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Bar News - June 6, 2003 Community Rehabilitation, Strict Supervision Are Winning Combination for Academy Program IT’S A $10 MILLION success story that is not only saving money, but also saving lives. According to an evaluation of the program conducted by the NH Center for Public Policy Studies, the Academy community-based rehabilitation program, utilizing judicial involvement, intensive supervision and the provision of educational and other support services, has saved local, county and state governments more than $10 million in avoided incarceration costs, and protected the public. Each year, roughly 260 offenders, or 20 percent of the potential prison admissions, are sentenced to the Academy. The Center estimates that there have been approximately 201 fewer inmates in the state prison because of the Academy program. Like any corrections program, it does not work for everyone. In fact, the program has a similar recidivism rate as that of nonviolent offenders sentenced to prison for the first time. However, the program accomplishes this at a much lower cost than that of incarceration. Overall, 40 percent of the offenders sentenced to the yearlong Academy program in 1998 and 1999 remained arrest-free during the study period (average time 1,028 days), while another 26 percent of those sentenced graduated from the Academy program and were subsequently re-arrested. Another 34 percent failed to complete the Academy program and returned to the county house of correction or state prison. Following a conference in 1993 put on by the NH Interbranch Council on Substance Abuse and the Criminal Justice System, Sullivan County Superior Court Judge Robert Morrill came back to his court with a resolve to establish – with the help of county prosecution and parole officials and a counseling agency – an alternative sentencing program that would address the rehabilitative needs of offenders, many of whom were substance abusers. The program would provide strict supervision and necessary life skills training. By providing these services in the community, the program could cost less than incarceration and offer offenders the opportunity to continue to be working, contributing citizens. The public would be protected by the program’s ensuring that the supervision was intensive and meaningful, and that failure to comply with the program’s strictures would result in immediate sanctions or incarceration. The NH Center for Policy Studies evaluated the Academy program as part of a larger examination of the issue of substance abuse, crime and rising corrections costs in the state. According to the Center, crimes related to alcohol and drug dependency cost the state more than $144 million a year. Alcohol and drug dependency is considered one of the risk factors in criminal behavior that can be addressed by effective treatment in the community. The Academy, the Center said, is a demonstration of that principle, and its report included a number of recommendations aimed at expanding the Academy model and other alternatives to incarceration, as well as increasing the resources devoted to substance abuse treatment. The following is a description of the Academy from the Center’s report: The Academy is an alternative sentencing program funded and managed by the Department of Corrections. The department created the Academy for offenders who plead guilty to nonviolent felony charges for which they would normally receive state-prison sentences of a year or more. The department contracts with non-profit agencies, which serve as the local providers of Academy services. The providers hire case managers who make many of the decisions about what kind of treatment and programming the offenders must compete to graduate. Prosecutors, defense attorneys and superior court judges may refer an offender to the Academy provider for an assessment of his suitability for the program. The provider responds with a recommendation and the judge may then sentence the offender to the program. Both referral rates and acceptance rates vary considerably by county. Over the last few years, judges have sentenced 18 percent of the potential new prison admissions to the Academy. Critical decisions involving public safety, including whether an offender is sentenced to the Academy program and whether he is removed from the program and sent to prison, are made by the superior court judges in consultation with prosecutors, defense attorneys, probation officers and the provider. Academy offenders are on probation while in the Academy program and for one year after. In each of the last few years, there have been roughly 260 offenders – or about 10 percent of the prison population – enrolled in the population. Since its inception, 649 people have graduated from the Academy. The Center’s research shows the Academy is about as effective at protecting public safety and preventing new crimes as prison, and it costs much less. After calculating the Genera Fund costs of running the Academy – including the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Recovery’s contribution for treatment – the Center estimates that the DOC has saved the state general fund a net sum of roughly $9.7 million since 1996 by implementing the program. The department should increase utilization by admitting a broader range of offenders into the program and by actively working with the judiciary, prosecutors and public defenders to communicate program goals, standards and effectiveness.
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