The Roundhouse in Santa Fe (Photo by Peter St. Cyr)
Cuts the department has already implemented include moving inmates from private to state-owned prisons and feeding inmates less
State agencies are bracing for across-the-board spending cuts as lawmakers are working to plug this fiscal year’s budget shortfall of at least $650 million.
One of those is the New Mexico Department of Corrections, which already absorbed a $12.5 million cut earlier this year.
Spokeswoman Tia Bland told NMPolitics.net the department is “ahead of the game” and has been planning for a 3.5 percent budget cut.
“We have a plan in place to meet that goal,” Bland said.
She listed several initiatives that have already been undertaken to reduce costs, including moving nearly 250 inmates from privately-contracted prisons to state owned and operated prisons — which will save an estimated $4.2 million during the current fiscal year.
Approximately 250 inmates from the Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs and the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa — both privately operated by the GEO Group — have been moved into the state-operated Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility in Las Cruces and Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Grants.
“Because our prison population has dropped and (we) are not currently overcrowded, we have the flexibility in our system to move inmates around,” Bland said.
Bland also said the department was able to cut its food services contract by $310,000, or 5 percent, by cutting the number of calories inmates get each day.
“We were able to do this by reducing the daily calorie count from 3,400 to 3,000 calories a day,” she said.
The Corrections Department is also negotiating with Correctional Medical Services — its medical services contractor — to reduce costs. Bland indicated that the department has also cut contracts with vendors that provide treatment-type services to probation and parole offenders.
“We have combed through all of our contracts for potential savings,” Bland said. “In some cases, we even eliminated some non-recurring contracts.”
Earlier this week, House Republicans posted a list of 48 cost-saving measures the administration could take. One of those suggestions was the the early release of non-violent offenders.
But NMPolitics.net could not get a definition of what they meant by non-violent offenders, and the Corrections Department said releasing certain inmates up to three months early as the GOP lawmakers proposed “would not significantly impact the budget.”
“To realize real budgetary savings, we would have to shut down prisons,” Bland said.