|
|
| N.H. Corrections Staff Feels Budget Losses |
| By vnews.com - Jeremy Blackman |
| Published: 09/30/2013 |
|
Concord — Patrick Bettens didn’t become a corrections officer for the overtime. But in the past six years, as budget constraints and declining staff counts have gripped the New Hampshire Department of Corrections, it has become a defining facet of his career. Nearly every week Bettens is asked or told with little advance notice to tack four, sometimes eight hours onto at least one of his five eight-hour evening shifts. For Bettens, a 36-year-old father of two, the financial allure of marathon work weeks has faded. In its place: exhaustion and the knowledge that after a 16-hour shift at the state prison in Concord he typically has barely enough time to drive home, sleep for a few hours and drive back for the start of his next shift. “That doesn’t leave much time for a life,” Bettens said. Walk into any division of the state prison and one theme will eventually surface: getting by with less. Education and vocational training programs have fewer instructors, industry facilities are open fewer hours per day, mental health and substance abuse services have been trimmed, correctional councilors are in short supply. Thinking for Change, a flagship cognitive behavior program at the state prison in Concord, has one facilitator and an inmate waiting list of 450, according to Administrator of Programs Tammy Sweeney. Read More. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think