The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Members of Washington County¹s legislative delegation have one proposal; Jonesboro political activist Nancy Oden has another. And the governor is on board with looking into cost-effective ways to alleviate prison overcrowding.

The medium- and minimum-security Down East Correctional Facility houses everyone from murderers at the ends of their prison terms to men who broke windows in a building. It was built to hold 96 men; its current population is nearly double that. Sixty-nine employees staff the prison.

On Thursday, the legislative delegation and county officials met with Gov. John Baldacci and Department of Corrections Commissioner Martin Magnusson to discuss building a new facility that would replace the prison located at the former Bucks Harbor Air Force Station. No new site has been selected.

The meeting followed one held in April in Machias between the legislative delegation and the Washington County Development Authority that explored the possibility of WCDA building a new correctional facility, then leasing it to the state.

The WCDA is a state entity modeled on the Loring Development Authority in Limestone, state Sen. Kevin Raye, R-Perry, said Friday in a prepared release. Its board members are nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Maine Senate.

Raye told the governor and Magnusson Thursday that the WCDA would borrow the money to build a prison if the state would commit to a long-term lease.

Magnusson assured the governor that more space is needed. He said Maine¹s state inmate population of 2,100 was growing by 11 percent a year, or 220 inmates. Female inmates make up the fastest growing population.

Baldacci supported a thorough exploration of the proposal, and asked Magnusson and Department of Corrections Associate Commissioner Denise Lord to form a group to study the idea.

"This would work for Washington County and for the state," Baldacci said in the release. The governor has said he would prefer to keep inmates in Maine rather than ship them to other states, which has been proposed to alleviate the overcrowding problems.

"This is an excellent opportunity for Washington County, and one which holds promise for both the future of our economy and the pressing needs facing our state¹s correctional system," Raye said in the release. "I am pleased that the governor is receptive to our suggestion, and that a process of due diligence to determine the feasibility of the proposal will now get under way."

A plan is to be presented to the Legislature in January.

"This would be a strong economic shot in the arm for the county," Rep. Ian Emery, R-Cutler, who helped to organize the meeting, added in a separate release.

Emery has suggested letting private contractors run the prison, an option he said could save money.

During the meeting, Chris Gardner, chairman of the Washington County Commissioners, talked about exploring the idea of collaborating with the state to include a new county jail as part of the plan.

When first built, the Downeast Correctional Facility was not intended to be a prison. The buildings that sit on a small hill once belonged to the U.S. Air Force 907th Radar Squadron. The old buildings, which, according to BDN files, were used at one time for the chow hall and barracks, are still there.

But instead of military men in uniform who could go into Machias after work for a brew, today¹s occupants are dressed in street clothes and are locked in. The prison opened in 1985. The state has spent more than $1 million in repairs, and more are needed.

The legislative delegation¹s proposal is not the only one on the table. Nancy Oden of Jonesboro said Friday she has a separate proposal on a facility she calls "New Start Farm."

Oden is requesting a $15,000 grant from the WCDA for a feasibility study on building a facility based on the number of inmate residents estimated by local, county and state officials, that would include activities for which the program could secure teachers and resources, she said in her written proposal.

The study would be completed in 2008, and if funds were available, work could begin on the new facility in the spring of that year.

"We envision [an] organic farm with spin-off skills and small businesses emerging," Oden wrote in her grant proposal. "Where inmate residents will work to grow their own food organically and will supply the needy as well as help Washington County communities, and possibly beyond, build their survival skills, too."

Oden recommended the facility be under county management.

"We can use the inmate residents to help prepare this region for upcoming problems associated with climate changes ‹ shortages of food, oil, clean water, wildlife, fish and so on ‹ by teaching them important skills of growing their own food without chemicals, living comfortably without wasting our natural resources, recycling and composting formerly wasted materials and generally living lightly on the Earth," she said.

It is anticipated that the young people ‹ former drug addicts and alcoholics ‹ would then go back into their communities and live the life they¹d learned in prison, Oden said.

More meetings are expected.

While the eastern Maine prison plans take form, a legislative subcommittee is looking at a variety of other options to ease prison crowding.

Among them are using a vacant dorm at the minimum-security Charleston Correctional Facility, transferring inmates to county jails and putting more women offenders in transitional housing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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