DOC Remains Silent on Women's Prison

By Dan Gorenstein on Monday, February 7, 2005.

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Last December a report on the women's prison in Goffstown highlighted the need for sweeping changes.

Authors concluded female offenders lacked the access to academic and professional training, as well as the counseling to succeed after their release.

At the time, the Department of Corrections declined to offer an official reaction to the report, but promised a formal assessment in the next 4-8 weeks.

But as New Hampshire Public Radio's Dan Gorenstein reports, seven weeks later there is still no word from the DOC.

When the New Hampshire Commission on the Status of Women released its report on the Goffstown prison last year, nobody disagreed with the central finding.

The state fails to provide female inmates with the services to help them when they get out of prison.

Given that consensus, report co-author Terri deLangis reasoned there was no excuse not to solve the problem.

Back in December, DOC Commissioner Stephen Curry said he would withhold comment until he could review the report fully.

However, right now the Department of Corrections says it's busy with the budget and getting newly-elected Governor John Lynch up to speed on their operations.

Frustrated with what appears to be DOC foot dragging, deLangis says everybody in state government has a lot to do.

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1:30 there's lots of other priorities, and there's lots of other things on the table, but we really expected from Steve Curry, and we continue to expect b/c I don't want to undermine what may be happening over at DOC that this is a priority issue that needs to be solved, sooner and not later.

The report argues the sooner the state takes action, the sooner the state can start saving money.

It costs the government about 24 thousand dollars a year to house a female inmate.

But without services to train women how to cope with life on the outside, as many as 50% of the inmates return.

So in essence, half of the female inmates are wasting their time, and tax payers are picking up the tab.

In response, the report made three recommendations.

The first was to begin to gather data on the female inmates, their skills, their barriers to employment, and the responsibilities they face after their release.

The second was for different state agencies- including the courts, the Attorney General, the Department of Education, and DOC to scrutinize the policies and procedures of the women's prison.

And finally, the report suggested training DOC staff to deal specifically with female inmates.

Assistant Commissioner Les Dokal says the DOC has begun looking at the report as well as one conducted in 2003 by the National Institute of Corrections.

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:52 it helped this agency identify what some of the perceptions are about the female population. It helped us put a finer point on what we need to do as far as how to invest our resources, and it underscored some of the things the NIC report indicated. It really didn't provide us with anything we didn't already know. But it made them really public. And hopefully we will be able to get some partners in solving some of the problems that have been identified here.

Dokal says the Department has begun to make changes.

Those include adding five new computers, working to hire an additional drug and alcohol counselor, gender specific training for staff and trying to install a reupholstery program.

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2:30 the inmates in Goffstown are given opportunities to improve and change their skills. Whether it's anger management or substance abuse or some of the educational needs, they have opportunities to make those changes. And I think a lot of the females are coming out better equipped. Can we do better? You bet. And that's what we are working towards right now. This is going ot be a slow transition to get them the resources that we can best get them to be.

Dokal says long term, the Department is considering a plan to better address female inmates needs during and after incarceration.

Women's prison report co-author Terri deLangis is pleased to hear about the changes.

But she says the problems at the women's prison in Goffstown demand profound shifts.

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3:37 those are all important pieces to moving forward...but they should not and can not replace more braod-based analysis of the total picture. So if you imagine that the DOC is a house, you can put in a new couch, and you can put in a new chair, those are all really terrific things, but you have to make sure the plan for the house is adequate to live in it.

Assistant Commissioner Dokal says the Department of Corrections has not timeline to formally assess the report.

But she says it is something that the Department will do as soon as it can.

That back burner status, says Goffstown Prison advocates, is what the state has been saying the past decade.

For NHPR News, I'm DG.