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| County inmate labor may end |
| By nashuatelegraph.com - HATTIE BERNSTEIN |
| Published: 06/21/2011 |
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BROOKLINE – Since 2009, the town has depended on inmates from Hillsborough County Department of Corrections to help clear trails, paint buildings and clean up picnic areas and fields. Those services, provided to roughly 20 towns and cities across the state, including Amherst, Bedford, Hudson, Litchfield, Nashua, Merrimack, Mont Vernon, Temple and Wilton aren’t included in the proposed Department of Corrections budget for fiscal year 2012. The budget is scheduled for review tonight at a public hearing by the Hillsborough County Executive Committee, and state representatives from the county will vote on it Thursday. The Department of Corrections had requested $16,372,000 for fiscal year 2012, but the executive committee approved $14,900,000, a 9 percent cut. Superintendant James M. O’Mara Jr., who started the community service program in 1991, said he had to choose between continuing the community service program and compromising the “safety and orderly running of the county jail.” The program saved money for cities, towns, school districts, and nonprofits, officials said. According to one estimate, for every dollar the county spent on the program, the community or agency using the inmate labor received $3 back in value. But O’Mara said some benefits couldn’t be measured. “It had a benefit beyond providing labor to the towns, work for the inmates,” he said. “It enhanced the image of the county corrections department in the communities we served.” Last year, inmates in the program worked 1,600 hours for the town, which was valued at $16,000, based on $10 an hour. In 2009, inmates worked 1,480 hours, according to a “man hours and cost breakdown” provided by the Department of Corrections. Read More. |
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