Diversify Maine’s prison system

There is an old adage that state government does three things – it medicates, it educates and it incarcerates. One look at Maine’s state budget and it is easy to see that this adage applies directly to us. Spending on corrections accounted for nearly 5 percent of General Fund expenditures in the 2006-07 budget – $145.5 million this year alone. This was the third-largest category of state spending behind education and services like Medicaid and welfare that are provided through the Department of Health and Human Services.

Despite the amount of money we pay for corrections, Maine has a prison problem. Earlier this month, the Department of Corrections said Maine prisons and correctional facilities are 245 inmates over capacity. Some inmates have been sleeping on floors, and prison guards are working mandatory overtime because of a shortage of correctional officers.

This is a dangerous situation, and it looks like things will get worse because Maine’s crime rate is on the rise. During the last few decades it seemed that our quiet, rural state was immune to the violence, drugs and societal decay that plague our urbanized neighbors to the south. However, last year crime in Maine rose by 4.6 percent. Robberies of banks and convenience stores are up. Burglaries and theft are up. Drug use is growing, and it seems that every day the newspaper has a story about another sex predator.

These people need to be locked up, but our prisons are already over their rated capacity. The 2,050 inmates in Maine’s six adult state prisons represent a sharp rise from the 1,500 inmates we had in 1997. Today, we have three or four inmates in cells designed for one or two. If we are going to be tough on crime, we have to explore policies that will allow us to incarcerate criminals without overburdening Maine taxpayers.

Privatization could be a solution to our prison problem. Across the nation, states are turning to private prisons to house a portion of their inmates. Nearly three-fifths of states have passed laws to allow private companies to run correctional facilities. Texas, Florida and Arizona have realized average savings of 10 percent due to privatization. It is those kinds of savings that make correctional privatization a worthwhile idea to pursue here in Maine.

Data provided by the Department of Corrections show that Maine spent an average of $37,676 per year for a state prisoner in 2006, well above the national average of $22,650.

Earlier this year, in order to alleviate overcrowding problems and save money, Gov. Baldacci proposed sending 125 Maine inmates to a facility in Oklahoma. The plan did not move forward, but the proposal would have saved the state $1 million over a year. Officials from the DOC went to Oklahoma to tour the facility and called it “clean, safe and well-run.” The facility was a private prison, owned by the Corrections Corp. of America, which now runs the fifth-largest corrections system in the nation, behind only the federal government and three states. The CCA has more than 72,000 beds in 65 facilities and maintains a contract renewal rate of 95 percent. It also registers costs per inmate per day of $65, versus the $103 a day that we pay in Maine.

I would never advocate that Maine disband the DOC and hand all correctional responsibilities over to a private firm. However, I believe that with the right mix, privatizing perhaps 20 percent of correctional facilities, Maine could combat the overcrowding problem and save taxpayers real money.

In addition to trimming the daily prisoner cost, a private company would most likely finance the construction of its own facility, eliminating the need for a costly construction bond to be issued by the state. The prison, once built, would also pay property taxes to the locality where it is situated, while creating jobs. These workers would enjoy competitive salary and benefits, without burdening Maine’s already astronomical unfunded liabilities in the state retirement system and for retiree health care.

I believe that a private prison or prisons in Maine should be viewed as a viable option for the future of Maine’s correctional system. It would save the state money and allow us to continue to be tough on criminals who, all too often, are given lenient sentences because of the overcrowding situation.

As agreed by the governor, the commissioner of corrections and representative of the Washington County Development Authority, all options to address the need for an additional corrections facility are on the table. CCA representatives have said they are very interested in working with the development authority and the state to bring a new correction facility to Washington County.

There are certain services that only government can provide. A fair judicial system and law enforcement are two of them. These are true public goods that can only be administrated by government. Prisons, on the other hand, at least the building and operation, need not remain government run.

Diversifying Maine’s prison system by utilizing privatization is a long-term solution to what has become an increasingly immediate problem.

Rep. Ian Emery, R-Cutler, is a commercial fisherman who represents House District 32.