Jail Consolidation in Maine

This will significantly affect family visitation for people in the smaller counties.  It will also make visiting pretrial detainees in federal cases much tougher as the US Marshalls already shift them all over the state.

From the Bangor Daily News:

The governor would have the state take over Maine’s 15 county jails, close four — in Oxford, Franklin, Piscataquis and Waldo counties — and consolidate administration. As with Baldacci’s school-district administration consolidation, more savings would come through greater efficiencies in central offices, through purchases — in the jails’ case, medical costs and pharmaceutical contracts are big — and more effective use of bed space throughout the system.

For instance, while jails in Knox or Penobscot counties are overcrowded, those in Cumberland and York are operating under capacity. Yet because counties set their own rates, according to Corrections Commissioner Martin Magnusson, York might have a per-day cost of $45 per prisoner but charge $105. That’s an added tax burden on the sending county.

Maine county jails have additional burdens that raise costs but need to be met: better service for the mentally ill, treatment for substance abuse, and services for women. Over the last three years, county jail budgets have cumulatively risen more than 12 percent annually, as the state prison costs have risen at less than half that rate. New county jail construction — even as some jails have enough space —will keep that rate high.

Comments

[mack]

it the campanile Jail Consolidation in Maine It is interesting to speculate how Maine voters would have reacted if he had proposed his consolidation plans before the election instead of after it.All we know about the cost savings of the DHS/BDS merger and the consolidation of state info technology, human resources and accounting services are the Governor's projected savings.

mack

Addiction Recovery New Hampshire