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A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO SENTENCING COMMISSION TO STUDY AND

MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS ON SERVICES AND PROGRAMS THAT SUPPORT

OFFENDER REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION AND REDUCE THE

INCIDENCE OF RECIDIVISM.

WHEREAS, the vast majority of convicted criminals do not

remain in prison but return to the world outside and to the

communities from which they came; and

WHEREAS, studies show that within three years of

release, sixty-seven percent of former prisoners are

rearrested and fifty-two percent are reincarcerated for crimes

committed in our communities; and

WHEREAS, due to New Mexico's need for additional prison

beds, a medium-security, six-hundred-bed correctional facility

is being constructed in the town of Clayton and will house

state prisoners at a projected cost to the state of over

seventeen million five hundred thousand dollars ($17,500,000)

per year; and

WHEREAS, the corrections department projects that

current prison facilities, including the new Clayton facility,

will be at or over capacity by the summer of 2009; and

WHEREAS, a New Mexico sentencing commission report

estimates that, based on current inmate population growth, New

Mexico will need a new six-hundred-bed correctional facility

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every three years; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico needs to improve the effectiveness

of facilitating the reentry and reintegration of persons with

criminal convictions into its communities; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico needs to rehabilitate persons with

criminal convictions in order to reduce the incidence of

recidivism and violence in its communities; and

WHEREAS, community services, adequate housing, gainful

employment and other programs are necessary to reintegrate

prisoners, reduce recidivism rates and provide for the

responsible early release of nonviolent prisoners;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico

sentencing commission be requested to study and make

recommendations for needed community services and programs,

including housing, that support offender rehabilitation and

reintegration into our communities; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the commission study and

make recommendations on programs and services needed to

effectuate a reduction in recidivism rates and to provide

support for the early release of nonviolent offenders into the

community; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the commission report its

findings and recommendations to the appropriate interim

legislative committee no later than November 2007; and

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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

transmitted to the New Mexico legislative council and the New

Mexico sentencing commission.