SENATE MEMORIAL 10

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2010

INTRODUCED BY

Cisco McSorley

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE GOVERNOR AND THE CORRECTIONS DEPARTMENT TO PURSUE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS MADE IN THE 2008 AND 2009 REPORTS OF THE GOVERNOR'S TASK FORCE ON PRISON REFORM THAT SUPPORT SUCCESSFUL REENTRY AND TRANSITION OF RELEASED INMATES INTO COMMUNITIES AND TO IDENTIFY WAYS TO ENHANCE PROBATION AND PAROLE OF INMATES WHERE APPROPRIATE.

     WHEREAS, in the current fiscal crisis facing New Mexico, the cost of corrections is in competition for scarce resources with the cost of other vital state services such as education and medicaid; and

     WHEREAS, many states are exploring the implementation of public safety measures that use corrections resources effectively, rely on community-based services to reduce recidivism of recently released inmates and expand graduated sanctions for probation and parole violations; and

     WHEREAS, providing an array of evidence-based community corrections programming as a means of controlling the growth of prison populations is well within the reach of the corrections department; and

     WHEREAS, recent national trends indicate that by allowing more flexibility in the process by which parole is revoked due to technical violations of parole, and by creation of a graduated range of sanctions with which to respond to parole violations, parole agencies have begun to reduce the number of violators who are returned to prison; and

     WHEREAS, according to a 2007 report of the New Mexico sentencing commission in response to House Memorial 68, successful methods of reducing recidivism include drug courts, in-prison therapeutic communities, prison-based drug treatment programs, cognitive-behavioral treatment, intensive supervision and drug treatment in the community; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico has programs in place that could be expanded, including drug courts, nonresidential substance abuse treatment programs, cognitive-behavioral treatment for general offenders and treatment-oriented, intensive supervision; and

     WHEREAS, in June 2008, Governor Richardson's task force on prison reform issued a report titled Increasing Public Safety in New Mexico Before, During and After Incarceration: New Directions for Reform in New Mexico Corrections; and

     WHEREAS, the report acknowledged that keeping paroled prisoners from returning to prison saves both the cost of reincarceration and secures a better future for the offender and the offender's family and friends; and

     WHEREAS, inmates who, after release from prison, reoffend or violate terms of their parole and are returned to prison constitute a significant part of the state's prison population; and

     WHEREAS, the report identified several ways to reduce prison populations and their concomitant costs by diverting low-risk, nonviolent offenders from prison into treatment and probation and reducing recidivism rates; and

     WHEREAS, the task force recommendations in the report are general in nature, relying on the governor and the corrections department and other relevant state agencies and appropriate experts to develop the finer details and implementation plans; and

     WHEREAS, in September 2009, Governor Richardson's task force on prison reform released a subsequent report titled Increasing Local Involvement in New Mexico Prison Reform and Offender Reentry Initiatives: Key Elements in Enhanced Public Safety and Recidivism Reduction; and 

     WHEREAS, the primary focus of this second report was how to increase involvement of local communities and agencies in order to fully accomplish the goals of successful reentry of prisoners into their communities; and

     WHEREAS, this 2009 report credited the corrections department with initiating several of the recommendations contained in the 2008 report but identified additional specific approaches to increasing local involvement; and

     WHEREAS, key among the additional approaches was a recommendation that local reentry councils be created in communities in the state to augment the role of the corrections department in all the crucial areas of reducing recidivism; and

     WHEREAS, the recommendations in both the 2008 and 2009 reports addressed the importance of providing an array of community-based mental health and substance abuse services and supervision, including increasing educational and employment training to help the former inmates complete their terms of community supervision without committing new offenses; and

     WHEREAS, the task force recommended provisions of a continuum of graduated sanctions that would allow probation and parole officers to address technical violations with appropriate, cost-effective responses; and

     WHEREAS, the reports also made recommendations regarding the need for organizational changes to facilitate the most efficient and effective use of public resources; and

     WHEREAS, the reports made a total of thirty-seven recommendations, many of which can be implemented at very low cost to the state;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the governor and the corrections department be requested to pursue implementation of the recommendations made in the 2008 and 2009 governor's task force on prison reform reports that support successful reentry and transition of released inmates into communities and to identify ways to enhance probation and parole of inmates where appropriate; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that by November 2010, the corrections department report to the appropriate interim committee regarding the progress to implement the recommendations of the task force and any other measures taken to support successful reentry and transition of released inmates and reduce recidivism; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor and the secretary of corrections.

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