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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Chasey

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/24/06

HB 278

SHORT TITLE Expand Housing for Parolees

SB

ANALYST Peery

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$100.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Response Received From

New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD)

No Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

New Mexico Sentencing Commission (NMSC)

Adult Parole Board

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 278 appropriates $100.0 from the general fund to the Community Corrections Grant

Fund for the purpose of expanding housing assistance for male and female parolees, provided by

a corrections vendor located in Albuquerque or Santa Fe.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $100.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund. Any

unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the

general fund.

NMCD reports housing is a part of any parole plan. If an inmate has no place to parole to, the

parole plan will be denied and the inmate will serve the parole time “in-house.” NMCD states it

House Bill 278 – Page

2

is significantly more expensive to house inmates than it is to supervise parolees. NMCD reports

they currently spend somewhere between $150,000 and $250,000 on housing parolees.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

NMCD reports inmates who violate conditions of their parole are revoked and returned to prison.

NMCD states passage of the proposed legislation would reduce the chance of the parolee violat-

ing his/her parole and being sent back. Currently, about half of the approximately 5,500 parolees

live in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

NMCD states inmates transitioning out of prison can use the time on parole to adjust to life in the

larger society. This time to transition reduces the likelihood of re-offending. NMCD reports if

an inmate is forced to do parole time in-house, they lose the benefit of this transition period and

are more likely to re-offend.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

NMCD states there maybe a slight increase in administrative burden related to investigating and

determining which “correctional vendors” are eligible to receive this funding. Also, NMCD re-

ports there is a slight administrative burden in balancing the concerns of housing groups of pa-

rolees together for easier monitoring of activities with the possible increase in the chance of re-

cidivism.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

NMCD reports the private prison annual costs of incarcerating an inmate is $23,160 per year for

males. The cost per client to house a female inmate at a privately operated facility is $24,961 per

year. NMCD reports the cost per client in Probation and Parole for a standard supervision pro-

gram is $1,527 per year. The cost per client in Intensive Supervision programs is $4,256 per

year. The cost per client in department-operated Community Corrections programs is $4,495 per

year. The cost per client in privately-operated Community Corrections programs is $10,022 per

year. The cost per year for male and female residential Community Corrections programs is

$22,019.

RLP/mt