Corrections superintendent expects influx of prisoners

LACONIA — As the number of COVID cases in the area continues to decline, the number of inmates in the Belknap County Corrections facility is beginning to climb.

And that trend will continue to put pressure on the department’s $4.4 million budget, Corrections Superintendent Adam Cunningham told County Commissions on Thursday. Cunningham said there are 56 inmates in the facility, which houses people awaiting trial and those sentenced for lower-level crimes.

Cunningham pointed out that number represents a 14 percent increase in the facility’s inmate population from last year, when the average number of inmates at any one time was 49. He said that he expected “an influx” of inmates in the coming weeks and months.

The number of people held at the facility was brought down to reduce the likelihood and severity of outbreaks of COVID-19.

Of the current 56 inmates, 40 are awaiting trial. Half of those have been booked into the facility since December, according to a report presented at the commissioners’ meeting.

Cunningham told the commissioners that the department had spent 15 percent of its budget during the first 15 percent of the fiscal year — just under two months. But he added that the amount paid out during that time does not take into account medical services, which often do not get billed to the department until a month or more after the expense is incurred.

When asked by commission Chairman Peter Spanos about the likelihood of the department spending 60 percent of its budget at the halfway point of the fiscal year at the end of June, Cunningham responded, “I am fairly certain that will be the case.”

Commissioners had proposed a budget of $4,843,578 for the Corrections Department for the current fiscal year, but the County Delegation’s Executive Committee cut about $400,000 from what had been recommended. Last month the entire delegation approved the committee’s recommended figure of $4,452,210.

In addition to inmates who are going through the court system, Cunningham said he expected the facility this summer will be dealing with a surge in arrests that can be expected to occur during Motorcycle Week, as well as the usual influx of intoxicated patrons at Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion who are placed in protective custody and then have to be held at the facility until they are sober enough to be released.

Motorcycle Week was held on a much smaller scale last year and the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Gilford canceled all its concerts because of COVID.