The Board of Corrections took no action on a proposal from Somerset County Jail that would re-open the jail to out-of-county inmates.

Much of the Board of Corrections July 24 meeting was devoted to the issue. Since May, Somerset has refused to take inmates from other counties, as well as state inmates.

The jail stopped accepting inmates from other counties because of an ongoing battle with the state over the cost of housing their inmates at a reduced rate of $22 per day, while county residents are paying premium rates for their own inmates.

The Somerset County Jail continues to take federal inmates at $93 per day, which creates revenue for the facility.

Somerset Jail Administrator David Allen presented a proposal to the Board of Corrections that would have opened up 65 beds for county inmates at Somerset County, but the proposal was not accepted by the board.

Allen had asked that the jail capacity be reduced from 192 inmates to 165 inmates with a decrease of expenses of $169,000. What appeared to be the show-stopper for the Board of Corrections members was the fact that Allen said the jail would not accept any state inmates.

The board voted to table the agenda item until their meeting next month.

This lack of action did not sit well with Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce, who told the board he didn’t understand why they didn’t accept Somerset’s offer to open up 65 beds to county inmates.

“Fifteen County Sheriff’s got together to negotiate with Somerset Sheriff Delong,” Joyce said. “We agreed on this compromise. We thought there was an emergency; we thought we needed the beds. If there is no emergency, and we don’t need the beds, let’s go on our way, and stop talking about it.”

Maine County Commissioners Association President Amy Fowler told the Board of Corrections that anything that the 16 county sheriffs’ can agree on it should be accepted.

Although board member Vinton Cassidy from Washington County made a motion to re-consider the motion to table the agenda item, the motion failed.

In a previous motion the board approved giving Somerset County their fourth quarter payment, even though Somerset County had refused to take inmates six of the 12 weeks in the quarter.

“Last year we had the inmates and we didn’t get our fourth quarter payment,” Somerset Jail Administrator Allen told the Board of Corrections. “We had to use capital improvement money for the operation of the jail.”

When the motion to table the agenda item passed, “You have voted to pay them for taking the inmates, and now are not going to allow them to take the inmates,” Sheriff Scott Story of Waldo County said.

Board of Corrections Chairman Mark Westrum told the board he understood where Somerset County was coming from. He explained that Lincoln and Sagadahoc Counties built Two Bridges Regional Jail to house the inmates from the two counties. “As of this morning there are 57 inmates from the two counties at Two Bridges, and we are housing 178 inmates.”

Somerset also asked for a guarantee to receive their four quarterly payments for the 2013 fiscal year. One board member said, “I wouldn’t guarantee anything for next year. Somerset County also asked for support from the Board of Corrections in helping to get legislation though that would require the state to help with the cost of new jails. Currently the debts of the new county jails are being paid by the taxpayers of the counties.

The board spent a great deal of time at their July 10 meeting discussing the use of statutory authority, given to them by the consolidation law, to manage the county correctional system. It became very apparent the board did not know just what authority or how much authority they have.

Westrum told the board on July 24 that he and other members of the Board of Corrections met with Attorney General William Schneider recently and he has agreed to assign legal counsel for the board. “This is good news,” Westrum said.

Not only is the Board of Corrections confused as to what their powers are, according to a report from two representatives from the National Institute of Corrections, Rod Miller and Becky Ney, they found a great deal of confusion regarding the board’s current powers and its priorities.

The study, done by National Institute of Corrections, found that Maine’s system is in trouble.

The Board of Corrections has spent too little time on policies, planning and procedures, and lacks basic knowledge of its own authority, according to the 78-page report.

The study also found that conditions in the state’s 15 jails have failed to improve since they were stitched together by the Maine Legislature in 2008.

Although he did not mention the report at the July 24 meeting, Westrum said, “The system right now is in chaos. We are not in crisis but we are getting there.”

Westrum also expressed concern with the amount of inmates that are now in the county facilities. According to the Board of Corrections Executive Director Michael Tausek, there are currently 1,912 inmates in the county system.

“Usually during the summer months the jail population decreases,” Westrum said. “I am not sure what the trend is.”

“It is the female population,” York County Sheriff Bruce Bryant said. “We arrested four females last night.”

For more information, see related stories:

Board visits Wiscasset

Board reviews auditor's recommendation