# New Hampshire

New Hampshire’s Police Standards and Training Council certifies state corrections officers and state probation-parole officers along with police, and can warn, suspend, or permanently revoke on clear and convincing evidence of misconduct. County corrections officers are not named in the certification provisions; counties run their own departments of corrections, and county commissioners inspect them every 6 months and report to the Attorney General. Since 2023 the State has required free menstrual products in state and county correctional facilities and set rules for holding immigration detainees in county facilities; from January 1, 2027, counties may use body-worn cameras inside and outside their facilities. Entries are dated by effective date.

Source: https://uscli.org/corrections-tracker/new-hampshire

## At a glance

- **Certifying body:** New Hampshire Police Standards and Training Council (PSTC). It certifies police officers, “state corrections officers,” and “state probation-parole officers.” A state corrections officer is a sworn classified Department of Corrections employee responsible for custody and security of inmates at a state correctional institution; a state probation-parole officer is a sworn Department of Corrections employee with a caseload and authority to arrest for violations ([RSA 106-L:2](https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/VII/106-L/106-L-2.htm)). The Commissioner of Corrections sits on the Council, which may appoint a corrections advisory committee. County corrections officers are not named in the certification provisions. The Council is covered on the [New Hampshire Officer Ledger page](https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/new-hampshire).
- **Statute:** RSA chapter 106-L (Police Standards and Training Council), including the Law Enforcement Conduct Review Committee at 106-L:17 to 106-L:23 ([RSA 106-L](https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/VII/106-L/106-L-mrg.htm)); RSA 30-B (county departments of corrections) ([RSA 30-B](https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/II/30-B/30-B-mrg.htm)); RSA 21-H (Department of Corrections) and RSA 622 (state prisons) ([RSA 622](https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LX/622/622-mrg.htm)). Council rules: Pol 100 to 800.
- **Minimum standards:** The Council sets qualifications by rule. By statute, every uncertified police, state corrections, or probation-parole officer must pass a medical examination with drug screening and a psychological screening battery before assuming duties, and a physical fitness test to enter a basic or reciprocal certification course. Officers hired after January 1, 2001 must provide a medical certificate and pass a fitness test every 3 years ([RSA 106-L:6](https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/VII/106-L/106-L-6.htm)). Details are on the [Officer Ledger page](https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/new-hampshire).
- **Basic training:** No state corrections officer or probation-parole officer may be appointed except temporarily or on probation without completing a Council-approved preparatory program of corrections or probation-parole training appropriate to the position, and temporary or probationary service may not exceed 2 years. Officers trained elsewhere may be certified on proof of an equivalent program ([RSA 106-L:6, I, XVI](https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/VII/106-L/106-L-6.htm)). Course hours are set by Council rule and were not verified for this page.
- **In-service training:** By Council rule, every certified police, corrections, or probation-parole officer must complete yearly training in implicit bias and cultural response, ethics, and de-escalation, plus additional in-service hours (24 a year in total since 2025); see the [Officer Ledger page](https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/new-hampshire) (Pol 403.01). By statute, certified corrections and probation-parole officers must complete post-traumatic-stress mental health training before assuming the role and annual online training after that (RSA 106-L:7-a).
- **Decertification:** The Council may issue a written warning, a suspension, or permanent revocation on clear and convincing evidence of misconduct or a rule violation (RSA 106-L:5, XXV), and the Director may impose an immediate administrative suspension on notice of arrest (106-L:5, XXIV). “Misconduct” includes listed convictions, sustained findings of dishonesty, discrimination, racist conduct, egregious dereliction of duty that results in a preventable death or serious injury, a deprivation of constitutional rights, “or leads to the failure of someone to be prosecuted for a felony,” and “the use of excessive and illegal force” (106-L:2, V). Grievances must generally be filed within 2 years of the act or its discovery, but “any grievance alleging misconduct under RSA 106-L:2, V(b)(1)” (a deliberate and material lie in a proceeding, report, or investigation) “may be filed at any time,” and conduct before January 1, 2023 is not reviewable ([106-L:23](https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/VII/106-L/106-L-mrg.htm)). The public complaint register and reporting duties are on the [Officer Ledger page](https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/new-hampshire).
- **Jail standards:** No state jail-standards body. Counties may run county departments of corrections under a superintendent appointed by the county commissioners (RSA 30-B:1, 30-B:3, 30-B:4). At least every 6 months the commissioners “shall make a proper examination into the management, condition, and security” of county correctional facilities and, within one month, report in writing to the Attorney General ([RSA 30-B:12](https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/II/30-B/30-B-mrg.htm)). Statutory duties include screening for and providing medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorders (30-B:4, V), free menstrual products (30-B:27), and the immigration detainer rules in 30-B:1, III.
- **Probation and parole officers:** Department of Corrections state probation-parole officers are certified by the Council under the same framework as police and state corrections officers: Council-approved preparatory training before permanent appointment, medical, drug, psychological, and fitness screening, periodic medical and fitness recertification, and the misconduct and conduct-review provisions of RSA 106-L ([RSA 106-L:2](https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/VII/106-L/106-L-2.htm); 106-L:5, 106-L:6).
- **Restrictive housing:** RSA 622:14 lets the commissioner punish insolence, ill language to an officer, or obstinate and refractory behavior “by solitary imprisonment not more than 30 days at one time”; no other statute limiting restrictive housing was found in RSA 21-H or RSA 622, and Department of Corrections policy governs the rest. RSA 622:17 also refers to sentences of “solitary imprisonment” ([RSA 622](https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LX/622/622-mrg.htm)).
- **Corrections use of force:** County correctional facilities: “Law enforcement officers in county correctional facilities may use physical force as provided in RSA 627:5” ([RSA 30-B:11](https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/II/30-B/30-B-mrg.htm)). No pregnant-inmate restraint statute was found in RSA 30-B, 21-H, or 622; RSA 622:31-a only exempts pregnant inmates from medical copays. A sustained finding of “excessive and illegal force” is misconduct that can cost a state corrections or probation-parole officer certification (RSA 106-L:2, V; 106-L:5, XXV).

## Changes, 2023 to 2026

- Jan 1, 2026 — **County facilities: 48-hour holds for immigration detainees, and reports to the Attorney General of each refused detainer** — 2025 N.H. Laws ch. 38, sec. 3, amending RSA 30-B:1 · Effective January 1, 2026, per the RSA source note — RSA 30-B:1, III now reads: “A county may hold Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees, after the resolution of state charges, for a maximum of 48 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, in order to permit assumption of custody by federal authorities.” A county may still execute an agreement under RSA 30-B:16, and “Any agency refusing to honor an immigration detainer for an inmate shall report each such refusal to the attorney general in a time, form, and manner to be prescribed by the attorney general or the attorney general’s designee.” All of paragraph III is new: before January 1, 2026, RSA 30-B:1 had only paragraphs I and II (source note “2025, 38:3, eff. Jan. 1, 2026”). — **For corrections staff:** County facilities may hold a person for ICE for up to 48 hours, not counting weekends and holidays, after state charges end, and must report to the Attorney General whenever they decline a detainer. — [RSA 30-B](https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/II/30-B/30-B-mrg.htm)
- Aug 1, 2023 — **Free menstrual products in state and county correctional facilities** — 2023 N.H. Laws ch. 194 (HB 421), enacting RSA 30-B:27 and 622:37-a · Effective August 1, 2023, per the RSA source notes — The superintendent of each county correctional facility, and the warden or director of each state correctional facility and of listed youth facilities (RSA 169-B:14, I(c) or (e)), must provide sufficient menstrual hygiene products, at no cost, to people in custody who biologically menstruate. “Sufficiency shall be considered, at minimum, a combination of 20 standard issue menstrual hygiene products per individual’s menstrual cycle.” Additional products may be requested at no cost, at the discretion of the superintendent or the commissioner. The number kept in a cell may not be so large as to create safety or security issues. — **For corrections staff:** Facilities must give each person who menstruates at least 20 products per cycle at no charge, and may limit how many are kept in a cell for security. — [RSA 30-B:27](https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/II/30-B/30-B-mrg.htm)[RSA 622:37-a](https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LX/622/622-mrg.htm)

## Enacted, not yet in force, pending, and bills that did not pass

- **County body-worn cameras (HB 1236, 2026, ch. 219):** signed July 2, 2026; effective January 1, 2027. It adds RSA 30-B:1, IV: “A county is authorized to utilize body-worn cameras pursuant to RSA 105-D in carrying out its functions both within and outside a correctional facility.” The law permits cameras; it does not require them. [RSA 30-B](https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/II/30-B/30-B-mrg.htm)
- **Public employee suspension notices and Department of Corrections group II positions (HB 1109, 2026, ch. 321):** signed July 15, 2026. The docket shows section 1 effective January 1, 2027 and the rest effective June 30, 2026. Which provisions are in section 1 was not verified, so this page does not say any part is in force. [Docket](https://gc.nh.gov/dynamicdatadump/Docket.txt)

These 2026 bills were not enacted: HB 1805 (physical fitness requirements for certified law enforcement officers; killed in the Senate May 7, 2026), HB 1510 (custody of persons ordered to a county correctional facility; inexpedient to legislate March 5, 2026), HB 1822 (reporting of civil immigration detentions by correctional facilities; died on the table August 19, 2026), and HB 1173 (post-secondary education for inmates; killed April 23, 2026). [Docket](https://gc.nh.gov/dynamicdatadump/Docket.txt)

Not credited: RSA 30-B:4 was amended by 2024 ch. 320 (effective October 1, 2024) and ch. 359 (effective January 1, 2025). The current section requires race and ethnicity sentencing reports from November 1, 2024 (VII), validated mental health and substance use screening by contracted providers (VIII), and access for community treatment providers and recovery support workers to coordinate reentry (IX), but which chapter added which paragraph, and whether any predates 2024, was not confirmed. A full sweep of 2025 New Hampshire acts was not possible, because the official docket lists 2025 chapters without bill titles.

## Checked and unchanged

- Not counted, context: 2022 N.H. Laws ch. 312, effective January 1, 2023, created the Law Enforcement Conduct Review Committee, the statutory misconduct definition, the 15-business-day reporting duty, completion of investigations after resignation, and the public complaint register, all of which cover state corrections and probation-parole officers. It was enacted in 2022, and it is treated the same way on the [Officer Ledger page](https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/new-hampshire).
- RSA 30-B:11 (county use of force): last amended 2003. RSA 30-B:12 (commissioner inspections): unchanged since 1988.
- Not counted: 2023 ch. 178 repealed RSA 30-B:2, effective October 3, 2023; the repealed text was not reviewed. 2026 ch. 41 (HB 222) amended RSA 21-H:4 and 21-H:6 on the Department of Corrections’ internal organization and officials, effective April 28, 2026.
- Not credited: the RSA 106-L source notes cite 2023 ch. 71, which the Officer Ledger page identifies as the court security officer act (SB 130, effective August 6, 2023). The administrative suspension provisions in 106-L:2, XI and 106-L:5, XXIV were not traced to a 2023 to 2026 chapter.
- RSA 21-H and RSA 622: the 2023 to 2026 amendments (2023 ch. 79, 2024 ch. 14, 2025 ch. 141, 2026 ch. 41) do not address segregation or restraints.