CONCORD - Private prisons would be barred in the state under a bill advanced by a legislative committee Thursday.

The bill, House Bill 443, prohibits the state from hiring a private contractor to build or operate a prison.

"In the privatization of prisons, the main things they watch out for is the food cost, light, gas, heat," said Criminal Justice Committee Chair Laura Pantelakos, D-Portsmouth. "I think when a person is put in a private prison they are shortchanged."

Opponents complained that the bill is premature because there is no proposal being advanced to build a private prison, and noted the ban is subject to being swept away in a future legislative session. Rep. Robert Cushing, D-Hampton, said he doesn't like the idea of having the state exercising its "awesome power" to put people in prison and then delegating its authority to guards who "take an oath to Corrections Corporation of America" rather than the oath to support New Hampshire law.

"There is a high recidivism rate; people talk of a perverse incentive to keeping people in prison," Cushing said, "When you're filling bunks, you have an incentive to keep people in prison."

Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, R-Manchester, chided other members of the committee for being willing to walk away from even considering privately operated prisons as a cost-saving measure.

"This is about efficiency in state government," Vaillancourt said. "We should not be closing the door to something that could be making us more efficient."

The committee voted 15-5 to recommend the bill to pass when it is heard by the full House.



billsmith@unionleader.com