Assistant Department Of Corrections Commissioner Raymond Resigns

By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH

CONCORD, NH — Two months after he was placed on leave, Assistant Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Raymond resigned the post he’s held since 2022 on Friday.

Raymond’s attorney, Bill Christie, did not respond to requests for comment. John Scippa, the current interim DOC Commissioner, did not respond to requests for comment.

News of Raymond’s resignation came quietly. There was no official public announcement of his exit. InDepthNH.org obtained a copy of an internal DOC email sent Friday afternoon to all employees stating Raymond’s resignation was effective immediately. Raymond took to social media to announce the end of his 22-year career with the state.

“While my time with NHDOC ends, my respect and admiration for the staff—those on the front lines and behind the scenes—remain stronger than ever. The men and women of NHDOC work in some of the most difficult conditions imaginable, often without the recognition they deserve. They show up every day—understaffed, overextended, and underappreciated—not just by the public, but too often by our elected officials, who have the power to make a real difference by supporting them,” Raymond wrote on his LinkedIn page.

The low-key manner of his departure is in contrast to the May 21 press release issued by Gov. Kelly Ayotte's office announcing the surprise resignation of DOC Commissioner Helen Hanks. That press release also stated that Ayotte used her authority to place Raymond on leave the same day.

The DOC has been the center of numerous scandals in the last few years. Last month, a jury acquitted Matthew Millar, a former Corrections Officer accused of murdering Secure Psychiatric Unit patient Jason Rothe. Evidence and testimony that came out during the trial indicate Hanks ignored the Attorney General’s Office criminal investigation, conducted her own interviews with witnesses, and failed to turn over exculpatory evidence she developed. That evidence came to light at the last minute before the trial.

One of Scippa’s first acts as the interim DOC Commissioner was to bring back Lt. Thomas Macholl, who was fired for an alleged use of excessive force. Macholl denied wrongdoing and the Personnel Appeals Board ordered his termination overturned last year. At the heart of the Macholl case is the exculpatory evidence Raymond uncovered before Macholl was fired in 2023. That evidence was never handed over to the DOC investigators before Macholl was fired. Investigators with the Attorney General’s Public Integrity Unit later discovered the evidence when they were looking at possible criminal charges against Macholl.

Raymond’s version of events indicate he told Hanks about the evidence that cleared Macholl, according to documents recently obtained by InDepthNH.org.

The DOC has been critically understaffed for years, but when former Corrections Officer Claudia Cass alerted her bosses, including Raymond and Hanks, about the dangerous working conditions in late 2022, she was placed on leave, investigated, and then fired for insubordination. Cass is currently appealing her termination to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

Raymond did not have a corrections background when he started at the agency in 2021 as the Director of Personnel and Information. Raymond spent much of his time in New Hampshire government as a public information officer for the Department of Safety and before that the New Hampshire Homeland Security and Emergency Management. He was also the leader of the state’s Joint Information Center during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It has been a true privilege to serve the people of New Hampshire—from my early days with the Penacook Rescue Squad and Bow Police Department, to the NH Fire Academy, Homeland Security and Emergency Management, the Department of Safety Office of the Commissioner, and most recently with the NH Department of Corrections,” Raymond wrote.

This article first appeared on InDepthNH.org and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.