County reform starts with jails

I commend Gov. John Baldacci for using his position to advocate for consolidation of Maine’s jails and urge him to stay the course despite the well-organized opposition to the plan. When I wrote about corrections reform in a book I published almost two years ago, I included the quote from the French Marshall Lyautey that President Kennedy was said to use from time to time.

Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a particular tree, and the man objected that the tree was slow growing and would take 100 years to reach maturity. The marshall replied, “In that case there is no time to lose: plant it this afternoon!”

And so it will be with jail consolidation and, candidly, any type of county government reform. The reason why we have so many jails is not the result of a well thought out system; the reasons are purely historical and have more to do with how long it took someone to get somewhere on horseback. Former Governor Joe Brennan understood the need for a measure of county reform when he downsized 16 prosecutor districts (district attorneys) down to 8 districts. Gov. Baldacci is taking the work Brennan started the next logical step.

Why should we consolidate? The reasons are several, but to begin with, it is poor tax policy to fund county jails off the property tax , and Governor Baldacci’s plan is to shift the funding away from the property tax over time. Second, the counties themselves are almost powerless to control jail costs driven by rising health care costs and state and federal mandates – the sheriffs and county commissioners have made this point themselves loudly over the years. At least the state can control some of the costs, and by having full responsibility, it will have greater incentive to do so.

Finally, it is grossly inefficient for 15 county jails to struggle with trying to provide units for female prisoners and services for prisoners with substance abuse issues and mental illnesses. Sheriffs and jail administrators never set out to become mental health providers, yet they have become the de facto largest providers of residential services for people with mental illness in this state.

While regionalizing these services certainly means friends and family members will have to travel farther to support their loved ones who are incarcerated, the potential for significantly improved substance abuse and mental health services should outweigh this difficulty.

I have had the honor of working with many of the state’s sheriffs and jail administrators in the past in an effort to improve services for people with mental illnesses in the county jails. My support for this proposal is not meant to disrespect their work – they have done extraordinary work with extremely limited resources. But they need more help than they will get under the current system, and having the state assume control will provide a better chance to improve the system statewide.

Clearly consolidation will not, by itself, do the trick alone. There must be an ongoing commitment to improve community services to keep people out of jail in the first place and implement evidence-based programs that reduce recidivism.

Two separate commissions have reviewed options and made recommendations in just the last three years. It’s time to act on these recommendations in concert with consolidation.

Barbara Merrill of Appleton is an attorney, restaurant owner, former legislator and 2006 challenger to Gov. John Baldacci.