ABQ Times

Carmelina Hart is the Public Information manager of the New Mexico Corrections Department ((NMCD), one of the largest State departments in New Mexico. The department positions itself as being fully committed to public safety. 

She recently explained why some prisoners aren't released on the date planned.

“In-house parole is when parole time is served inside the prison due to a person not having a safe and viable release plan," Hart recently told KRQE. 

A recent report showed that 75 inmates in April to more than 100 at the end of May are eligible for parole but are still incarcerated, the KRQE release said. But holding inmates eligible for parole is not out of the ordinary, as demonstrated by Hart's statement above. 

There are numerous other rationales for in house parole, “such as adequate housing, employment, treatment, and our classification and reentry field staff work together to find a safe post-release housing and treatment option for the inmate,” Hart told KRQE.

Some human rights groups—such as the American Civil Liberties Union—object to these conditions. 

“The state purpose of having parole at all is to help people to reintegrate it to give them a push where they should have support and resources," ACLU staff attorney Lalita Moskowitz told KRQE. "That purpose is not being served if someone is serving their parole while still in the prison walls."