GOVERNOR: EASING 'HALFWAY' DRUG POLICY IS WRONG

Mcgreevey Wants to Retain 'Zero Tolerance'

Gov. James E. McGreevey is at odds with his prisons chief over a
proposal to soften the penalty for drug use by state inmates in
halfway houses.

"I think that's wrong," McGreevey said of Corrections Commissioner Devon
Brown's proposal to ease a "zero tolerance" rule that sends halfway-house
residents straight back to prison if they fail a drug test. Under the
proposal, an inmate caught using drugs would be sent to a prison processing
center where officials would decide whether he or she deserved a second
chance.

The governor made the comment on his weekly radio show Wednesday
night.

The disagreement could be a setback to Brown's plan to change the way
the state's 21 privately run halfway houses help inmates return to
society. McGreevey supports other aspects of that plan. But when a
corrections officer called the radio show to ask about the drug
policy, McGreevey, hearing about it for the first time, disavowed it.

"I am a former assistant prosecutor. If it's children under the age of
15, I believe in tough love and trying to correct them. But when you
are talking about adults and you are talking about giving people the
opportunity to be in a halfway house who have served in a penal
institution, I just strongly disagree," the governor said.

Correction officers' unions have asked McGreevey to fire Brown because
they believe he's trying to move more offenders out of prisons and
into halfway houses.

"When you add everything up, it's clear to us what he's doing," said
Lt. Jeff Smith, president of the Superior Officers Association. "He's
shifting inmate populations from state run facilities into privately
run facilities."

Brown denies the unions' allegations, saying he has no plans to
increase the number of halfway house beds. McGreevey also opposes such
an expansion.

Brown said he would drop his proposed drug policy change if McGreevey
asked.

"He is the highest elected official," Brown said. "But I would ask the
governor give me the courtesy of explaining the basis of what we
promulgate so he would have a full understanding."

A McGreevey spokesman said the governor would not ask Brown to drop
the proposal until they can discuss the issue in person.

In the meantime, Brown says he's continuing with other plans to change
the way halfway houses are run and make sure his department is not
wasting the $58 million it pays their operators every year.

Inmates in the final months of their sentences are sent to halfway
houses so they can find jobs, visit family and learn how to adjust to
life on the outside. But with those freedoms comes the increased
likelihood of violations. Every year, 300 or so people walk away from
halfway houses, often leading state investigators on costly chases
that can drag on for months or years.

Concern about those escapes is driving much of Brown's plan for
change.

Brown has already tightened rules on furloughs, and committed
resources to extraditing fugitives who have fled to other countries.
This spring he is demanding tough new contracts from the 11 companies
that run the houses, allowing the department to rate their operations
on everything from food to security. He intends to drop those that
don't measure up. The contracts include an unprecedented penalty of
$5,000 when a resident escapes.

The halfway house operators say they have nothing against raising
standards to help offenders rebuild their lives. But a few --
particularly those with small budgets -- questioned whether charging
for escapes will do anything besides damage their bottom lines.

"Do I think it's going to have an impact on escapes? Probably not,"
said James Hemm, director of four Trenton-area halfway houses run by
the New Jersey Association on Correction. His smallest facility was
paid $30,000 by the state last year, and his largest was paid $85,000.

Corrections officials say the point is not to drain the resources of
halfway houses, but to encourage them to watch their residents more
closely. The stiff fees will be used only in cases of serious
negligence, they say.

"This is not a 'gotcha' thing. We want to work with the providers,"
said Assistant Commissioner Carrie Johnson, who runs the department's
community residence programs.

Also with escapes in mind, Brown says he wants to change rules that in
some cases allow offenders to be assigned to halfway houses before
spending any time in prison. He reasons that even a short stint in
prison will assure that inmates know what they're risking by trying to
escape. And he has ordered his staff to study patterns in the kinds of
offenders who walk off and when they choose to do it. The information
will be used to more accurately predict escape risks and improve
security at halfway houses.

Brown says the aim of these changes is simple.

"Halfway houses serve the fundamentally important role of
transitioning inmates into the community," he said. "We're just trying
to hold (the operators) more accountable."

Brown says he still wants to make his case to McGreevey about
loosening the "zero tolerance" drug rule. Brown believes it would
reduce the incentive to escape for an inmate who has fallen back into
drug abuse.

And he believes many inmates would benefit more by returning to
treatment and life in a halfway house than by being sent straight back
to prison.

"Anyone who is an addiction expert will tell you when you're dealing
with abuse at this magnitude, the likelihood of relapse is
significant," Brown said. "It shouldn't be grounds to toss them back
automatically without a review."