The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

The group will meet early next month to review the estimated costs and savings from these reforms and decide whether to urge the Legislature to adopt them.

To save money on prison spending long term requires spending it now, the authors concede.

For example, it would cost $2.4 million a year to give mental health treatment and rapid drug testing for all high- and medium-risk offenders in the community who need it, the report said.

Serving the high-risk offenders alone would cost $1.3 million, the study said.

Dr. Fred Osher is CSG director of health policy and said community treatment has a more lasting effect on keeping offenders from coming back.

“That’s where the action is,” Osher said.

The report urges that lawmakers spend 50 percent of the millions they would save on additional treatment in the community for offenders with alcohol and drug abuse problems, mental health illnesses or both at the same time.

National studies find that while counseling in prison cuts recidivism by 6 percent, combining that with treatment after release curbs it by 12 percent.

With the state already facing a significant revenue shortfall, some members of the panel asked the authors to list changes that won’t cost any money.

“There is a major cash flow problem we are facing, not just in this biennium but in the next biennium as well,” said state Rep. Neal Kurk, R-Weare.

Attorney General Michael Delaney urged quick action on one item after the report found that after serving maximum prison terms, more than 220 inmates each year were released into the community with no supervision.

Every offender should get at least nine months in the community with a tiered length of supervision depending on the severity of their crime, the study urged.

“These are law enforcement improvements that are long overdue and will make a big difference on the streets in the cities and towns of New Hampshire,” Delaney said.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Broderick said community supports for inmates beyond mental health treatment need to be in place such as housing and available jobs.

“If somebody told me tomorrow I would have no home and no job, how would I do?” Broderick asked rhetorically.

Since 2000, the prison population has grown by 31 percent, but only 3 percent of that growth has come from new offenders committing crimes, said Marshall Clement, project director.

Within three years, more than half (51 percent) of those sent to State Prison return and that rate is above the national average.

Without change, the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies estimates that by 2015, the State Prison population will grow 6 percent to 3,029.

The Department of Corrections says inmate ranks will grow 4 percent over the same time, in part because it set up with legislative support last year a Community Corrections Division to focus more intense supervision on high-risk offenders.

If these recommendations are adopted, the authors claim inmate population will ‘’gradually flatten out’’ and drop 18 percent to 2,340 inmates in 2015.

The report states lawmakers should set a limit on how long nonviolent offenders must remain in prison. The proposed cap would be no more than 120 percent of their minimum mandatory sentence, it said.

Superior Court Chief Justice Robert Lynn said he would prefer Corrections Commissioner William Wrenn be able to override and ignore any such limit in dealing with difficult, nonviolent offenders.

“I tend to think that might go too far and wonder if it would make more sense to enact legislation that gives the commissioner more flexibility on that,” Lynn told the group.

Report at a glance

The state prison population grew 31 percent from 2000-09 but only 3 percent represented new criminal offenders. The following are the six recommendations that the Council of State Governments Justice Center has urged New Hampshire policy makers take to reduce the rate of recidivism.

Set Revised Maximum Sentence for Non-Violent Offenders: Require eligible offenders serve 100 percent of minimum sentence but get released upon serving 120 percent of that minimum. This would apply to those who commit nonviolent, property or drug offenses.

Require post-release supervision for all: Require anyone get at least nine months supervision in the community before reaching the end of their maximum sentence and being released. At present, 16 percent (224 inmates) of all those released from State Prison last year had served their maximum punishment and went into the community with no supervision.

Upon Release Focus on High-Risk Offenders: Dropping the period to actively supervise parolees to no more than nine months for low- and medium-risk offenders, 12 months for felony probation for 18 months for prison parolees.

Use Swift Sanctions for Probation Violators: Allow a judge to place a violator for up to five days in jail unless probationer requests a hearing to end long waits in jail for someone before that violation is taken up in court.

Intermediate Sanction: Use halfway houses or a new secure housing unit for those whose parole is revoked to prevent prison from being jam-packed with parole and probation violators.

Rapid Treatment and Drug Testing for High Risk: Spend up to $2.4 million a year to give rapid drug testing and mental/substance abuse treatment to high-risk and high-need offenders on probation or parole.

Source: Justice Reinvestment in New Hampshire Report, Council of State Governments Justice Center
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/560653-196/study-on-prison-populations-draws-praise.html