Downeast lock-out

The goal — to redesign Maine’s antiquated and redundant prisons into an efficient system that better serves both inmates and the public — is laudable. The route to that goal — a process that’s steering the consolidation of 10 lockups into two down Southern Maine way — is suspect.

Gov. King was right to order the top-to-bottom study of the state corrections system. Maine is notoriously lax in assessing the way it has always done things. He was all the more right when the study came in with the finding that Maine has the second-highest per-inmate cost in the country, beating out only Alaska.

The study, by Pulitzer/Bogard Associates of Virginia, pinpointed the problem: Maine has too many old, poorly designed prisons, resulting in unacceptably high staff-to-inmate ratios. In addition to recommending a round of construction to bring the buildings up to modern standards, the consultants also said the state should do more to reduce recidivism by improving its education programs and its treatment for substance abusers and sex offenders.

Fine so far, but the reform movement took a wrong turn when the governor’s corrections advisory committee promptly recommended that the two prisons kept open and expanded, to the tune of $110 million, should be the ones in Warren and Windham.

Among the eight to be closed are the Down East Correctional Facility, historically one of the most efficient in the system, in Washington County, historically one of the most depressed regions in the state.

Thus, the plan taking shape includes education, treatment, rehabilitation, cost control, all of the latest trends in the field but one: prisons as a tool of economic development.

The use of corrections to boost struggling local economies is a well-established practice elsewhere: California just opened a $200 million, 800-job prison is an area hard-hit by cutbacks in the defense industry; Illinois is siting a new prison in a community that lost a glass-manufacturing plant; Michigan, Georgia, Arkansas, Louisiana all have recently directed prison construction toward struggling rural districts. Federal prison guidelines specifically target high-unemployment areas for new construction.

Why would the advisory committee swim against this national tide? Why would it seek to boost employment in a part of the state where unemployment is virtually non-existent and eliminate 72 jobs and a $2.8 million payroll in a region where the jobless rate remains in the double-digit range?

Well, the primary argument goes like this: most of the population is in Southern Maine, hence it’s the source of most of the inmates. Hence downstate prisons will make transporting inmates and family visitation easier. In other words, convenience for convicts at all costs, even if that cost is a $2.8 million hole in the Washington County economy.

By that argument, of course, all state spending should target Southern Maine: new roads, new schools, new everything. It’s a self-fullfilling prophecy that ensures the Other Maine stays that way.

A troubling start

There are two reasons why this worthwhile initiative to streamline the state prison system is off to such a troubling start: the governor’s charge to the advisory committee did not include an economic development component; the original 15-member committee of corrections officials, police, social-service providers and legislators did not include anyone from Northern Maine.

That second oversight was corrected somewhat recently with the addition of Sandra Prescott of Machiasport, a former legislator and the head of the Washington-Hancock Community Agency.

Prescott says she’s curious how the committee, after just two meetings in July, came to the conclusion so quickly that the Downeast Facility should be closed, and why the massive undertaking of reforming a prison system so out of whack is on such a fast track. The committee’s final report is due in December.

“Washington County works very hard for economic development,” she says. “Creating just a few jobs is a victory for us, so to lose 72 just like that is astounding. It took decades of neglect for the prison system to get into this situation, it’s unreasonable to expect to fix it in just a few months. Corrections is a statewide issue that needs a statewide solution.”

The speed — make that haste — with which this project is moving has not escaped the notice of Washington County legislators. “The advisory committee can come up with whatever recommendation it wants,” warns Rep. George Bunker of Topsfield, “but this has to get past the Legislature and the voters. Right now, they want to build a couple of Cadillacs in Southern Maine. That will be a tough sell when half of the state’s been left out.”

Prisons are the necessary result of a sad fact of life — crime. Prisons also are a clean, virtually recession-proof industry, a perfect fit for the Downeast region. If convicted criminals deserve a chance to lead productive lives, the advisory committee should slow down, rethink and give the law-abiding folks of Washington County the same opportunity.