Presentation to the Maine Board of Corrections

Maine County Correctional System

POISED FOR CHANGE? SEPTEMBER 2008

Fifteen County Jails

• Lincoln and Sagadahoc have the only regional jail east of Virginia.

• Cumberland is the largest with 636 beds.• Franklin is the smallest with 29 beds. • Average Dailey population is 1732

• 240 are state/federal boarders.

MISSIONMaine’s county jail system has historically served the

community by holding pre-trial clients and persons serving short term sentences.

The county based system allowed persons to be held near their community and close to support services upon release.

The county jail system has experienced significant changes as the state deinstitutionalized the mental health system and the length of time served has expanded as the state struggled to manage its prison population.

CHALLENGES

• Without an adequate community mental health safety net our citizens in need too often are deposited at the county jail.

• Counties have had a growing dependency on the property tax as state funding remained flat at about 5% of actual costs and populations swelled as the legislature mandated minimum sentencing for numerous crimes.

COST DRIVERS

• Inmate medical costs– Mental Health - Substance Abuse treatment.

• Boarding for overcrowded facilities.• Commodities – Food, oil, clothing, etc.• Staffing• Replacing outdated facilities. • Transportation of inmates

Costs, continued

• The jail portion of the county budget has averaged 50% of county spending.

• The property tax assessment for the county jail system is now capped at $62,452,804.

• Since 2005 jails have averaged 7.7% to 8.4% annual cost increases.

PROGRAMSAlternatives to incarceration

• Pre-trial supervision• Day Reporting• OUI Weekends• Alternative sentencing programs (LASP)• Co-occurring Disorder Court • Deferred Disposition• Trustee Community Service Programs• Numbers of programs offered is variable form

county to county