Penobscot County Jail (PCJ) in Bangor has been overcrowded for a decade. The county’s solution is to spend tens of millions of dollars to build an enormous new jail.

We think there are better options - ones to make our communities safer and healthier, and save taxpayers money.

The current jail has a capacity of 157 inmates. Another 40-60 inmates are boarded out to other jails on any given day. The current troubling proposal is for a 250 bed jail, costing the taxpayers at least $44.8 million (before interest). It will go to voters on the June 2020 ballot. (Bangor Daily News, June 26th, 2019)

Penobscot County has typically been responsible for approximately 215 inmates each day. All indicators tell us there is absolutely no need for a 250 bed facility. The population of Penobscot County has decreased during the past 10 years. The state’s population is flat. Crime rates are falling. The movement across the county is to reduce the inmate population—not build larger jails. There are many ways of bringing the 215 inmate count at PCJ down to the the current 157 capacit

Jailing people is expensive. Penobscot County is spending roughly $109 per day on average to house each inmate. Taxpayers spent about $10 million dollars on the jail from January to August 2019. A bigger jail means more money - both for construction and for maintenance.

The current proposal is a 30 year bond for $44.8 million dollars, not including interest, nor the $267,420 the county has paid local architects WBRC for a design. Major construction projects often go over the estimated cost. Taxpayers in the City of Bangor will be responsible for 24% of the tax burden, while the rest of Penobscot County will shoulder 76%.

Two thirds of inmates at PCJ are held for non-violent offenses, mostly drug possession, probation violations and traffic offenses. Keeping individuals locked up is costly in many ways. It does not address the issues that land people in jail, and it disconnects them from their families and support systems – key ingredients for reducing crime and violence.

We believe keeping people in cells does little to address the underlying issues of violence and crime reduction that jail’s claim to solve. There is no evidence that the threat of jail influences a person’s decision-making when about to sell drugs, abuse a partner or drive drunk. There is no evidence that jail reduces the likelihood these people will stop this activity when they get out.

Penobscot County has many resources that could reduce the overcrowding of the jail. We already have homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, drug and mental health rehabilitation programs, jail diversion initiatives and pre-trial services, re-entry resources, and anti-poverty groups. Many of those organizations help people avoid going to jail or returning. With more support, these organizations could increase their services. County Commissioners can seek and direct funding to these programs and organizations and make reducing the jail population a priority.

Beyond social services, many people are in jail for not being able to pay fines or post bail. Many states are experimenting with eliminating or reducing cash bail. If we did not hold people in jail for being poor, we could dramatically reduce our jail population. Penobscot County District Attorney Marianne Lynch (da@penobscot-county.net), has the power to change bail policies for Penobscot County.

The length of time people spend in jail has also changed in the past decade. People are being sentenced for more charges per crime, resulting in longer time in jail per incident. Sentences are also getting longer, yet longer sentences cost taxpayers more and do not make our communities safer and sometimes less safe. The District Attorney also has the power to change policies on sentencing and probation restrictions, which sometimes land individuals back in jail unnecessarily.

Many jail inmates, both those held pre-trial (they have not been convicted of any crime but are awaiting trial) and those convicted, have mental health or substance use disorder conditions that are better addressed in therapeutic facilities than in a jail.

There are many other potential solutions to overcrowding, but the county commissioners have been looking at a bigger jail. We know we can do so much better.

Our current strategy has three parts:

1. Strongly urge the District Attorney to implement policy changes to reduce the number of people held in jail and the amount of time they are held there.

2. Call on the County Commissioners (Peter Baldacci, Laura Sanborn and Andre Cushing) to reduce the proposed number of beds in a new jail.

3. Vote down the bond referendum if the proposal on the ballot would expand the jail’s capacity beyond the current 157 beds.