This Friday, June 17, 2016, photo, shows the guard tower at the New Hampshire state prison in Concord, N.H. Despite added security methods, prison officials say they are seeing more drugs being smuggled into the state's prisons. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
This Friday, June 17, 2016, photo, shows the guard tower at the New Hampshire state prison in Concord, N.H. Despite added security methods, prison officials say they are seeing more drugs being smuggled into the state's prisons. (AP Photo/Jim Cole) Credit: AP file

Concord — Gov. Chris Sununu on Monday vetoed a bill to loosen sentencing for parole violators, ending what had become a bitter dispute between parole officers and the state parole board.

The legislation, HB 143, was written to allow the board flexibility for parole violators in need of substance abuse treatment.

Under state law, parolees automatically are subject to a 90-day recommittal period if they violate, and the board can only reduce that amount under select conditions.

The proposed bill would have allowed the 90 days to be shortened if the parolee entered into a residential substance abuse program approved by the board.

Parole board members said the change would allow those needing treatment to get it outside of incarceration, potentially reducing recidivism and putting them on a path to recovery. The bill passed both the Senate and the House by voice vote, clearing committees with little opposition. But it encountered stiff resistance from parole officers, who said it would lead to excessive leniency and undermine the power that the threat of recommitment has over parolees.

After a heavily amended version passed the Senate in January, officers said they still had concerns, and they vowed to lobby the governor to veto the bill if it reached his desk.

In a letter accompanying the decision, Sununu praised the “good intentions” of the bill, but added that it would have “concerning consequences.”

Parolees already have access to substance abuse treatment in prisons and jails, and the parole board already can reduce recommittal sentences to “aid in the rehabilitation of the parolee.”