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| NH looking to cut costs and house Inmates out of State |
| By GARRY RAYNO , New Hampshire Union Leader Staff, unionleader.com |
| Published: 04/29/2011 |
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CONCORD – The Senate Finance Committee voted 7-1 Thursday to recommend the state send up to 600 prisoners to out-of-state corrections facilities. The State Employees Association projects the proposal will mean the loss of about 250 state corrections jobs. Committee Chair Chuck Morse, R-Salem, proposed the change as an amendment to House Bill 635. Morse's proposal would also forbid the Corrections Department from closing the North Country facility in Berlin as commissioner William Wrenn proposed when the House cut his personnel budget. Wrenn declined comment. And Morse's proposal requires the department to reduce its budget by $10.5 million over the next two fiscal years and use any additional funds to pay for probation and parole services established under SB 500 or the Justice Reinvestment Act. The act requires the release of prisoners who will serve their maximum sentence nine months early under extensive supervision. The bill is intended to reduce the inmate recidivism rates while providing social services to prisoners to prevent them from re-offending. State Employees Association President Diana Lacey disputes any long-term financial savings. Privately, senators discussed using Corrections Corporation of America, Lacey noted. "We are deeply shocked our senators would support a measure so inherently wrong for New Hampshire. This means that 600 families already facing the hardships that incarceration brings upon our women and children, will now face even more challenges." She called for-profit prison operations a slippery slope. "When the beds aren't filled, when the appetite of corporate greed becomes too large, then we will face legislative agendas aimed at directing petty offenses into mandatory prison sentences and we will see unprecedented recidivism rate increases," she said. Lacey said the proposal will mean the loss of more than 250 jobs and the transfer of $15 million to out-of-state prison facilities that would have been spent in New Hampshire. Randy Hunneyman, a professor at the Adult Vocational Technical Center at the Men's Prison in Concord, said: "This is nothing more than a short-term fix to a larger problem." He predicted the proposal will cost the state a lot more money than it would save during the next two years. "We are prepared to become part of this discussion and are ready to present the real issues around privatization of prisons," Hunneyman said. The Senate will take up the bill next month. Click here to Read More. |
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