Maine Enacts Prison, Jail System Overhaul
AUGUSTA, Maine — State lawmakers overhauled the county jail system with legislation that centralizes authority in a newly created state administrative body.
The bill, signed into law by Gov. John Baldacci, establishes a board of corrections to act as the strategic decision-making body for the administration of correctional facilities statewide and the central clearinghouse for state prison and county jail operations.
The legislation allows a degree of local control with counties continuing to have responsibility for day-to-day jail operations.
It is designed to manage growth in corrections costs, generate system efficiencies and economies, limit the need for new facility construction, reduce the property tax burden for residents, establish operational and procedural standards across jurisdictions and improve offender outcomes.
The nine-member board, which consists of representatives from the executive branch of the state government, county commissioners and sheriffs, municipal officials and the public, will focus on systemwide re-investment strategies to generate improved outcomes for offenders and reduce incarceration rates and recidivism, officials say.
The board is also tasked with achieving savings through downsizing and operational efficiencies, and will implement systemwide bulk purchasing of commodities and services.
The DOC and county jurisdictions will collaborate in developing a systemwide facility downsizing plan and future re-investment strategies, which will be submitted to the board of corrections. Agencies will also work together in recommending uniform policies and procedures for pre-trial, revocation and re-entry services.
Under the new system the DOC, which was tasked with inspecting and investigating county facilities prior to the legislation, will be responsible for managing offender bed space and approving mental health placements throughout the system.
Counties are required to report available bed space daily and inmates will be placed based on availability throughout the system. The board will also set per-diem rates for state inmates housed at county facilities.
The board will determine individual facility use, including the location of female and mental health units, and staffing levels at each facility.
Counties are required to submit annual correctional services budgets to the board, which will administer a centralized corrections investment fund. However, the state will absorb the cost of future expansion in the corrections system, officials say.
The legislation also establishes a working group of DOC and county representatives who will meet regularly to share information and discuss issues or problems in the daily operation of the corrections system.
As part of the consolidation agreement, the state restored $5.6 million in county subsidies for fiscal year 2009 and will also freeze county property tax assessments for correctional services at 2008 levels.