State, counties hammer out jails proposal Integrated system on the table

AUGUSTA – State and county officials said Monday they had agreed “in principle” on a concept that would combine competing proposals for revamping Maine’s corrections system.

A new board appointed by the governor would oversee an integrated system of county jails and state prisons. The board would look at budgets and expenditure trends. The state would be expected to pick up debt service burdening counties now.

State Corrections Commissioner Martin Magnusson and Waldo County Sheriff Scott Story told members of the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee details still need to be worked out.

Committee lawmakers are scheduled to begin their review in earnest next week.

Sen. Bill Diamond, the Windham Democrat who is co-chairman of the committee, said panelists would still give the compromise a close review.

“We have no positions. … But we’re starting miles and miles ahead,” Diamond said.

As outlined by the Baldacci administration, a nine-member board of corrections would determine the best use for county facilities and establish a “Certificate of Need” process for considering future construction projects and bulk purchasing of commodities, medicine and services.

Systemwide bed space would be managed by the state Department of Corrections and the department would recommend a downsizing plan to the board.

According to the administration, jail employees would remain county employees and day-to-day operations would remain under the control of sheriffs.

In assuming the debt service of counties, about $10.3 million a year, the state would cap property tax assessments at current levels, according to the administration.

“We all want the same thing,” Story told the committee, describing the compromise as “a joint proposal” in which “everybody comes out whole.”

Magnusson, expressing satisfaction with extended talks that reached a climax over the weekend, also voiced caution.

“We need a lot more defining of where we are,” he said.

Gov. John Baldacci issued a statement thanking the counties and sheriffs “for their willingness to work toward a better way of managing corrections.”

“The goal all along has been to create a new system that is more efficient, but that also delivers better rehabilitative services to the men and women in our care. … The agreement over the weekend took a good-faith effort by both sides, and I’m gratified that we are near a solution that will work for everyone, and especially Maine taxpayers,” Baldacci said.

Baldacci outlined a plan for a state takeover of Maine’s county jail network in late August, asserting that “our current system is intolerable.”

The administration said annual savings from such a move could grow from $10 million in the first year to nearly $38 million over time.

According to the administration, local property taxes to support county jails amounted to $66 million in 2006 and an estimated $71.2 million in 2007. The administration said jail operations could cost $148 million by 2013 and $184 million by 2015.

State officials said that over the last three years, the cost for counties to operate jails has increased by about 12 percent per year, while the cost to operate the state prison system has increased by about 6 percent per year.

The governor’s plan came under sharp criticism from many local officials and drew mixed reaction among lawmakers.