Women Incarcerated Study 2009-12

The League supports NH House Bill 443 as amended, which bans the privatization of NH's prisons. The care and supervision of inmates is, we believe, a state responsibility that must not be shifted to a for-profit entity. The amendment does allow for emergency placement of inmates into private prisons, on a temporary basis, if the governor declares the situation an emergency (such as a fire that necessitates closing a part of a prison for extensive repairs).

This bill passed the NH House, comes before the Senate soon.

The League urges its members and friends to contact their NH senators and urge them to vote YES on HB 443, banning the use of private prisons.

LWVNH Incarceration Position adopted April 2012 This position was reached by member consensus, based on our extensive 3-year study of the impact of women incarcerated in NH. The study included visits to the county houses of correction, the women's prison and halfway house, interviews with state and county corrections officials and with inmates, presentations by court officials and others involved in alternative sentencing including several visits to the Grafton county drug court, parole and probation state officials, and extensive reading of current publications about women offenders, both in NH and throughout the country. From this position the League is advocating for improvements in the treatment of women offenders, with a goal of reduced recidivism and improved futures for the women and society.

March 2013 news item--somewhat related. This comes from the Children's Alliance of NH, of which we are coalition members:

"Locking Up Fewer Kids: New Hampshire and the Nation See Steady Decline in Youth Incarceration

America's rate of locking up youth has dropped by more than 40 percent over a 15-year period, with no decrease in public safety, according to a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

A new KIDS COUNT data snapshot, Reducing Youth Incarceration in the United States, reports that the number of young people in correctional facilities on a single day fell to 70,792 in 2010, from a high of 107,637 in 1995. This downward trend, documented in data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement, has accelerated in recent years.

New Hampshire's rate of incarcerating youth fell from 186 per 100,000 in 1997 to 97 per every 100,000 youth (a drop of 69 children) and is fourth in the nation for lowest incarceration rates.

The report recommends alternative approaches to youth incarceration, including community based programs. "Locking up young people has lifelong consequences (...)," said Bart Lubow director of the Foundation's Juvenile Justice Strategy Group.

"Our decreasing reliance on incarceration presents an exceptional opportunity to respond to juvenile delinquency in a more cost-effective and humane way - and to give these youth a real chance to turn themselves around." Contact us: 2 Delta Drive,Concord NH 03301 603-225-2264/info@childrennh.org

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Some of our reports to members can be found on the Publications page as part of our NH Voter newsletters.

Interview in the Valley News, November 25, 2012, on the League's study: <http://www.vnews.com/search/2822007-95/women-prison-league-county>

Women Behind Bars: a study by the NH Women's Policy Institute [Download the pdf file]

Double Jeopardy: a study by the NH Commission on the Status of Women (2004) <http://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/double_jeopardy.pdf>

Report on Women Participating in Drug Court (Grafton County recommendations) Dec. 2012 Downlaod the pdf file

Sentencing In NH [Download the pdf file]

Court System in NH [Download the pdf file]

Recidivism in NH report on 2007 cohort <http://www.nh.gov/nhdoc/divisions/publicinformation/documents/2007_recidivism.pdf>

Recidivism in NH report on 2006 cohort [Download the pdf file]

Recidivism in NH report on 2004 cohort [Download the pdf file]

Reducing Recidivism Study: 2009, a national study [Download the pdf file]

NH Department of Corrections Report 2012 <http://www.nh.gov/nhdoc/divisions/publicinformation/documents/annual-report-2012.pdf>

If your community or church group would like to learn more about the issues facing women offenders in NH, including what the public can do to increase the prospects for the future, study leaders will happily bring a presentation to you. Contact Liz Tentarelli via the Contact Us page of this website to arrange for a presentation.