FISCAL YEAR 2021-2022
ANALYSIS OF THE NEW JERSEY BUDGET DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS STATE PAROLE BOARD
Prepared by the NNewew JerseyJersey LLegislatureegislature OOfficeffice ofof LLEGISLATIVEEGISLATIVE SERVICESSERVICES May 2021 NNEWEW JJERSEYERSEY SSTATETATE LLEGISLATUREEGISLATURE
SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
Paul A. Sarlo (D), 36th District (Parts of Bergen and Passaic), Chair Sandra B. Cunningham (D), 31st District (Part of Hudson), Vice-Chair Dawn Marie Addiego (D), 8th District (Parts of Atlantic, Burlington and Camden) Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D), 5th District (Parts of Camden and Gloucester) Patrick J. Diegnan, Jr. (D), 18th District (Part of Middlesex) Linda R. Greenstein (D), 14th District (Parts of Mercer and Middlesex) Declan J. O’Scanlon, Jr. (R), 13th District (Part of Monmouth) Steven V. Oroho (R), 24th District (All of Sussex, and parts of Morris and Warren) M. Teresa Ruiz (D), 29th District (Part of Essex) Troy Singleton (D), 7th District (Part of Burlington) Michael L. Testa, Jr. (R), 1st District (All of Cape May, parts of Atlantic and Cumberland) Samuel D. Thompson (R), 12th District (Parts of Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
GENERAL ASSEMBLY BUDGET COMMITTEE
Eliana Pintor Marin (D), 29th District (Part of Essex), Chair John J. Burzichelli (D), 3rd District (All of Salem, parts of Cumberland and Gloucester), Vice-Chair Daniel R. Benson (D), 14th District (Parts of Mercer and Middlesex) Robert D. Clifton (R), 12th District (Parts of Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean) Serena DiMaso (R), 13th District (Part of Monmouth) Gordon M. Johnson (D), 37th District (Part of Bergen) John F. McKeon (D), 27th District (Parts of Essex and Morris) Nancy F. Muñoz (R), 21st District (Parts of Morris, Somerset and Union) Carol A. Murphy (D), 7th District (Part of Burlington) Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D), 15th District (Parts of Hunterdon and Mercer) William W. Spearman (D), 5th District (Parts of Camden and Gloucester) Benjie E. Wimberly (D), 35th District (Parts of Bergen and Passaic) Harold J. “Hal” Wirths (R), 24th District (All of Sussex, and parts of Morris and Warren)
OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE SERVICES
Thomas Koenig, Legislative Budget and Finance Offi cer Vacant, Assistant Legislative Budget and Finance Offi cer
Marvin W. Jiggetts, Director, Central Staff Patricia K. Nagle, Section Chief, Judiciary Section
This report was prepared by the Judiciary Section of the Offi ce of Legislative Services under the direction of the Legislative Budget and Finance Offi cer. The primary author was Anuja Pande Joshi.
Questions or comments may be directed to the OLS Judiciary Section (Tel: 609-847-3865) or the Legislative Budget and Finance Offi ce (Tel: 609-847-3105).
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND STATE PAROLE BOARD
C-4, C-10, C-16 to C-17, Budget Pages...... D-67 to D-85, G-1 to G-2
The data presented in this Office of Legislative Services Budget Analysis reflect 12-month fiscal years beginning on July 1 and ending on June 30 of the subsequent year.
Fiscal Summary ($000) Adjusted Percentage Expended Appropriation Recommended Change FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 2021-22 State Budgeted $1,002,374 $1,088,858 $1,084,654 (0.4%)
Federal Funds 139,833 17,797 18,239 2.5%
Other 49,288 47,576 43,032 (9.6%)
Grand Total $1,191,495 $1,154,231 $1,145,925 (0.7%)
Personnel Summary - Positions By Funding Source Percentage Actual Revised Funded Change FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 2021-22 State 8,196 7,724 7,821 1.3% Federal 18 19 22 15.8%
Other 174 167 195 16.8%
Total Positions 8,388 7,910 8,038 1.6% FY 2020 (as of December) and revised FY 2021 (as of January) personnel data reflect actual payroll counts. FY 2022 data reflect the number of positions funded.
Link to Website: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/finance.asp
Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Highlights
The data presented in this Office of Legislative Services Budget Analysis reflect 12-month fiscal years beginning on July 1 and ending on June 30 of the subsequent year.
• The Department of Corrections’ and the State Parole Board’s combined recommended FY 2022 State appropriations total $1.085 billion, which is about $4.2 million or 0.4 percent less than the FY 2021 adjusted appropriation of $1.089 billion.
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
• According to the Department of Corrections, as of December 31, 2020, there were 13,390 State-sentenced inmates housed in State and county correctional facilities and private contracted residential facilities (halfway houses). Compared to the same date a year prior, the total was down by 7,377 inmates or 35.5 percent fewer inmates. The abrupt one-year changes are primarily attributable to policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Count of State-Sentenced Inmates Housed by Type of Facility
Setting Dec. 2019 Dec. 2020 Change Change (%) State Adult Prisons 16,074 10,749 (5,325) -33.1% State Youth Facilities 2,189 1,321 (868) -39.7% County Jails 110 751 641 582.7% Reentry (Essex - Staying Connected) 117 0 (117) -100.0% Halfway Houses 2,277 569 (1,708) -75.0% TOTAL 20,767 13,390 (7,377) -35.5%
• The FY 2022 budget recommendation for State prison facilities totals $768.1 million, a decrease of $11.6 million or 1.5 percent below the FY 2021 adjusted appropriation of $779.7 million. The decrease is primarily attributable to $14.0 million in reduced salaries and wages appropriations from the planned closure of the William H. Fauver Youth Correctional Facility (formerly known as Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility) in the first quarter of calendar year 2022. However, if actual savings from depopulating the facility were to be less than $14.0 million, proposed language would grant supplemental appropriation authority to backfill the shortfall in savings.
• The FY 2022 Governor’s Budget shows a sharp drop in the average daily population of Department of Corrections facilities, as displayed in the table on the following page. Although the long-term national trend of declining prison populations contributed to this outcome, the steep decrease in the last two years predominantly is a function of early release initiatives, notably the Earn Your Way Out Act and COVID-19-related early release programs. 2 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Highlights (Cont’d)
• The FY 2022 Governor’s Budget recommends a new $5.0 million appropriation for improving the internet infrastructure for inmates so that they have enhanced access to education, employment, and legal materials.
• A new $2.0 million appropriation is proposed for information technology modernization, security improvements and enhancements in adult correctional facilities.
• The FY 2022 Governor’s Budget newly includes $1.3 million for consulting services to rectify operations at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women. The appropriation responds to the April 2020 report by the United States Department of Justice, which had found that conditions at the women’s prison “violate the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution due to the sexual abuse of prisoners by the facility’s staff ….”
• The Governor recommends resuming the appropriation of State funds, at $3.7 million, in FY 2022 for Hepatitis C Treatment of Offenders with Substance Use Disorder Diagnosis. In FY 2021, some $22.3 million in prior State funds appropriations for opioid epidemic- related initiatives across several departments was shifted to federal resources.
• The Governor proposes newly diverting $1.1 million in dedicated, off-budget Clean Energy Fund balances to the department for the purchase of biodegradable food service products for prison cafeterias. The diversion is prompted by a recent enactment that prohibits the use of plastic straws and polystyrene foam food service products.
• The Governor recommends a new $3.0 million appropriation for the Release Support Partnership Program. The sum would be used for the New Jersey Locally Empowered, Accountable, and Determined (NJ LEAD) grants program that would fund non-profit organizations that facilitate prisoner re-entry into society.
• The Governor proposes raising the appropriation for the Essex County Re-Entry Program, "Staying Connected," from $4.5 million in FY 2021 to the pre-pandemic level of $6.0
3 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Highlights (Cont’d)
million in FY 2022. Cost reductions in FY 2021 were made possible by the temporary halt of State inmate placements in the program owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The $4.2 million supplemental appropriation in FY 2021 for the purchase of services for inmates incarcerated in county penal facilities is not recommended to be renewed in the upcoming fiscal year. The department suspended the transfer of State-sentenced inmates from county jails to State prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a steep rise in the number of State-sentenced inmates housed in county jails. In addition to the $4.2 million supplemental appropriation, the State also uses $15.2 million of its federal Coronavirus Relief Fund allocation to offset the resulting cost increase in FY 2021.
• At $48.9 million, the FY 2022 recommended appropriation for the Purchase of Community Services is $9.2 million or 15.8 percent below the adjusted appropriation of $58.1 million for FY 2021. This reduction primarily reflects a substantial decline in the number of inmates housed in residential community-based release programs since FY 2020 as a result of new early release programs, COVID-19-related capacity restrictions at halfway houses and limitations on transfers thereto.
• The Department of Corrections has received $260.0 million out of the State’s flexible $2.4 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund allocation under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020. Of that total, $236.0 million was used in FY 2020 and FY 2021 to offset the cost of State prison facility salaries and wages, $15.2 million to pay for the cost of housing a sharply higher number of State-sentenced inmates in county jails after a suspension of transfers to State prisons in response to the COVID- 19 pandemic, and $8.7 million was used to support federal reimbursements. The department also received $12.5 million in COVID-19-related reimbursements by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
STATE PAROLE BOARD
• The State Parole Board is recommended to receive $122.2 million in State appropriations for FY 2022, some $3.1 million or 2.6 percent above the current fiscal year. This amount understates the anticipated year-on-year growth. The Executive expects to lapse $4.4 million of the FY 2021 adjusted appropriations into the General Fund at the end of the fiscal year. As a result, the State Parole Board’s proposed FY 2022 appropriations would exceed its projected current-year expenditures by $7.4 million, or 6.5 percent, after adjusting for the anticipated lapse.
• The annualization of recurring expenditures attributable to the implementation of P.L.2019, c.364, the Earn Your Way Out Act, adds $7.8 million to the State Parole Board’s recommended FY 2022 funding level. While the increase would primarily affect salaries and wages, the appropriations for the board’s community-based programs would also rise by lesser amounts. The law increases the board’s caseload. As a result, the number of funded positions at the board is recommended to rise from 571 in the original FY 2020 Appropriations Act to 677 in FY 2022.
• The non-recurrence of $5.5 million in budgeted FY 2021 expenditures for carrying out certain COVID-19 pandemic early release initiatives would offset most of the 4 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Highlights (Cont’d)
recommended FY 2022 growth in State Parole Board appropriations. However, of the $5.5 million, some $4.4 million is expected to lapse into the General Fund at the end of the current fiscal year.
Background Papers:
Trends in Inmate Population ………………………………………………………………………...…… p.18 State Parole Board Caseload Growth ……………………………..………………………………….... p.20
5 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Fiscal and Personnel Summary
AGENCY FUNDING BY SOURCE OF FUNDS ($000)
Adj. Expended Approp. Recom. Percentage Change FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 2020-22 2021-22
General Fund
Direct State Services $880,272 $951,154 $955,138 8.5% 0.4%
Grants-In-Aid 98,959 114,204 106,016 7.1% (7.2%)
State Aid 0 0 0 -- --
Capital Construction 1,533 0 0 (100.0%) --
Debt Service 0 0 0 -- --
Sub-Total $980,764 $1,065,358 $1,061,154 8.2% (0.4%)
Property Tax Relief Fund
Direct State Services $0 $0 $0 -- --
Grants-In-Aid 0 0 0 -- --
State Aid 21,610 23,500 23,500 8.7% 0.0%
Sub-Total $21,610 $23,500 $23,500 8.7% 0.0%
Casino Revenue Fund $0 $0 $0 -- --
Casino Control Fund $0 $0 $0 -- --
State Total $1,002,374 $1,088,858 $1,084,654 8.2% (0.4%)
Federal Funds $139,833 $17,797 $18,239 (87.0%) 2.5%
Other Funds $49,288 $47,576 $43,032 (12.7%) (9.6%)
Grand Total $1,191,495 $1,154,231 $1,145,925 (3.8%) (0.7%)
PERSONNEL SUMMARY - POSITIONS BY FUNDING SOURCE
Actual Revised Funded Percentage Change FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 2020-22 2021-22
State 8,196 7,724 7,821 (4.6%) 1.3%
Federal 18 19 22 22.2% 15.8%
All Other 174 167 195 12.1% 16.8%
Total Positions 8,388 7,910 8,038 (4.2%) 1.6% FY 2020 (as of December) and revised FY 2021 (as of January) personnel data reflect actual payroll counts. FY 2022 data reflect the number of positions funded.
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION DATA
Total Minority Percentage Department of Corrections 49.6% 52.0% N/A ------State Parole Board 26.9% 27.9% N/A ------
6 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Significant Changes/New Programs ($000)
Department of Corrections
General Fund, Direct State Services Budget Page: D-75 Salaries and Wages
FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 Change
Expended Expended Adj. Approp. Recomm. FY 2021 – FY 2022 $557,377 $429,559 $511,778 $499,978 ($11,800) (2.3%)
Two countervailing factors yield the recommended $11.8 million net decrease in the appropriation for salaries and wages for State correctional facilities. The FY 2022 Governor’s Budget includes a $14.0 million reduction from depopulating the William H. Fauver Youth Correctional Facility (formerly known as Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility) through the first quarter of calendar year 2022. As a result, the facility’s salaries and wages expenditures are proposed to fall from $22.1 million in FY 2021 to $8.1 million in FY 2022. If actual savings from depopulating the facility were to be less than $14.0 million, however, a proposed language provision would grant the department supplemental appropriation authority to backfill the shortfall in savings up to the full amount of the shortfall.
The salaries and wages appropriation for New Jersey State Prison, in turn, is recommended to grow by $2.2 million from $57.4 million in FY 2021 to $59.6 million in FY 2022. The increase reflects the loss of a one-time resource to which New Jersey State Prison salaries and wages were shifted in FY 2021: unexpended federal State Criminal Alien Assistance Program grant balances from prior fiscal years.
The FY 2021 adjusted appropriation displayed above does not incorporate the use of $115.0 million in federal Coronavirus Relief Fund balances to pay for salaries and wages in State correctional facilities. In all, the State charged $236.0 million in State correctional facilities salaries and wages to its flexible $2.4 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund allocation under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020. Of the $236.0 million, some $121.0 million was applied in FY 2020 and $115.0 million in FY 2021. The $115.0 million in surplus FY 2021 State funds spending authority in this budget line was then transferred to the State Employees’ Health Benefits Direct State Services account in Interdepartmental Accounts.
All Other Funds, Institutional Care and Treatment Budget Page: D-76
FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 Change
Expended Expended Adj. Approp. Recomm. FY 2021 – FY 2022 $2,347 $2,414 $0 $1,100 $1,100 --
The recommended increase reflects the diversion of $1.1 million in dedicated, off-budget Clean Energy Fund balances to the Department of Corrections for the purchase of biodegradable food service products. P.L.2020, c.117 prohibits the use of certain single-use carryout bags, plastic straws, and polystyrene foam food service products, which are used in the cafeterias of State 7 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Significant Changes/New Programs ($000) (Cont’d)
correctional facilities. A proposed new general provision would authorize this fund diversion (page F-12). Clean Energy Fund revenues are collected from New Jersey electric and natural gas ratepayers and are statutorily dedicated to energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives. In all, the Executive intends to use $5.1 million in Clean Energy Fund resources to pay for biodegradable food service products in various State institutions.
All Other Funds, Administration and Support Services Budget Page: D-76
FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 Change
Expended Expended Adj. Approp. Recomm. FY 2021 – FY 2022 $20,957 $21,107 $21,502 $16,065 ($5,437) (25.3%)
This line aggregates several dedicated, off-budget revenues that support Administration and Support Services expenditures across the State correctional facilities. The anticipated $5.5 million net decrease in FY 2022 mostly reflects the non-recurrence of $5.1 million in anticipated FY 2021 receipts from the South Woods Central Food Production Facility. The food production plant provides meal components to each correctional facility.
Operating as a revolving fund, the Bureau of State Use Industries runs 26 self-sustaining work- training projects in State correctional institutions with DEPTCOR serving as the trade name for the products and services offered by the shops and offices. According to the department’s FY 2021 First Quarter Fiscal Report, all DEPTCOR shops were closed in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic with the exception of the Bakery, Food and State Use Industries Warehouse (South Woods State Prison), Central Warehouse (Trenton) and Trucking. Other shops reopened over time but have operated with reduced staff. As a result, the production of products has been limited, depressing DEPTCOR revolving fund revenues: FY 2021 sales revenue is projected at $5.5 million, when it totaled $12.4 million in FY 2019. As DEPTCOR salary expenditures remained largely the same, the revolving fund has been operating at a deficit following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, requiring the use of all carryforward amounts to cover expenditures.
General Fund, Direct State Services Budget Page: D-77 Services Other Than Personal
FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 Change
Expended Expended Adj. Approp. Recomm. FY 2021 – FY 2022 $14,146 $12,829 $10,838 $13,013 $2,175 20.1%
According to the Office of Management and Budget, two elements compose the $2.2 million increase. First, $1.3 million is recommended to be appropriated for consulting services to rectify operations at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in response to the April 2020 report on the prison by the United States Department of Justice. The department announced on February 19, 2021 that it had engaged The Moss Group for that purpose. The consulting firm is 8 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Significant Changes/New Programs ($000) (Cont’d)
to provide technical support in operational practice, policy development, and implementation of identified solutions. In its April 2020 report, the United States Department of Justice had found that conditions at the women’s prison “violate the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution due to the sexual abuse of prisoners by the facility’s staff ….”
Second, $875,000 is recommended to be appropriated for services to be provided by external contractors to implement P.L.2019, c.160, which restricts the use of isolated confinement in correctional facilities. The law requires qualified healthcare personnel to conduct: a) a comprehensive medical and mental health examination before a State prison inmate may be placed in isolated confinement and b) a daily mental and physical health status examination of inmates placed in solitary confinement. According to the FY 2022 Budget In Brief, additional funds would be made available in FY 2022 to support the daily examinations. In all, the Governor recommends increasing Department of Corrections appropriations by $1.0 million for this purpose: $875,000 in the above Services Other Than Personal line and $125,000 in the Integrated Information Systems line.
General Fund, Direct State Services Special Purpose: Hepatitis C Treatment of Offenders with Budget Page: D-78 Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Diagnosis FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 Change
Expended Expended Adj. Approp. Recomm. FY 2021 – FY 2022 $0 $5,351 $0 $3,700 $3,700 --
The Governor recommends resuming the appropriation of State funds, at $3.7 million, in FY 2022 for Hepatitis C Treatment of Offenders with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Diagnosis. In FY 2021, some $22.3 million in prior State funds appropriations for opioid epidemic-related initiatives across several departments was shifted to federal resources. The OLS cannot ascertain to what extent funding for this Department of Corrections program may have been replaced by federal funds in FY 2021.
General Fund, Direct State Services Budget Page: D-78 Special Purpose: Custody Overtime and Staffing Consultant
FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 Change
Expended Expended Adj. Approp. Recomm. FY 2021 – FY 2022 $0 $0 $0 $175 $175 --
The FY 2022 Governor’s Budget includes a recommended $175,000 appropriation for a consultant to advise the department on its staffing and custody overtime hours management practices, as the department continues the consolidation of correctional facilities. The department’s overtime expenditures totaled $40.9 million in FY 2019. They then climbed to $59.5 million in FY 2020 and an anticipated $81.6 million in FY 2021 as a result of employees
9 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Significant Changes/New Programs ($000) (Cont’d)
being unable to work because of COVID-19 infections, experiencing symptoms associated with COVID-19, and self-quarantining.
General Fund, Direct State Services Special Purpose: IT Modernization, Security Improvements and Budget Page: D-78 Enhancements FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 Change
Expended Expended Adj. Approp. Recomm. FY 2021 – FY 2022 $0 $0 $0 $2,000 $2,000 --
The FY 2022 Governor’s Budget recommends a new $2.0 million appropriation for information technology modernization and security improvements in adult correctional facilities.
General Fund, Direct State Services Budget Page: D-78 Special Purpose: Internet Infrastructure for Inmates
FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 Change
Expended Expended Adj. Approp. Recomm. FY 2021 – FY 2022 $0 $0 $0 $5,000 $5,000 --
The FY 2022 Governor’s Budget recommends a new $5.0 million appropriation for Internet Infrastructure for Inmates. According to the FY 2022 Budget In Brief, the incarcerated are to use the improved internet infrastructure to access education, employment, and legal materials.
General Fund, Grants-In-Aid Budget Page: D-78 Release Support Partnership Program
FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 Change
Expended Expended Adj. Approp. Recomm. FY 2021 – FY 2022 $0 $0 $0 $3,000 $3,000 --
The FY 2022 Governor’s Budget recommends a new $3.0 million appropriation for the Release Support Partnership Program budget line. According to the FY 2022 Budget in Brief, the sum would be used for the New Jersey Locally Empowered, Accountable, and Determined (NJ LEAD) grants program that would fund non-profit organizations that facilitate prisoner re-entry into society.
10 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Significant Changes/New Programs ($000) (Cont’d)
General Fund, Grants-In-Aid Budget Page: D-78 Essex County – Recidivism Pilot Program
FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 Change
Expended Expended Adj. Approp. Recomm. FY 2021 – FY 2022 $5,958 $5,087 $4,500 $6,000 $1,500 33.3%
The Governor recommends increasing the FY 2022 appropriation to the Essex County Re-Entry Program, "Staying Connected," to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level of $6.0 million. The pandemic temporarily halted the placement of State inmates in the program, which resulted in a reduced $4.5 million appropriation in FY 2021. Moreover, because of the temporary halt on inmate placements, the Office of Management and Budget anticipates that $1.5 million of the $4.5 million FY 2021 appropriation will lapse into the General Fund at the end of the fiscal year.
The Essex County Re-Entry Program, "Staying Connected," is operated by the Essex County Correctional Facility. It provides soon-to-be released inmates with coordinated services to assist their reintegration into the community. This program provides a myriad of integrated services from various agencies and departments including: treatment, educational services, employment referrals, healthcare, housing referrals, family connection support, anger management and life skills training. The goals of the program are to eliminate barriers that prevent ex-offenders from successfully transitioning back into their communities upon release and to reduce recidivism.
General Fund, Grants-In-Aid Purchase of Service for Inmates Incarcerated in County Penal Budget Page: D-78 Facilities FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 Change
Expended Expended Adj. Approp. Recomm. FY 2021 – FY 2022 $1,420 $1,001 $3,165 $1,420 ($4,200) (74.7%) S $4,200
The department suspended the transfer of State-sentenced inmates from county jails to State prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, 108 State-sentenced inmates were held in county jails. That number peaked at 740 in July 2020 and then dropped steadily to 573 in November 2020. In its FY 2021 First Quarter Fiscal Report, the department projected the count to hold steady at 600 for the remainder of the year.
The growing number of State-sentenced inmates housed in county jails increased the department’s payment obligations to counties. The FY 2021 Appropriations Act included $1.4 million for this purpose. After using $15.2 million of the State’s flexible $2.4 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund allocation under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020 for the purchase of services for State-sentence inmates incarcerated in county jails, the Executive anticipates needing a $4.2 million supplemental State appropriation to meet the State’s obligations to counties through the remainder of the current fiscal year.
11 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Significant Changes/New Programs ($000) (Cont’d)
The FY 2022 Governor’s Budget includes $1.4 million for this purpose in the coming fiscal year based on the expectation that the temporary suspension of transfers of State-sentenced inmates from county jails to State prisons would end in FY 2022. Accordingly, the department anticipates that only 160 State-sentenced inmates will be held in county prisons in FY 2022, on average.
General Fund, Grants-In-Aid Budget Page: D-78 Purchase of Community Services
FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 Change
Expended Expended Adj. Approp. Recomm. FY 2021 – FY 2022 $62,965 $60,546 $58,129 $48,924 ($9,205) (15.8%)
The FY 2022 Governor’s Budget includes $10.0 million in savings from the reduced purchase of community services for State-sentenced inmates housed in private contracted residential facilities. Evaluation data show that the number of Residential Community Release Program bed spaces is projected to decline from 2,322 in FY 2020 to 2,073 in FY 2021, and then further to 1,753 in FY 2022. COVID-19-related capacity restrictions at halfway houses and limitations on transfers thereto as well as new early release programs have contributed to the vacancies. According to the FY 2022 Budget in Brief, there was a nearly 80 percent reduction in the department’s residential community release program population since January 2018.
The proposed $10.0 million decrease in the FY 2022 Purchase of Community Services appropriation is partially offset by a recommended $795,000 increase so that service providers may raise their employees’ compensation in response to the State minimum wage rising to $12 per hour on January 1, 2021 and $13 per hour on January 1, 2022.
12 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Significant Changes/New Programs ($000)
State Parole Board
General Fund, Direct State Services and Grants-In-Aid Budget Page: D-82 Grand Total State Appropriation, State Parole Board
FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 Change
Expended Expended Adj. Approp. Recomm. FY 2021 – FY 2022 $92,089 $91,580 $119,095 $122,175 $3,080 2.6%
Four countervailing changes, which are described below, aggregate to the recommended $3.1 million net increase in FY 2022 State Parole Board appropriations. This amount, however, understates the anticipated year-on-year growth. The Executive expects to lapse $4.4 million of the FY 2021 adjusted appropriations into the General Fund at the end of the fiscal year. As a result, the State Parole Board’s proposed FY 2022 appropriations would exceed its projected current-year expenditures by $7.4 million, or 6.5 percent, after adjusting for the anticipated lapse.
Earn Your Way Out Act: The annualization of recurring expenditures attributable to the implementation of P.L.2019, c.364, the Earn Your Way Out Act, adds $7.8 million to the State Parole Board’s recommended FY 2022 funding level. While the increase would primarily affect the board’s salaries and wages expenditures, the appropriations for the board’s community-based programs would also rise by lesser amounts.
P.L.2019, c.364, the Earn Your Way Out Act, considerably increases the number of parolees under the auspices of the State Parole Board. Among its provisions, the law establishes administrative parole release for certain prison inmates at the time of primary or subsequent parole eligibility. At least partially offsetting that caseload effect in the long-term, the law also establishes parole compliance credits that reduce a person’s term of parole. Evaluation data in the FY 2022 Governor's Budget indicate that the number of parolees under board supervision is projected to grow by 2,051, or 13.2 percent, from 15,552 parolees in FY 2020 to 16,603 parolees in FY 2022.
In anticipation of the caseload growth, the board’s number of funded positions is recommended to rise by 18.6 percent from 571 funded positions in the original FY 2020 Appropriations Act to 677 in FY 2022. Concurrently, the board’s salaries and wages appropriation is recommended to grow by 24.0 percent, or $8.9 million, in two years from $37.2 million expended in FY 2020 to $46.1 million recommended in FY 2022.
Early Pandemic Release: The non-recurrence of budgeted FY 2021 expenditures for carrying out certain COVID-19 pandemic early release initiatives for inmates in State prisons would offset most of the recommended FY 2022 growth in State Parole Board appropriations that the Executive attributes to the annualization of the recurring cost impact of the Earn Your Way Out Act. The reduction would total $5.5 million below the FY 2021 adjusted appropriation level and would predominantly reflect salaries and wages. However, of the $5.5 million, some $4.4 million is anticipated to lapse into the General Fund at the end of the current fiscal year.
Executive Order No. 124 of 2020 expedited the release on parole of certain non-violent, parole- eligible inmates and authorized the granting of temporary emergency home medical confinement to certain at-risk, non-violent inmates. The Executive Order mandated the creation of a 13 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Significant Changes/New Programs ($000) (Cont’d)
committee comprised of representatives from the Department of Corrections and the State Parole Board to jointly determine eligibility for early release on parole and the emergency home medical confinement. The implementation of the order led to an increased number of parole cases and hearings. Subsequently, P.L.2020, c.111 added further to the board’s caseload by providing for the early release of inmates via the granting of public emergency health credits.
Other Factors: Furthermore, the FY 2022 Governor’s Budget recommends appropriating an additional $414,000 for the board’s community-based programs, funded under Grants-In-Aid, so that service providers may increase their employee compensation in response to the State minimum wage rising to $12 per hour on January 1, 2021 and $13 per hour on January 1, 2022.
Lastly, the board’s FY 2022 Salaries and Wages appropriation is proposed to increase by $394,000 in support of the operation of the board’s new radio dispatch center.
14 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Significant Language Changes
Supplemental Appropriation Authority to Backfill Any Consolidation Savings Shortfall
2021 Handbook: p. B-42 Revision 2022 Budget: p. D-76 In addition to the amounts hereinabove appropriated for Institutional Control and Supervision, Institutional Care and Treatment and Administration and Support Services, there is appropriated an amount not to exceed the difference between projected annualized savings from the consolidation of Albert C. Wagner consolidations of the Vroom Central Reception and Assignment Facility and the William H. Fauver Youth Correctional Facility, continued savings from contract efficiencies and further restructuring and the actual savings achieved, subject to the approval of the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting.
Explanation
The FY 2022 Governor’s Budget includes a $14.0 million reduction in the appropriation for salaries and wages for State correctional facilities from depopulating the William H. Fauver Youth Correctional Facility (formerly known as Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility) through the first quarter of calendar year 2022. If actual savings from depopulating the facility were to be less than $14.0 million, however, the proposed language would grant the department supplemental appropriation authority to backfill the savings shortfall up to the full amount of the shortfall. Additionally, the language would grant the same supplemental appropriation authority if cost reductions from the following initiatives were not to match projections: contract efficiencies, the depopulation as of January 31, 2021 of the Vroom Central Reception and Assignment Facility, and any other institutional restructuring.
The decisions to depopulate the William H. Fauver Youth Correctional Facility, the Vroom Central Reception and Assignment Facility, and in January 2020 the Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility are attributable, in part, to a long-term national trend of declining prison populations. Policy decisions by the State of New Jersey have accelerated, and will accelerate even further, the decline in the State prison population. Under P.L.2019, c.364, the Earn Your Way Out Act, for example, inmates are being paroled or released early starting in FY 2021. The recent legalization of the recreational use of marijuana will not only downgrade or decriminalize certain marijuana-related offenses but many inmates currently serving terms of incarceration for marijuana-related offenses will have their convictions vacated.
EXPLANATION: FY 2021 language not recommended for FY 2022 denoted by strikethrough. Recommended FY 2022 language that did not appear in FY 2021 denoted by underlining.
15 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Significant Language Changes (Cont’d)
Release Support Partnership Program
2021 Handbook: N/A Addition 2022 Budget: p. D-79 Notwithstanding the provisions of any law or regulation to the contrary, the amount hereinabove appropriated for the Release Support Partnership Program shall be used to provide grants to non-profit entities to meet the reentry needs of individuals preparing to transition back into the community, pursuant to a competitive application process administered by the Commissioner of Corrections, subject to the approval of the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting.
Explanation
The FY 2022 Governor’s Budget recommends a new $3.0 million appropriation for the Release Support Partnership Program budget line. According to the FY 2022 Budget in Brief, the sum would be used for the New Jersey Locally Empowered, Accountable, and Determined (NJLEAD) grants program that would fund non-profit organizations that facilitate prisoner re-entry into society. This new language provision specifies the use of the recommended new $3.0 million appropriation.
Providing Access to Community Employment (PACE II) Program
2021 Handbook: p. B-34 Revision 2022 Budget: p. D-80 Notwithstanding the provisions of any law or regulation to the contrary, in addition to the amounts hereinabove appropriated for Institutional Program Support, an amount not to exceed $398,000 $600,000 is appropriated from the Workforce Development Partnership Fund for the Pre-Release Employment Navigation and Re-Entry Services Program for the purpose of funding employment-related services and assistance to individuals in State custody, upon the recommendation of the Commissioner of Corrections and subject to the approval of the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting.
Explanation
The $398,000 only covers nine months of FY 2021. Including the amount appropriated for the period from July 1, 2020 through September 30, 2020, the department received $530,000 in FY 2021 out of the dedicated Workforce Development Partnership Fund to establish and run a new employment navigation project titled Providing Access to Community Employment (PACE II). According to the department’s FY 2021 First Quarter Fiscal Report, seven employees have been hired to operate the program. For FY 2022, the language recommends a $70,000 increase in the program appropriation.
EXPLANATION: FY 2021 language not recommended for FY 2022 denoted by strikethrough. Recommended FY 2022 language that did not appear in FY 2021 denoted by underlining.
16 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Significant Language Changes (Cont’d)
Administered by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the Workforce Development Partnership Fund receives its revenue through a dedicated assessment on workers and their employers. Fund balances are used to provide training grants to disadvantaged and displaced workers and to employers offering training opportunities to their employees.
Charging Purchases of Biodegradable Food Service Products to Clean Energy Fund
2021 Handbook: p. N/A Addition 2022 Budget: p. F-12 100. Notwithstanding the provisions of any law or regulation to the contrary, subject to the approval of the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting, the costs of State department purchases of products in compliance with P.L.2020, c.117, which prohibited certain single-use carryout bags, plastic straws, and polystyrene foam food service products, are appropriated from the Clean Energy Fund.
Explanation
This recommended language responds to the recent enactment of P.L.2020, c.117, which newly prohibits the use of single-use carryout bags, plastic straws and polystyrene foam food service products. State institutions, such as correctional facilities, use these food service products in their cafeterias. The new language would charge the costs of purchasing biodegradable straws and food service products for various State institutions to the dedicated, off-budget Clean Energy Fund. In all, the Executive intends to use $5.1 million in Clean Energy Fund resources for this purpose, of which $1.1 million would be allocated to the Department of Corrections. Clean Energy Fund revenues are collected from New Jersey electric and natural gas ratepayers and are statutorily dedicated to energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives.
EXPLANATION: FY 2021 language not recommended for FY 2022 denoted by strikethrough. Recommended FY 2022 language that did not appear in FY 2021 denoted by underlining.
17 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Background Paper: Trends in Inmate Population
Inmate Population Decline
The Department of Corrections is responsible for the custody, care, training and treatment of persons committed to State correctional institutions, as well as for individuals placed under community supervision. In addition to the State-run institutions, the department houses State inmates in county jails and in various alternatives to incarceration.
The inmate population has been trending downwards since the early 2000s.
In just one decade, the inmate population, excluding those inmates placed in private contracted residential facilities (halfway houses), nearly halved from 25,017 in 2010 to 12,821 in 2020 for the calendar year ending in December.
Temporary COVID-19 pandemic-related factors greatly accelerated the trend in 2020. But the implementation of a new permanent early release program, the Earn Your Way Out Act, and the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana along with the decriminalization and downgrading of certain marijuana-related offenses are expected to enduringly lower the average daily population in State correctional facilities.
Inmate Population (by calendar year ending in December)
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Source: New Jersey Department of Corrections
18 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Background Paper: Trends in Inmate Population (Cont’d)
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on State Inmates Housed in County Jails
While the inmate population has been trending downwards for the last few years, COVID-19 impacted the population count in State correctional facilities and the number of State-sentenced inmates housed in county jails in directionally opposite ways.
The department suspended the transfer of State-sentenced inmates from county jails to State prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, State inmates housed in county jails saw a 579 percent year-on-year increase from 131 inmates in February 2020 to 890 inmates in the same month in 2021.
The department anticipates that only 160 State-sentenced inmates will be held in county prisons in FY 2022, on average, assuming the removal of all pandemic-related restrictions for FY 2022.
Admissions, Releases, State Inmates in County Jails (by Month) 1,000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
- Jan-20 Feb-20 Mar-20 Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21
Admissions Releases State inmates in County Jails
Source: New Jersey Department of Corrections
19 Department of Corrections and State Parole Board FY 2021-2022
Background Paper: State Parole Board Caseload Growth
The number of individuals under State Parole Board supervision has increased markedly since the beginning of FY 2020, notwithstanding the steady long-term decline in New Jersey’s prison population. The implementation of new early release programs accounts for the sharp increase in the number of parolees.
Evaluation data in the FY 2022 Governor's Budget indicate that the number of parolees under board supervision is projected to grow by 2,051, or 13.2 percent, from 15,552 parolees in FY 2020 to 17,603 parolees in FY 2022.
P.L.2019, c.364, the Earn Your Way Out Act, considerably increases the number of parolees under the auspices of the State Parole Board. Among its provisions, the law establishes administrative parole release for certain prison inmates at the time of primary or subsequent parole eligibility.
Executive Order No. 124 of 2020 authorized the granting of temporary emergency home medical confinement to certain at-risk inmates who have not committed a serious offense and expedited consideration for parole-eligible individuals meeting the same criteria.
Subsequently, P.L.2020, c.111 added further to the board’s caseload by providing for the early release of inmates via the granting of public emergency health credits.
Parolees under State Parole Board Supervision 18,000
17,500
17,000
16,500
16,000
15,500
15,000 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Source: Governor’s Detailed Budget Budget Estimate FY 2022
20 The Offi ce of Legislative Services provides nonpartisan assistance to the State Legislature in the areas of legal, fi scal, research, bill drafting, committee staffi ng and administrative services. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Legislative Services Commission, a bipartisan body consisting of eight members of each House. The Executive Director supervises and directs the Offi ce of Legislative Services.
The Legislative Budget and Finance Offi cer is the chief fi scal offi cer for the Legislature. The Legislative Budget and Finance Offi cer collects and presents fi scal information for the Legislature; serves as Secretary to the Joint Budget Oversight Committee; attends upon the Appropriations Committees during review of the Governor’s Budget recommendations; reports on such matters as the committees or Legislature may direct; administers the fi scal note process and has statutory responsibilities for the review of appropriations transfers and other State fi scal transactions.
The Offi ce of Legislative Services Central Staff provides a variety of legal, fi scal, research and administrative services to individual legislators, legislative offi cers, legislative committees and commissions, and partisan staff . The central staff is organized under the Central Management Unit into ten subject area sections. Each section, under a section chief, includes legal, fi scal, and research staff for the standing reference committees of the Legislature and, upon request, to special commissions created by the Legislature. The central staff assists the Legislative Budget and Finance Offi cer in providing services to the Appropriations Committees during the budget review process.
Individuals wishing information and committee schedules on the FY 2022 budget are encouraged to contact:
Legislative Budget and Finance Offi ce State House Annex Room 140, PO Box 068 Trenton, NJ 08625 (609) 847-3105 · Fax (609) 777-2442