New Hampshire Department Of Corrections Commissioner Resigns

CONCORD, NH ? The state?s commissioner of corrections has resigned while the deputy commissioner has been placed on leave, according to Gov. Kelly Ayotte.

The governor?s press office announced in a two-sentence email on Monday that Helen Hanks, a two-plus-decade civil servant, had resigned from her position at the New Hampshire Department of Corrections. No reason was given. Ayotte?s office said she accepted the resignation.

Assistant Commissioner Paul Raymond was also placed on leave ?effectively immediately,? as part of ?the governor?s authority,? the email said.

?At the next Executive Council meeting, Gov. Ayotte will nominate Director of New Hampshire Police Standards and Training John Scippa as acting commissioner,? John Corbett, an Ayotte spokesman, said, ?for up to 90 days as the search for a new commissioner takes place.?

Hanks has been the commissioner since November 2017. She was a deputy commissioner before that. Hanks had a lengthy career with the state, dating back to 2003 when she started as a social worker with the Division of Medical and Forensic Services at the New Hampshire State Prison for Men.

Raymond has been the assistant commissioner since September 2022. Previously, he was a strategic communications administrator for the state police and also worked on New Hampshire?s Joint Information Center during the coronavirus pandemic.

Hanks had been in the headlines recently after raising concerns about multi-million-dollar budget cuts to her department. State officials, eyeing lower state spending, pointed to 700 fewer inmates in the system, but 150 more staffers employed and many vacancies ? similar arguments made when examining school districts continuing to increase budgets and staffing each year despite declines in a nosedive across New Hampshire.

The department is also embroiled in a wrongful dismissal lawsuit following a whistleblower?s complaint about dangerously low staffing levels at the men?s prison.

Ayotte, earlier this year, was also critical of the department?s use of the word ?resident? by Hanks and the department when referring to ?inmates.? The governor ordered in a letter to have the language changed.

It is unknown if any of these issues were related to the resignation and the leave.

New Hampshire Patch will update when more information becomes available.

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