Article: Maine prison population growing/changing

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http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/local/546951.shtml

Sunday, April 11, 2004
Maine prison population growing, changing

Reporter Alan Crowell recently talked with Denise Lord, associate commissioner of the Department of Corrections.

The state's brand new prison in Warren is already full. How bad is overcrowding in Maine prisons?

The state prison system is very overcrowded. We have 200 prisoners more than we are budgeted for. We are budgeted for 1,884. Today we have 2,015. In order to accommodate the additional prisoners, we double bunk, triple bunk and quadruple bunk prisoners. We have prisoners sleeping on the floor in our reception center in Windham until they are ready to move into an overcrowded facility.


What are the factors driving population growth in Maine prisons and jails?

"There are a number of factors. The first is we are seeing an increase in certain drug categories, particularly drug-related crimes. There has been a shifting at least at the state prison level in the population. We are seeing many more prisoners coming into our system with shorter sentences, sentences of around a year. That is actually where the biggest increase has been. We have also seen, particularly for higher-level offenses, the length of sentences increase so prisoners are staying in prison longer than they were 10 years ago for the same offense, and they are staying on probation longer than they were 10 years ago for the same offense.

Are women becoming a bigger proportion of prison populations? If so, how is this affecting prisons?

Woman have always been a very small percentage of the prison population, but their numbers are growing. Ten years ago, we had about 35 women in our state prisons. Today we have close to 130. We are seeing more drug-related offenses. We are seeing more women being sentenced to the Maine State Prison system rather than county jails. I think there is a belief that women will get better services in the Maine State Prison system than in county jails. I think also the criminal justice system has become gender neutral, so women are getting prison time when 10 and 15 years ago they would not have.

Have populations peaked? If not, can you project when they will peak?

That is the question we keep asking ourselves. Our population projections suggest that if the current trends continue, we will begin to see a stabilization around 2008. Our projections are suggesting we will peak at around 2,350 (inmates).

Are the needs of inmates in Maine prisons and jails different today than they were 10 years ago? If so, how?

Yes, they are different. There is certainly much more addiction and a higher severity of addiction and mental illness. Overall, there are more health considerations and concerns. We are seeing a population that has not benefited from good primary care. We are seeing a population that has, in many cases, significant prior involvement in the criminal justice system.

The Somerset County Jail was designed to hold 45 inmates but has a variance from the Department of Corrections that allows it to hold 55. That variance is due to expire in January. Will the state renew the variance if voters don't approve a new jail?

I really don't know. The (Department of Corrections) does have the statutory responsibility to inspect jails and to assure that jails are operating to standard. We would have to exercise our responsibility within that statutory authority. It is hard to anticipate and predict how we would respond to that, if that, in fact, happened, but we would definitely be involved.

The Commission to Improve the Sentencing, Supervision, Management and Incarceration of Prisoners has made a variety of proposals to lessen overcrowding and the workload of probation and parole officers. Summarize these if you could.

There are several very important proposals that if enacted could have a very important effect. The first is the creation of alternatives to probation that require restitution or community service or participation in treatment, but don't require supervision. Another recommendation calls for limiting probation to offenses that pose a higher risk to the community, like sex offenses and domestic violence. Those two recommendations will reduce caseloads so we can spend more time supervising those higher risk offenders.

The other recommendation is to increase the amount of good time the prisoner can earn while in jail or prison. Increased good time would be available again to offenders who have not been convicted of sex offenses, domestic violence and murder.

How do you answer people who say cutting down on prison time and on probation will necessarily increase danger to the public? I think the objective is to focus very precious and costly resources on the higher risk offenders. It will be making better use of the resource. We can enhance community safety because we will be supervising high risk offenders and not spending time on offenders who don't pose a risk."