Concord, NH – New Hampshire Senate President Sylvia Larsen sponsored and introduced to the Senate Judiciary Committee SB500 on Tuesday February 16^th.  This Bill is a direct result of a yearlong study of the NH Department of Corrections called “Justice Reinvestment in New Hampshire” authored in part by Marshall Clement, Project Director of the Council of States Government’s Justice Center, commonly referred to as the PEW report.  The report addresses the goal(s) of reducing recidivism in the State of New Hampshire, which quite simply implements a plan to release non-violent prisoners back into society. The proposed law also specifies the criteria for the release and requirements for reporting for these identified and qualified offenders.  The final point on this Bill is that this is alleged to cost the state of New Hampshire nothing.

NEPBA Local 250 NH Department of Corrections Officers, Local 265 New Hampshire Probation and Parole Officers and Local 270 New Hampshire Probation and Parole Chiefs, accompanied NEPBA-NH Legislative Director Steve Arnold to the unveiling of this Bill. Senate President Larsen had a great deal of support when Governor John Lynch, Speaker of the House Terie Norelli, Attorney General Michael Delaney and NH Supreme Court Chief Justice John Broderick all appeared and testified in support of this.

Local 270 President Paul Jacques quite elegantly testified that although the NH DOC/PPO Locals agree with many points identified within the Bill, he stressed the necessity for funding resources be made available for our officers to perform their jobs efficiently and effectively.  Currently there are approximately 67 Probation and Parole Officers and Chiefs supervising nearly 10,000 offenders and cases at this time. In the fall of 2009 the state of New Hampshire cut most of the administrative support and the Case Technicians from the PPO district offices. Case Technicians, for instance, were responsible for the collection of funds owed to the state of New Hampshire and victims alike. After losing these critical positions within the Probation and Parole offices the responsibility of collecting these debts were put onto our Probation and Parole Officers and Chiefs.  Additionally, our members have been performing their daunting tasks with limited resources such as sharing vehicles, equipment such as cameras and search materials, no overtime or compensatory time availability, and this list goes on. With the release of these identified individuals the cases loads will dramatically increase for each and every Unit member.  Finally, President Jacques affirmed to the Committee that Probation and Parole, who desperately want to be part of the solution, were consulted on a very limited basis as this report was being written. He stressed the need for funding for treatment facilities and resources for our members.

Following the meeting the NEPBA was invited by Richard Ager, Producer and Host of the NH Public Television’s “NH Outlook” to participate in a round table discussion along with Senate President Sylvia Larsen, Community Corrections Director Joseph Diament.  NEPBA NH State Director Ron Scaccia welcomed the opportunity to participate in the discussions on behalf of the NH Probation and Parole Officers and Chiefs.  Director Scaccia was able to effectively identify the need for reasonable resources and increased manpower that would allow our unit members to perform their jobs and carry out the ultimate intent of this legislation.

www.nhptv.org 

(Airing Friday February 19, 2010 at 6:00 PM; Sunday February 21, 2010 at 9:30 AM and again on Monday February 22, 2010 at 5:30 AM and 6:00 PM on NH Public Television also available on line after Monday February 22, 2010)

After being afforded the privilege of making the closing remarks Director Scaccia stated “for this legislation to be successful, the men and women of the Probation and Parole Division who are the experts on the front line need to be brought in and consulted before this legislation is finalized.” 

NEPBA NH Legislative Director Steve Arnold also participated in an interview conducted by the Portsmouth Herald on this critical topic relaying a similar message.  “Putting non-violent offenders back into the community without the financial resources to educate and rehabilitate is good for New Hampshire, how? Our Probation and Parole Officers desperately want to be part of the solution but maintains that without the necessary funding this program is destined to fail not only the offenders but our citizens alike,” said Arnold.

www.seacoastonline.com

(Sunday February 21, 2010 Portsmouth Herald).

The notion of releasing inmates on to the street regardless of circumstance appears reckless. Many of those whom will be targeted for release remain behind the walls for a reason.  Some are due to disciplinary issues while others lack the training or parole plan that would have allowed them to be successful.  The recent closure of Laconia also puts pressure on the system that further ties up processes of paroling inmates.  Many who are about to "max out" their sentence have had previous stints on parole and faced difficulties that removed them from future parole options.

Another issue that will occur will be the skyrocketing caseload of hardened criminals that will be under supervision if this plan is enacted.  Probation and Parole staff have recently had their employees reduced due to layoffs .  With more and more offenders hitting the street in this plan, these staffers will be stretched beyond their limits thus degrading the level of supervision amongst all they are charged to supervise.  In the end, instead of increasing public safety, the opposite will take place because of the stress put on to probation and parole and the state trying to cut corners only to save some money.  The department of Corrections likes to throw all of these offenders into drug/ mental health programming but fails to see the main reason for recidivism, lack of jobs, job training and job skills. Yes the DOC needs restructuring but not at the public’s expense.

In closing, Probation/Parole officer Keith Phelps, President of local 265, believes the logic behind the Senate Bill is flawed “to state that this bill would enhance public safety and reduce recidivism without implementing the necessary resources and funding as recommended in the Pew Center report would only stand to further jeopardize public safety and increase recidivism.  If this is to work New Hampshire must make a substantial investment in funding and resources.  Our case loads have increased by 93% for Parole supervision and 27% for probation supervision in the last decade without any additional staffing or community resources.  In fact, we have lost PPO’s positions and community resources that have all but dried up”.

Please call your New Hampshire Senators and tell them that SB500 needs to be studied further and demand a fiscal note appropriate to the needs to make this program successful.