Graduating state Department of Corrections officers at a ceremony in March.
TRENTON — New Jersey’s state Corrections commissioner told lawmakers today he has no major concerns about how halfway houses are run in New Jersey and doesn’t believe any of those inspected by his staff should be shut down.
“I think our program is working,” Commissioner Gary Lanigan told members of the state Senate budget committee. “I think our halfway houses are working.”
Lanigan said violence at outside facilities housing state inmates — all of whom are nearing the end of their sentences and preparing to reenter the community — is not as pervasive as some may believe.
“The violence that we measure is not any place near the anecdotal information that was talked about last spring,” Lanigan said. “We have very little violence in our halfway houses.”
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He also said he was not concerned about escapes. While several dozen inmates were, at any given time last year, listed as escapees from halfway houses, more than 40 percent were back in custody within a day, he said. Some 60 percent were back in custody within a week, he said.
Last year, The New York Times published a series of articles detailing escapes, violence and lax oversight at the privately operated facilities that supplement the state’s prison system.
The focus of much of the Times reports was Community Education Centers, which operates Delaney Hall and until last November counted one of Gov. Chris Christie’s closest friends and advisers, William Palatucci, as a senior vice president.
Problems flared again at the halfway houses during Hurricane Sandy, when inmates escaped from Logan Hall in Newark, also run by Community Education Centers, after it lost power.
Lanigan, who was peppered with questioned about halfway houses by state Sen. Linda Greenstein (D-Middlesex), said department has not yet completed a report on the facilities. Because of the tedious nature of compiling data, he said it was unclear when the study would be finished.
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But corrections inspectors are required to visit each halfway house six times each quarter of the calendar year, and that he and his senior staff also make unannounced visits to the facilities.
“My concern is as much with the inspector doing his or her job as it is with the facility doing theirs,” the commissioner said. “We do hold people accountable for making sure the contractors are doing what they are required to do.”
The hearing was held to discuss the corrections department and parole board’s share of Christie’s proposed budget. The proposed budget calls for spending about $959 million on direct corrections and parole services in the fiscal year starting July 1. That’s a $1.3 million increase from the current fiscal year.
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