By Kevin Landrigan
The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester
Corrections Commissioner Helen Hanks said Monday that House budget-approved cuts to her agency would create major problems.
“These cuts may appear to bring short-term savings, but they guarantee higher long-term costs, worsening recidivism, litigation and staff burnout,” Hanks told the Senate Finance Committee.
The House’s $16.3 billion two-year budget defers to many department heads to decide how and where to make state spending cuts by giving them a lump sum, back-of-the-budget amount to reduce the bottom line.
In this case, however, Vice Chairman Dan McGuire, R- Epsom, executed an annual 10% cut line by line and surprised even some of his subcommittee members by revealing he had refused to get any feedback from Hanks in response to these proposed changes.
“They did not give me the opportunity to discuss these impacts,” Hanks said.
McGuire told his colleagues he had “lost confidence” in Hanks’s leadership, citing unidentified sources within the agency who he said forwarded allegations about the commissioner’s flawed decision making.
The chief argument for the size of the cut was that the agency had 35% more inmates 15 years ago, but has since doubled the budget and added 150 employees.
“This comparison lacks context,” Hanks responded.
In 2007, the prison system was badly overcrowded as past commissioners had to house inmates in the prison gym and double-bunked many prisoners in cells, she said.
Six years ago, the state opened a new women’s prison that replaced a leased, 35,000 square-foot space with a new, 101,000 square-foot facility, Hanks said.
Nearly all jobs in the state prison system bear no relationship to the number of inmates, she said.
“Position counts are not dependent on the inmate count,” Hanks said.
Recidivism rate improved
Former Gov. Chris Sununu frequently praised Hanks for having adopted reforms that lowered the recidivism rate — the percentage of inmates returned to prison after release — from a high of 51.9% in 2009 to 40.2% in 2022 which was below the national average.
This led to 200 fewer inmates needing to be housed in the system’s three jails, the men’s and women’s prisons in Concord and a medium security prison in Berlin , Hanks explained.
“These cuts will reverse any traction we had in reducing recidivism; the recidivism rates will go back up, there’s no question about that,” Hanks said, adding recidivism is key since 95% of those sent to state prison eventually get released back to the community.
Much of her testimony criticized as shortsighted the House budget’s elimination of 149 positions, 99 of which are currently filled. The rest of the jobs were budgeted but not occupied.
About 90% of the positions eliminated were in the civilian ranks of the agency with 16 of them in law enforcement, though only two correction officers held jobs.
The cuts will require even more use of overtime and force correction officers to perform jobs they aren’t trained to do, from working in the laundry and kitchen areas to human resources and maintenance work, Hanks warned.
For example, the House personnel cuts would eliminate all licensed gas fitters, which would leave the state’s aging prison for men without anyone who could service the boiler that provides heat and hot water.
Significant cut
Another significant cut would halve the eight-person professional standards group, the staff who investigate violent incidents such as inmate-on-inmate or inmate-on-staff crime.
“This will immediately create a safety hazard for the inmates and the staff,” Hanks said, predicting that “organized criminal networks” would flourish behind the walls.
“Without a dedicated investigative team to collect intelligence … these threats will grow unchecked.”
Getting rid of the recreational staff could also lead to more violence and unrest among inmates.
“It is a demonstration of not understanding that people need to learn positive ways to have positive outlets,” Hanks said.
“Regular, structured recreation is a constructive outlet for stress. This also frankly helps people (inmates) be better parents.”
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