Prison, jail unification plan concerns officials

MACHIAS – The governor says he has no plans to close the Washington County Jail, but his new county jail and state prison unification plan has caused heartburn for some law enforcement officials Down East.

They worry that the governor’s plan could delay building a new jail and prison here. Right now area residents are looking to build a $60 million combined jail and prison facility to replace the aging Washington County Jail and Downeast Correctional Facility in Bucks Harbor.

“Absolutely not,” the governor’s press secretary David Farmer said of the county’s fear that the project will die. Farmer said there is no plan afoot to delay or close either the jail or the prison in Washington County.

The current county jail was built in two parts – the original holding facility in the 1800s and an addition in the 1980s. The completely renovated facility was supposed to last 50 years, but jail officials fear it isn’t going to make that anniversary date.

The Bucks Harbor facility began life as the former U.S. Air Force 907th Radar Squadron. It later was converted to a prison and now houses more than 150 men. It also is in rough shape.

For months now, state and county officials have been meeting to talk about building a combined jail and prison. “That’s resource sharing. That is what we should be doing and I think we have taken that step in Washington County to move forward,” Sheriff Donnie Smith said in a recent interview.

In August, state and county offices agreed that there was a collective need for a larger facility. An exploratory committee was formed. If built, the new facility would house both state and local inmates in separate but connected areas and could drastically reduce the overcrowding problem jails have experienced in the state.

Also in August, Gov. John Baldacci announced plans to take over the county jail system, citing chronic overcrowding, double-digit cost increases and a lack of necessary services. He said the state was on the edge of a jail crisis and that the existing system is inefficient and unsustainable. If the state takes over, the governor said, it would save taxpayers $10 million the first year.

Last month, Smith received a letter from the Department of Corrections telling him the state was putting together teams to tour all of the state’s jails. “One of the things we were working on, and it seems to have come to an end, is the joint facility,” Smith said looking at the letter.

Farmer disagrees. “I think the frustration there is in the [lack of] speed and for the county commissioners, for the Sheriff’s Department, for the county as a whole there is a great sense of urgency. But the timeline for construction is not something that happens today or tomorrow,” Farmer said.

But local people continue to meet. “We have to go forward,” Smith said.