Lakes Region Facility houses males only

The Department of Correction's Lakes Region Facility is officially a male-only prison. The 21 minimum security female offenders housed inside it were transferred yesterday to Shea Farm halfway house in Concord, which recently became an all-female facility.

Before the change, Lakes Region Facility was the only state prison in N.H. that still housed both male and female inmates.

The long-term plan is for the facility to house only minimum security males, although there is no specific timeline in place.

Currently the prison houses around 260 male inmates. Of these, 160 are classified as medium security who will eventually be relocated to either Concord or Berlin, according to Warden Jane Coplan. This will leave only the minimum security inmates — those nearing the end of their sentences who have demonstrated good behavior and completed the programs required of them.

Medium-security female offenders are housed in the state prison for women in Goffstown. Those women classified as minimum security were relocated to Shea Farm along with the offenders from Lakes Region Facility.

The changes are all part of a broader effort on the part of the state to reduce the prison population here and ultimately, the cost to taxpayers. It generally costs around $25,000 to house one inmate for one year, according to Department of Corrections Public Information Officer Jeff Lyons.

Since 1981, the overall prison population in N.H. has risen 600 percent although the general population has only grown 35 percent. It is expensive for taxpayers.

"We could lower those costs by getting people into these programs and working on the outside," Lyons said.

He explained on Friday that Lakes Region Facility and Shea Farm will become designated minimum security prisons for inmates who are nearing parole. They will be able to partake in a new pre-release program aimed to better prepare them for reentrance into the community.

In addition, some individuals who end up violating their parole terms after release will return to the facilities and be offered a 28-day 'refresher' course intended to help determine why they violated their parole, and remind them of the lessons they learned while serving time in prison.

"Hopefully they'll make wise choices when they go back out there," Lyons said of the program.

The separation of males and females will help make the prisoner program more successful because they will be gender-oriented, corrections officials say.

"Men and women do serve time differently and their needs are quite different," said Coplan. "The resources and programs regarding males and females are very different, and they really need to be gender specific."

In a statement released to the press, DOC Commissioner Stephen J. Curry, said, "This is a positive change as it allows the department to better manage, supervise and provide programming to female offenders returning to the community."

He added, "The efficient delivery of services to female offenders is enhanced by this change in how we do business."