Editorial: Budget Cuts Slice Into Prisons

Imagine being convicted of a crime and winding up in one of NH's four State Prisons. Imagine the restrictions; wearing the same clothes, eating the same food, and seeing the same concrete walls day after day. Imagine needing mental health services, alcohol and substance abuse counseling, and transitional programs.Now, imagine not being able to get those things, and possibly, if the prison was understaffed that day, not being able to take visits from your family. Angry yet? Think of 2,438 that already are. The NH Governor's office, in their attempt to cut $3.4 million of funding over 2003 and 2004, has made cutbacks to state prison programs, like the Substance Abuse Service, that are designed to help the inmates housed in the state of NH. The cutbacks aren't any better for correctional officers either; 12 percent of the positions were frozen. Because the NH State Prison is understaffed, there is only one guard per every seventy-two inmates. Furthermore, one guard may have to pull up to 160 hours per week. One guard left to patrol a particular section of the ground alone while another guard mans the control room alone - even in cases of violence where their own lives could be endangered. One guard and all that pressure added to simply dealing with violent offenders day in and day out - it's no surprise that their morale is below where it should be.Remember the summer of 2003? While many were sunbathing on the beach and enjoying their freedom, three inmates escaped the NH State Prison at Concord to enjoy theirs after cutting through a section of prison fence. It was an issue of security; however, one guard can't be in seven different places at one time. The Governor's office should have recognized the failing state of affairs at its prisons, that of understaffed, overworked guards and angry inmates, and could have avoided an error in security that compromised lives. That much blood is difficult to wash off anyone's hands, even for the governor It's a vicious cyclical domino effect of Gov. Craig Benson's 'Bad Budget Blunder.' Fewer to no treatment programs and understaffed correctional officers equals aggravated inmates. More aggravated inmates equals more disciplinary reports of violence against other inmates. And after time served, aggravated and mistreated inmates reintroduced into society can equal habitual offenders and an influx of more inmates. Think it ends there? Since Benson has already cut funding from educational institutions and social programs, the attraction of criminal activities to NH's youths is all the more alluring. Even if arrested and convicted as a juvenile delinquent, some youths may not get the message that 'crime doesn't pay' and continue criminal behavior, which leads us back to the NH State Prison system and its frustrating budgetary failures.And the only way Benson seems to want to fix his mistake is by sending 1,000 prison inmates out of state (with a price tag of $12.3 million) - further away from their families and from gaining a chance to be a meaningful part of society again. There is no way to hold a correctional officer to the stereotype of the law enforcement we come into contact with each day; they handle the most dangerous of the dangerous. And as much as inmates are stereotypically portrayed and we may perceive them to be heinous and unchangeable, the opportunities for their recidivism is decreased with every treatment program they are denied. Do you want first time offenders to turn into habitual offenders after their release into your community because they couldn't receive the treatment they needed?