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| Report: Female Inmates Not Treated Same As Men |
| By wmur.com |
| Published: 10/17/2011 |
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CONCORD, N.H. -- New Hampshire may be violating the civil rights of its female prisoners by not giving them access to the same programs as male inmates, according to a two-year study released Monday. The New Hampshire Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights said in its report that the inexcusable disparities warrant action by New Hampshire to end the unequal treatment of female inmates. A spokesman for the Department of Corrections said the agency supports the committee's findings. Committee Chairman Jordan Budd said the group lacks enforcement power to ensure that happens and hopes New Hampshire will act, because it is morally and legally bound by the U.S. Constitution to ensure that women and men are treated equally. "If the matter were to be litigated, all we can say is there are very serious questions that would have to be considered," he said. Budd said the state needs to build a new women's prison to address the problem. He said it would save money in the long run because the rate women return to prison, typically on parole violations for drug abuse, is higher than that for men, who have better treatment programs. Budd noted that the state ignored past studies -- seven listed in the report dating to 2003 -- drawing attention to the same inadequacies at the women's prison in Goffstown. Budd said the Goffstown prison was designed for short-term detention and was made into New Hampshire's prison for women more than 20 years ago after a lawsuit forced the state to stop sending female inmates out of state. "New Hampshire has failed to pursue this obligation for over two decades," Budd said. One of those studies, released in 2004, said the lack of services contributes to a cycle of incarceration. Department of Corrections spokesman Jeff Lyons called the report a fair and accurate assessment. The department has tried to win $37 million to build a new 300-bed women's prison but failed to win legislative support. Lawmakers approved $2.3 million in the 2010 budget for site design, but the appropriation was later frozen. Goffstown has 103 inmates. Eight women are in the Strafford County jail under a contract with the state, 41 are in a halfway house, nine are out of state and two are in the secure psychiatric unit at the Concord prison. Read More. |
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