BANGOR – Citing overcrowded county jails, Penobscot County commissioners expressed interest Tuesday in developing a task force to find alternatives to jail sentencing.

The commissioners noted that the creation of a new jail, or even adding on to current facilities, would not stop the overcrowding problem that the task force would seek to solve.

“We don’t need to add millions [of dollars] in cells without changing the system that puts people in jails who don’t need to be there,” Commissioner Peter Baldacci said during the commissioners’ Tuesday meeting. “We have got to change the system.”

The informal proposal comes after a late June request from the Penobscot County budget committee for a joint meeting between Somerset, Waldo, Piscataquis and Penobscot county officials to discuss the creation of a regional jail. All four counties have faced jail overcrowding issues.

Somerset and Piscataquis counties rejected the request, citing logistical concerns. Waldo County officials will meet tonight and decide whether to open a dialogue with the Penobscot County commissioners regarding the proposal.

Baldacci cited statistics that indicated 40 percent to 42 percent of the inmates in the county’s maximum-security facility were considered a minimum-security risk. The commissioner also emphasized the need to get the mentally ill out of the penal system and into treatment, as well as developing alternative forms of sentencing for minimum-security inmates.

Commissioner Tom Davis agreed that the issue of overcrowded jails was not one of space, but of sentencing.

“If we added 100 more cells tomorrow, six months from now, we’d be looking at the same problem,” he said.

Davis also blamed county judges and district attorney’s offices for ignoring the overcrowding issue while county jails have filled beyond capacity.

“They’ve danced around this far too long. The DAs, the judges, their answer is jail,” the commissioner said. “They haven’t developed any alternatives.”

Penobscot County Administrator Bill Collins reinforced the commissioners’ call for alternatives to the situation. “From a fiscal point of view, our numbers are really screaming at us,” warned Collins.

Sheriff Glenn Ross was at the meeting and gave his support to the creation of a task force.

No official motions to form the task force were made. The matter will be discussed further at next week’s meeting, after the commissioners hear Waldo County’s response to the budget committee’s meeting request.

A representative from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department informed the commissioners that over the past weekend, the Penobscot County Jail’s critical-care holding unit held 13 inmates. The facility is designed to hold six.

Other business addressed by county commissioners included:

. A unanimous vote to rent three 120-gallon propane tanks from Amerigas for $60 a year. The tanks will be used in conjunction with the Black Cat Mountain generator outside of Millinocket. The generator powers a communications tower on the mountain.

. A decision that residents of unorganized territories would not have to pay more than what their insurance covered if a local fire department was called to their home. Collins cited two instances in which residents of unorganized territories received large bills after local fire departments were called to their homes.