County administrators who are concerned over state funding for county jails met with key lawmakers in Augusta on Tuesday, during the first day of the special legislative session.
Among the issues before budget writers on the Appropriations Committee is an $18 million funding request for the county jails. Lawmakers weren't making any promises about delivering that amount of money, and some sheriffs say a funding shortfall could affect jail operations.
The degree of need varies from county to county, but Charlie Pray, the executive director of the Maine County Commissioner Association, says there are few sheriffs in Maine who aren't feeling the pain of being caught between rising prisoner populations and a decrease in the amount of revenue needed to fund them. As an example, he points to the Penobscot County Jail in Bangor, which has a state rated capacity of 157 inmates.
"They're dealing with close to 200 on a daily basis, plus they're boarding out around 50 to 60 inmates either in Cumberland County or Two Rivers and, of course, boarding out means that you have to pay those counties for them." Pray says.
Additionally, Pray says, a wide range of other factors continue to complicate jail operations, including the care of prisoners with mental health issues as well as treatment for opioid-addicted prisoners. To make matters worse, Pray says it's getting increasingly difficult to find corrections officers in an economy that will pay those candidates more to do something else.
"Counties are also facing a problem with the improving economy, slightly, to some degree," Pray said. "But corrections officers jobs are difficult to fill. It's not a rewarding job, with what you deal with everyday. In some instances you're dealing with individuals who are not the nicest people."
"We have cut funding to community services so far back that our jails are now housing folks that are struggling with substance abuse disorder and with mental health struggles," says State Rep. Charlotte Warren.
As House chair of the Legislature's Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, Warren has been grappling with county jail shortfalls for years. Her panel unanimously endorsed the $18 million funding request for the jail and, during Tuesday House deliberations, she saw here seatmates deliver a little more than $12 million of the requested amount during an initial vote. The additional $6 million, the sheriffs say, is needed cover increased payroll and other expenses and to close a structural gap in the county jail allocation that depends on local property tax payments that are capped at four percent.
Warren says that means that although cost continue to rise, revenues do not rise with them.
"When you're expecting the good people of Maine to do their jobs, but you're not giving them the resources they need, we're creating a public safety issue," Warren said.
As a former Maine state trooper, Sen. Paul Davis says there are few issues that should concern Mainers more than adequate county jail funding.
"It's always a very controversial thing, nobody wants their property taxes to go up, and yet the jail has to be funded," said Sen. Paul Davis.
Davis says the consequences for failing to adequately fund those incarceration costs will be addressed by the sheriffs, some of whom are looking at a number of cost-cutting measures such as reduced prisoner transports and possibly even early release in some cases. Davis says the sheriffs will do what they have to.
“It's a big issue, and if the state doesn't kick in what they normally do, then there's either gonna be a lot of vacancies or a lot of people are going to get their pay cut." Davis said.
Lawmakers on the Appropriations Committee are being asked to amend one of their bills to include the additional $6 million requested by the jails, but legislative leaders say the request will have to be weighed along with others such as Medicaid expansion and increased payments for direct care workers.