Prison reform outlined

Panel recommends charter schools, more halfway houses and Navajo-style restorative justice to reform state prison system.

RIO RANCHO -- The state should consider charter schools in its prisons, expand on its current limited use of a Navajo Nation practice of restorative justice and divert as many non-violent drug offenders to treatment as possible rather than lock them up.

More drug and mental health courts, as well as halfway houses, should also be opened and more educational opportunities given to inmates, including domestic violence prevention programs.

Those were among the recommendations from a task force task force report submitted Tuesday to Gov. Bill Richardson. The report was the product of a task force Richardson empaneled earlier this year to devise ways to curb future prison overcrowding and to lower the rate of offenders who return to prison after being released.

The recommendations revolved around finding alternatives to incarceration for low risk, nonviolent offenders and strategies to reduce recidivism. According to the report, New Mexico's recidivism rate -- the number of offenders who return to prison after being released -- is lower at 46.7 percent than the national average of almost 52 percent.

The governor has said he will study the task force recommendations and take some to the Legislature during the 2009 session. On Tuesday, a Richardson spokesman said the governor would start studying the ideas.

"The Governor will take a hard look at the recommendations with an eye toward aggressively attacking the mental health and substance abuse problems in a fiscally responsible manner," spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said. "The Governor has used czars effectively in the past to implement reform efforts. Governor Richardson is prepared to appoint a Corrections Reform Czar who will be charged with pulling together and coordinating all state agencies that will play a role in implementing changes to the Corrections system."

The purpose of the report was in part to find ways to ensure that former inmates are better prepared for successful re-integration into the community, including employment. Successful transitions from prison to the community "break the cycle of recidivism, gang activity and violence," Gallegos said.

The impetus for re-assessing the state's corrections system's policies is the projected growth of New Mexico's offender population in the coming years. Although the population decreased by 4.1 percent in 2007, the state's corrections department projects that today's population of more than 6,000 inmates will increase by 14 percent by 2013.

Fueling some of that growth is substance abuse, the report said. One estimate puts at 85 percent the number of New Mexico's inmates -- or roughly 5,700 offenders -- who struggle with substance abuse problems. Diverting non-violent offenders to treatment could address a public health issue as well as save the state money, the report said.

As the report's authors noted:

The United States Department of Health and Human Services reports that various substance abuse treatment costs range from $1,800 to $6,800 annually depending on frequency and type of treatment (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 1997), compared to $31,239 a year for imprisonment (New Mexico Corrections Department, 2008).

And inmates receiving treatment are more likely to receive other beneficial physical and mental health education information, disease prevention education, parenting skills enhancement, and even treatment for such conditions as hepatitis C.

In addition to treatment, the task force suggested that the state expand the state's use of 35 drug courts, which are already in 25 of the 33 counties.

For those inmates who do not go to treatment or to drug courts and are incarcerated, the task force said a greater emphasis should be placed on education -- even to the point of starting charter schools in prisons, the report said. As the authors noted:

The implementation of charter high schools in New Mexico’s prisons is worthy of further consideration. By law, a charter school would have to be open to all inmates in the facility and this could be problematic relative to security issues, but this obstacle may be circumvented by the creation of a charter school at a low or medium level facility.

And the state could look to existing examples, including the opening of the Gordon Bernell Charter School in Bernalillo County next month, the authors said.

The Gordon Bernell Charter School will operate two campuses, according to the report -- one inside the secure perimeter of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center and another in downtown Albuquerque to serve individuals in community custody and the general public.

Supplementing that emphasis on education, the task force said, also should be an enhancement of domestic violence programs available to inmates. Domestic violence still plagues the state. Nearly one in every three women will experience some level of domestic violence, the report's authors said, adding that in 2005 there were 36,594 reported victims of domestic violence.

Programming is currently available to domestic violence offenders in security levels 1, 2, and 3. Inmates in levels 4, 5, and 6 have access to a varied level of the program through video and other materials.

To help inmates make the transition to society, the corrections system also should expand a pilot project that uses restorative justice panels as part of reentry and transition.

The report's authors note:

Restorative justice is a familiar concept in New Mexico. The Navajo Nation has been practicing restorative justice for generations, and the incorporation of its principles into responses to crime in New Mexico is appropriate. Restorative justice is about individual accountability, community responsibility, reconciliation, healing, and the notion that punishment alone does not improve public safety or community wellbeing.

Proponents of restorative justice view offenders as a part of a broader community and acknowledge that crime does not exist in a vacuum. This formal mediation process gives the offender the opportunity to learn about the consequences of his or her actions and to build internal competencies relative to future behaviors. It also sets the stage to engage the offender in some form of restitution, be it community service, financial, or direct service to the victim.

When restorative justice principles are used during probation and parole, there is evidence that recidivism rates are significantly reduced, the report said. In one study in Vermont, 10,000 ex-prisoners were tracked over an eight year period to measure the efficacy of restorative justice or reparative probation versus traditional probation. Data from this study reflect a 23% lower recidivism rate and a significantly lower daily cost per supervisee on reparative probation or parole.

More halfway houses around the state would help ease the inmate back into society, the report said. According to the report's authors:

There is a dearth of supportive living programs and halfway houses for former inmates and individuals on probation or parole. Halfway houses provide a transition from prison to community, and serve to lessen the culture shock often experienced by an individual who has been incarcerated for a number of years. They are less restrictive than prison but require a modicum of supervision and adherence to rules that can help to maximize community success. At this juncture in the reintegration process, halfway houses should be more than just a place to live. The shelter provided needs to be coupled with intensive services and support to teach or re-teach an inmate how to live a responsible, productive, and fulfilling life outside of prison walls.

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