June 24, 2008
Panel recommends prison system overhaul
"New Mexico should spend more effort preparing prison inmates for re-entry into society, a panel appointed by the governor recommends in a report released Tuesday.
The Task Force on Prison Reform, appointed in March by Gov. Bill Richardson, also recommends the state make a bigger effort to provide alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders - expanding existing programs such as drug courts, mental-health courts and pre-prosecution diversion programs.
The 21-member task force in its 59-page report also recommended one major cosmetic change: renaming the state Corrections Department as the Rehabilitation and Corrections Department. If the proposal is heeded, the department would be the second to undergo a name change under Richardson. Earlier in his administration, the Department of Labor became the "Department of Workforce Solutions."
"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," Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said in a written statement. "With that support, former inmates will be better prepared for successful employment and integration back into the community. Successful transitions to the community will break the cycle of recidivism, gang activity and violence.
Gallegos also said Richardson might appoint a "corrections-reform czar" to oversee implementation of the task force recommendations.
In its report, the task force did not put a price tag on any of its recommendations.
It noted in the report's executive summary that, unlike most state efforts at prison reform, this one was not spurred by a crisis. "Especially when contrasted with other states, the New Mexico correctional system is working well — now," the summary says. "This is not to say, however, that New Mexico has been inoculated against future serious problems or that our system could not work better."
Corrections Secretary Joe Williams was a member of the task force.
Many of the recommendations seem obvious: Expand successful educational, employment, life-skill and religious programs; expand domestic-violence programs; provide more substance-abuse and mental-health programs for inmates.
But there also are recommendations for new programs. One would be an "inmate entrepreneurial pilot project" that would use volunteer business executives and master of business administration students to teach inmates business skills.
"Some people who get in trouble with the law have developed skills commensurate with those needed to be successful in business," the report says." For example, prisoners who have sold drugs on the street, with the proper training and oversight, can channel previously mis- or underutilized business acumen into productive ventures on the outside."
The task force also recommended the corrections system use volunteer "restorative justice" panels before, during and after incarceration. "Restorative justice" is a mediation process in which offenders learn about the consequences of their actions. According to the report, it "sets the stage to engage the offender in some form of restitution, be it community service, financial or direct service to the victim."
A Corrections Department pilot program is using "restorative justice" panels for newly released inmates in Bernalillo County.
The task-force report cites a Vermont study that found a 23 percent drop in the recidivism rate for inmates who participated in "restorative justice."