Credit Cheryl Senter / NHPR
The New Hampshire Department of Corrections says that in order to comply with Gov. Chris Sununu s proposed budget, it would have to cut rehabilitative and educational programs that serve hundreds of inmates every year.
In a presentation to lawmakers this week, DOC Commissioner Helen Hanks said the state is looking at closing the Shea Farm Transitional Housing Unit for women in Concord and the Calumet Transitional Housing Unit for men in Manchester. These halfway houses currently serve around fifty inmates who typically are working in the community and awaiting parole hearings.
The closures would require major shifts at the Concord Transitional Work Center, a minimum security unit at the N.H. State Prison for Men. According to Hanks, 75 inmates would be moved back into higher security units at the prison in order to make room for those formerly at the halfway houses.