Nearly half of all New Hampshire inmates return to prison for parole violations, but the state’s corrections commissioner hopes to cut that rate in half by helping them become better citizens before they are released.
Commissioner William Wrenn says the goal is to make sure inmates are ready to be good members of society when they leave prison.
He wants to expand programs such as the Family Connections Center, which is aimed at breaking the cycle of multiple generations of the same family ending up behind bars. The program, which is expected to be expanded to the Berlin prison and the women’s prison in Goffstown, focusing on improving inmates’ parenting skills.
The courts also are responding more to what drives criminal behavior by expanding the family court system and creating drug courts and mental health courts.