County jail officials make case for increased staffing

BANGOR – Officials from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday made a compelling case for increased staffing to county commissioners.

Their request for a new position and the equivalent of another one, however, must be weighed against the many other requests that county commissioners will field as they develop a budget for the coming fiscal year, which starts Jan. 1.

The commissioners have consistently said that they want to avoid increasing costs for already overburdened taxpayers.

The county’s three commissioners did not act on the request Tuesday. They said they would take it under advisement.

During the budget presentation, one of several the commissioners have heard in recent weeks, Sheriff Glenn Ross and the Rev. Robert Carlson discussed some of the needs the jail is facing. Carlson, a former administrator at the Bangor lockup, was asked to return after Capt. Cheryl Gallant left to work in the consulting field.

Not a man to mince words, Carlson called the situation at the jail a “crisis” and that the additional personnel were “not luxuries.” The jail currently employs 45 guards.

On Tuesday, he said, there were 168 inmates at the jail, which is authorized to house a population of only 136 inmates.

“You do the math,” Carlson said. Of the 168, he said, 63 were in need of mental health services. Eighty-six were on prescription medications, which must be administered by staff certified to dispense them.

The staff also was dealing with inmates on suicide watch and a 428-pound inmate in need of oxygen treatment, a private cell and constant monitoring for apnea, a disorder associated with fat buildup or loss of muscle tone. Apnea can cause the windpipe to collapse temporarily as the sufferer inhales during sleep, obstructing airflow.

Add to that volumes of paperwork, ranging from records that must be maintained to responses to inmates’ requests to use the law library or see their lawyers and dozens of other matters.

“These are the kinds of issues we have to deal with all the time,” Carlson told commissioners.

Ross said he and his staff were fully aware of the budget issues the commissioners face. He said, however, that the added personnel would help “protect us from litigation and give us the [resources] we need to run the place.”

Some have become critical of the manner in which the jail is managed and staffed since the deaths of two inmates earlier this month.

Commissioner Richard Blanchard said the request for a second assistant administrator and the equivalent of another guard could be hard to justify, given the current overdraft of more than $100,000 in part-time and overtime costs.

Jail officials said that was due, in part, to inconsistencies in scheduling.

As part of the solution for the staffing problem, Ross and Carlson said they are considering implementing a new schedule that would provide the jail some staffing stability.

Staff would work three shifts one week and four shifts the next week, on an alternating basis. That would average out to 42 hours a week for most workers.

The change would eliminate the “administrative nightmare” of managing employees working their choice of eight-, 10- and 12-hour shifts. Most employees favor the change.

The equivalent of an additional position was needed to make the system work, Carlson said.