Citizens for Criminal Justice Reform – New Hampshire

The state will unveil preliminary plans next month to build a $38 million women’s prison behind the men’s prison on North State Street in Concord. The briefing sessions open to all stakeholders will take place March 10, 12 and 19 in the Brown Building on the State Hospital campus off Pleasant Street in Concord. Ex-offenders, parolees and their loved ones are welcome. They may even be able to influence the final designs.

Lawmakers last year authorized building a 224-bed women's facility in response to a class action lawsuit by women prisoners seeking programs and treatment on a par with what male inmates get. Unfortunately, that’s a low bar. The men are warehoused in dangerous, crowded conditions.

The prison budget is so tight that many officers work double shifts every week. The male inmates sleep two a cell. Their pod living rooms are full of bunks. Most male inmates have drug or alcohol issues that played in a part in their crimes, but the men’s prison suspended related treatment programs last June for lack of funding.

The women are even worse off. They’ve spent two decades in a temporary prison within the Hillsborough County jail in Goffstown, a space designed for 106 prisoners. It currently houses 125 women, and they get few services because there’s hardly room for any. Another 20 or so women are doing time at Strafford County, with almost no programs available for lack of space and staffing. The parties have stayed the women’s lawsuit based on the good faith effort of lawmakers to improve things.

Bill McGonagle, the assistant Corrections commissioner, told the Episcopal Prison Concerns Committee on Jan. 31 the new prison would eventually house only a few more than 200 women because construction costs are running higher than first expected. The original 224-bed facility was going to cost $41.9 million, he said, creating a $3.9 million gap.

“We’ve trimmed wherever we could,” McGonagle said, “making sure spaces can have multiple uses.” Below is the stakeholders’ invitation letter.

Dear Stakeholder and Interested Party,

The New Hampshire Departments of Corrections and Administration wish to invite you to a presentation and discussion of the proposed new women’s prison. We believe we have developed interim designs that are ready for public comment, thus we will be presenting the site plan and schematic design for the facility as it stands at this point. We would appreciate your feedback, suggestions and questions before we move to finalize our plans.

You may be aware that the State General Court has included $38 million dollars for this project in the FY2015-2016 Capital Budget. A team made up of our architects (SMRT and Pulitzer/Bogard), the construction manager (Gilbane), state staff from the Division of Public Works and DOC staff has been working to turn the program specifications into comprehensive plans that meet our goals. These goals are to plan and construct a facility that:

1. Is gender-responsive, trauma-informed and focused on rehabilitation;
2. Achieves parity with the programs and services afforded to male inmates in our system;
3. Provides an environment that assures the safety of inmates, staff and the public; and
4. Achieves a design that is efficient, cost-effective and environmentally responsible.

Sessions will be held on March 10th, March 12th and March 19th in the DHHS Brown Building Auditorium (129 Pleasant Street, Concord, NH). The sessions will be from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM each night. Please join us and share your insights and suggestions as we further refine the designs.

Included in this envelope is a schedule of meetings and the groups invited to each session. If your group is scheduled to meet on a specific date that doesn’t fit your calendar, please feel free to attend one of the other sessions that does. If there are others in your group who have an interest in this project, please feel free to invite them to attend. If you are a member of the general public or a member of a group not cited here, please attend the session that suits you. Also included in this envelope is a map and directions to the auditorium.

Thank you for your interest in this exciting and desperately needed new facility for our female offenders.

Sincerely,

GROUP 1 Governor's Office

• Concord Area Legislative Delegation Concord Mayor & City Council Concord Planning Board Concord City Staff
• NH Advisory Committee to US Commission on Civil Rights Architectural Barrier-Free Design Committee Capital Budget Oversight Committee

GROUP 2 DOC Commissioner's Advisory Group

• NHSP for Women Advisory Group Attorney General's Office NH Legal Assistance Inter-Agency Coordinating Council for Women Offenders NH Charitable Foundation
• NH Center for Public Policy Studies DOE Cross-Agency Team NH Civil Liberties Union Disabilities Rights Center

GROUP 3 Abutters

• Families of NH Inmates Group Prison Watch League of Women Voters State Employees Association Teamsters
• Episcopal Diocese Prison Concerns Committee New Futures Goodwill of NE, Inc. NAMI of NH

Miscellaneous Others

Fred H. Brown Building

129 Pleasant Street Concord, NH 03301 (603) 271-9000; (800) 852-3345 TDD Access Relay: (800) 735-2964

From Southern New Hampshire (via I-93 North):

1. Take I-93 North to Exit 14 (Loudon Road) and turn left at the end of the ramp.

2. At the fourth traffic light, turn left onto Main Street, and then at the first traffic light, turn right onto Pleasant Street.

3. Go straight through three sets of traffic lights and turn left at the South Fruit Street intersection.

4. Travel just over one quarter mile and look for the gray Department of Health & Human Services sign on the left. Turn left onto Industrial Drive and enter the Governor Hugh J Gallen State Office Park. (NH Vital Records Bldg is on left.)

5. At the next intersection, turn left onto Tobey Road and turn right in approximately 200 yards just before the blue and yellow "no exit" sign.

6. Travel approximately 200 feet around far (north) side of Tobey Building (red brick) and turn right into the Visitor's Parking lot behind Tobey Building, adjacent to the employee parking garage and Brown Building.

From Northern New Hampshire (via I-93 South):

1. Take I-93 South to Exit 14 (Loudon Road) and turn right at the end of the ramp.

2. At the second traffic light, turn left onto Main Street, and then at the first traffic light, turn right onto Pleasant Street.

3. Go straight through three sets of traffic lights and turn left at the South Fruit Street intersection.

4. Travel just over one quarter mile and look for the gray Department of Health & Human Services sign on the left.

5. Turn left onto Industrial Drive and enter the Governor Hugh J Gallen State Office Park. (NH Vital Records Bldg is on left.)

6. At the next intersection, turn left onto Tobey Road and turn right in approximately 200 yards just before the blue and yellow "no exit" sign.

7. Travel approximately 200 feet around far (north) side of Tobey Building (red brick) and turn right into the Visitor's Parking lot behind Tobey Building, adjacent to the employee parking garage and Brown Building.

From Western New Hampshire (via I-89 South):

1. Take I-89 South to Exit 2 (Clinton Street) and turn right at the end of the ramp.

2. At the first traffic light, turn left onto Fruit Street.

3. Turn right onto Industrial Drive and enter the Governor Hugh J Gallen State Office Park. (NH Vital Records Bldg is on left.)

4. At the next intersection, turn left onto Tobey Road and turn right in approximately 200 yards just before the blue and yellow "no exit" sign.

5. Travel approximately 200 feet around far (north) side of Tobey Building (red brick) and turn right into the Visitor's Parking lot behind Tobey Building, adjacent to the employee parking garage and Brown Building.

From Eastern New Hampshire (via Route 4):

1. Take Route 4 West to I-393 West. Go to the end and turn left onto Main Street.

2. At the fourth traffic light, turn right onto Pleasant Street.

3. Go straight through three sets of traffic lights and turn left at the South Fruit Street intersection.

4. Travel just over one quarter mile and look for the gray Department of Health & Human Services sign on the left.

5. Turn left onto Industrial Drive and enter the Governor Hugh J Gallen State Office Park. (NH Vital Records Bldg is on left.)

6. At the next intersection, turn left onto Tobey Road and turn right in approximately 200 yards just before the blue and yellow "no exit" sign.

7. Travel approximately 200 feet around far (north) side of Tobey Building (red brick) and turn right into the Visitor's Parking lot behind Tobey Building, adjacent to the employee parking garage and Brown Building.