NM’s prison population continues to drop, and a state agency answers why

The number of empty cells continues to grow in New Mexico prisons, a trend that has befuddled officials for more than a year. But now we may have the first systematic study on why thanks to a New Mexico Sentencing Commission report.

The report, released earlier this summer, attempts to make sense of a decrease in inmate numbers after two decades of prison population growth. It isn’t a rip-roaring read on the order of, say, John Grisham, but it’s an easy-to-digest paper for those who follow prison-related issues — or for those budget watchdogs who may have noted the rise in the state corrections budget over the past few years.

Prison officials have known about the trend for more than a year, as evidenced by this story in the Journal from August of last year.

The trend, and its continuation, come at an interesting time for the state. A new prison is about to open in northeastern New Mexico — in Clayton. Only a few short years ago the Clayton facility was billed as a way to ease overcrowding in the corrections system.

Now prison officials are canceling contracts meant to help house state prisoners, and more cancellations may be on the way because there’s space where none was a few years ago.

Here a few suggested reasons from the report for the downward trend of incarcerated inmates:
 

Diversion for technical violators: NMCD increasingly imposes sanctions other than prison for parole violators whose infractions are considered “technical,” such as missing a counseling session. This policy has the effect of reducing the number of violators who would traditionally go to prison to serve the remainder or a portion of their sentence. JFA reported the number of parole violators returning to prison decreased by 2.5% between FY 2007 and FY 2008. This is the first decrease in parole revocations since FY 2005. Kansas and Texas use a similar strategy by blending incentives for reduced recidivism with greater use of community supervision for lower-risk offenders.

Parole in the community: Inmates who are eligible for parole are urged to formulate parole plans and serve parole in a community setting. This policy may have contributed to JFA’s finding that the majority of releases from prison in Calendar Year 2006 were male parole violators, 23%. In FY 2008, this percentage increased to 28%.

First 60-days Earned Meritorious Deduction (EMD):In 2006, the New Mexico Legislature voted to change the EMD statute to authorize award of EMD’s to nonviolent offenders during the first sixty days of receipt by the NMCD. Inmates committed to the NMCD are processed through the Reception and Diagnostic Center(RDC) located at the Central NM Correctional Facility. Once processed, offenders are dispersed to the various correctional facilities throughout the state to serve their sentences. During the Legislature’s consideration of the new law, an NMSC analysis of the legislation estimated offenders sentenced under the new EMD law would, on average, reduce their time served in prison by 29.2 days. In FY04 alone, this would have saved approximately 81 beds.

Felony Drug Courts: Drug courts have become popular programs for treating drug offenders. As of July 2007, there were 31 drug courts in New Mexico. In the last three years eight additional drug courts programs have been implemented around the state (a 25% increase). Typically, drug offenders are placed in drug court by an order of the judge. Drug court programs provide continuous and intense judicial oversight, treatment, mandatory drug testing, immediate sanctions, and incentives. Drug courts are not directly a diversion option for prison. Most drug court clients are not likely to go to prison for their charges, but indirectly participation in drug court may keep the offender from being rearrested and potentially going to prison. A recent study found unrestricted drug treatment assistance for all at-risk arrestee offenders would prevent recidivism, promote public safety, and be costeffective.

Drug court goals match the findings of this study and are an excellent means for treating large numbers of at-risk individuals in a formal and systematic program.