What problem does it solve? The Department of Corrections currently sends eligible inmates to Halfway Houses. Unfortunately there seems to be little oversight as to who gets returned from a Halfway House back to State Prison. Some inmates who are accused of an infraction and have these charges dismissed for lack of evidence or downgraded to a verbal reprimand are still returned to State Prison. Upon return to State Prison they are reviewed and still eligible to go to a Halfway House and some are sent right back. What is your solution and who does it apply to? The solution would be for the Halfway Houses to keep inmates and not automatically send them back to State Prison without cause. This would only apply when there is no evidence that the inmate committed a violation of the rules at the Halfway House and the charges are dismissed or the violation of the rules was deemed to be not serious enough to warrant anything more than a verbal reprimand. What is the anticipated impact? The anticipated impact would be to save the State of New Jersey money. According to the information that I found, it currently costs approximately $54,865 to house one inmate in New Jersey State Prison for 1 year. It costs approximately $9,000-$12,000 to house an inmate for 1 year at a Halfway House. Therefore, any inmates that are unnecessarily returned from the Halfway House to State Prison, cost the State of New Jersey a significant amount of money that in my opinion is wasted. This is particularly true of inmates who are returned to State Prison, only to be re-sent back to a Halfway House a month or two later. This also applies to inmates who subsequently refuse to return to the Halfway House. They do this because they wish to stay in State Prison rather than having to deal with the hassle of going the Halfway House and then returned to State Prison and being transferred around the state for no little or no cause.
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