Jeff Lyons said on Monday. In February, Gov. John Lynch and the DOC agreed that closing the prison located on part of what was formerly the Laconia State School made sense financially because the move would save about $10 million over the 2010-2011 biennium. The state House of Representatives concurred with the governor and the DOC and has presented a budget that includes the closure of the LRF to the state Senate. The Senate's Finance Committee met on April 26 and while its members expressed interest in saving some of the 90 jobs at the LRF by dispersing employees to the DOC's other prisons, they said nothing to indicate that the LRF would remain open. Since Lynch's announcement regarding the Laconia prison, the Corrections Department, Lyons said, has been working as if the LRF closure is a certainty even though the biennial budget won't be approved until sometime in June. Recently that work has entailed closing the Speare Unit residential dormitory and now includes closing the Rice Unit. Some of the inmates from both units were illegal aliens and have been turned over to the custody of federal authorities while others have been transferred to the DOC prisons in Berlin and Concord, others have been paroled and still others are petitioning DOC Commissioner Bill Wrenn for "administrative home confinement," also known as electronic monitoring, Lyons said. All together with those changes, the LRF inmate population now stands at 197. Additionally in anticipation of its imminent closing, the LRF has eliminated Friday visits — family and friends can still see inmates on Saturdays and Sundays, Lyons said — and pretty soon there won't be many reasons for people to go the LRF. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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