By Kevin Landrigan
The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester
NEW ORLEANS — Siding squarely with law enforcement, Gov. Kelly Ayotte ordered Corrections Commissioner Helen Hanks to change agency policy and use “inmates” and not “residents” in all references to those incarcerated in state prison.
A former attorney general and U.S. senator, Ayotte responded to leaders of correctional officer unions, the state trooper association and some county sheriffs that had argued the term resident failed to meet the gravity of serious crimes that warrant being sentenced to the New Hampshire State Prisons for Men and Women.
“Rehabilitative efforts should be pursued without ignoring the reality of incarceration. The language we use should also be consistent with New Hampshire law,” Ayotte said in her letter to Hanks carrying out the change in terminology.
“The label of ‘resident'— currently used by the Department of Corrections—for incarcerated persons obscures the joint goals of deterrence, rehabilitation, and punishment.”
Ayotte further pointed out “resident” exists in state law as a reference to the mentally ill who are at New Hampshire Hospital in Concord and the infirm who served in the military and live at the New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton .
“Please take all necessary actions to ensure that the Department of Corrections uses ‘inmate’ rather than ‘resident,’” Ayotte wrote Hanks. “Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
A loose coalition of law enforcement officials sent Ayotte a letter praising her decision that they had been seeking for some time.
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