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| Maine County jail must reduce population |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 09/19/2003 |
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The Maine Department of Corrections has ordered the Waldo County Jail to cut its number of prisoners by almost half and to stop housing female inmates. The decision could cost the county as much as $1 million a year because it would have to send inmates to other county jails. Ralph Nichols, state director of correctional inspection, notified Sheriff Scott Story that he is limiting the jail to 23 inmates because of continued overcrowding and two recent suicides. The jail, built 30 years ago to hold 17 prisoners, has gotten waivers over the years to allow for double bunking and an inmate population of 36. The jail averaged 40 inmates a day in 2002 and 41 a day this year. Story notified Waldo County commissioners of the decision Tuesday. Waldo County voters will decide on Nov. 4 whether to fund a proposed $17.9 million facility to replace the existing jail. Story said the state has allowed overcrowding at county jails because there haven't been any empty jail cells within the state system. Now that a new jail has opened in York County, the department has started to crack down on overcrowding. Story said overcrowding creates unsafe conditions for inmates and staff members. 'They are asking why are people dying in county facilities. They are not going to let bad things happen in these facilities,' Story said. 'The reason this is happening is because nine people have died in Maine jails in the last year.' Story told commissioners that the new inmate levels must be in place within 60 days, and that he has 10 days to appeal the ruling. Story said he would appeal as a formality, but doubted there were grounds to persuade the department to change its decision. Given the current average inmate population, Story said he would be required to board an estimated 18 inmates per day in other jails. At an average cost of $100 per day, that works out to $657,000 a year for boarding prisoners. He said transportation costs would add to the total, and that he would probably have to hire a full-time transportation officer to handle the logistics of transporting inmates between court appearances in Belfast and out-of-town jails. |
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