NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE PRISON FOR WOMEN TO BE CONSOLIDATED WITH LAKES REGION FACILITY UNDER BUDGET PROPOSAL

(Concord, NH) New Hampshire Department of Corrections Commissioner Phil Stanley announced that the New Hampshire State Prison for Women in Goffstown is recommended to close as a way to bring more efficiency to state government. This is tentatively scheduled for July 1, 2003. Upon final budget approval minimum and medium security level female offenders will be moved to the Lakes Region Facility (LRF) in Laconia. The move is expected to save the department an estimated $7.4 million in the next biennium.

Commissioner Stanley said that the Goffstown facility is leased from Hillsborough County and is not owned by the State of New Hampshire.

The Commissioner said, "The women's prison recently received a national accreditation award from the American Correctional Association. The staff at Goffstown provides professional supervision and treatment of the female population in limited space. The needs of the female population can be met in the move to the Lakes Region Facility. The delivery of programming and services to these offenders will continue."

Commissioner Stanley pointed out that LRF currently operates as a male and female programming facility. The LRF medium custody male population, which is secured behind the fence, will be dispersed to the NH State Prison for Men in Concord and the Northern NH Correctional Facility in Berlin. Minimum custody male offenders will remain in Laconia. The Commissioner said that the department has proposed legislation to study the feasibility of building a new facility for women in New Hampshire due to the rising incarceration rate of female offenders.

There are 46 staff currently assigned to the Goffstown facility. Commissioner Stanley said, "Staff movement would be accomplished through attrition, reassignment, or layoff. We hope to absorb staff into the DOC organization as vacancies occur."