Somerset sentencing program backed by district attorney

SKOWHEGAN – Somerset County District Attorney Evert Fowle and Sheriff Barry DeLong said Wednesday that an alternative sentencing program for Somerset County offenders is nearly ready to implement.

“The guidelines the sheriff has developed look fine,” Fowle told the Somerset County commissioners. “It minimizes the risk to public safety and is a very responsible approach.”

DeLong’s plan would allow nonviolent offenders who qualify for the program and have served one-third of their sentences to be released. There is an extensive review procedure and a complete follow-up monitoring program.

“We will choose wisely as to who gets into this program,” said Fowle. He said the Somerset program is an individualized approach, not a one-size-fits-all program, which he opposes.

“It is so much more effective than the blanket approach,” he said. “It is important that we are looking at each offender individually. We will try to identify which people will be going to the Department of Corrections early on and move them through the system quicker.”

DeLong said that every prisoner who must be boarded at other jails, either to eliminate overcrowding or because they are female, costs the county $110 a day. “Today we boarded eight. If this program reduces the population by eight or 10, it will be very helpful here.”

Somerset County is under an order by the Maine Department of Corrections to put an alternative sentencing program into effect as a requirement to a jail variance. The department has determined the county also must be making progress toward building a new $16 million jail.

The current facility is 120 years old and has been plagued with structural and safety problems for decades.

“This alternative program is not just a means to get people out of Somerset County Jail,” DeLong said. “It will help save people’s jobs. It will help save families. It will get people out [of jail] that should be out.”

Fowle said the proposal for home release is nearly complete. It must be approved by the DOC before it can be implemented.