WISCASSET, Maine — Two Bridges Regional Jail, one of four flagship jails in Maine with the mission of housing out-of-county inmates under the 2008 jail consolidation law, no longer will house out-of-county inmates without reimbursement.
With questions still lingering about the distribution of state funds to county jails, the Lincoln Sagadahoc Multicounty Jail Authority reached consensus that the jail no longer will serve as a receiving jail and house out-of-county inmates without a contract on Aug. 12.
The Maine Attorney General’s Office is reviewing the distribution formula for the approximately $12.2 million in state funds for the county corrections system outlined in An Act to Reverse Jail Consolidation, now Public Law 2015, Chapter 335, jail authority members said.
Debate continues over whether state funds will be distributed to the counties where inmates originate or the jails where inmates are housed. The Attorney General’s Office is working to clarify the formula before the state funds are disbursed, Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry said.
According to Merry, the Maine Department of Corrections hopes to clarify the distribution formula and release state funds before Sept. 30, the end of the first quarter of the 2015-2016 fiscal year.
Two Bridges is anticipating it will receive state funds based solely on Lincoln and Sagadahoc County inmates, according to Two Bridges Correctional Administrator Col. Mark Westrum.
“We’re doing what we think the intent of the law is,” Westrum said. The amount Two Bridges expects to receive from the state is $557,636.
With receiving jails no longer able to charge outside counties per diem boarding rates for their inmates because of the legislation, Two Bridges Regional Jail is leading the charge in developing a new financial model, based on intercounty contracts, to sustain the jail.
Other county jails are following Two Bridges’ lead. Somerset and Cumberland counties have requested copies of Two Bridges’ $1.2 million contract to house Waldo County inmates to guide their own negotiations and ensure reimbursement for housing out-of-county inmates, jail authority members said.
“If it wasn’t for Waldo County, we’d be looking at bankruptcy right now,” jail authority Chairman Mark Waltz said.
With property taxes and Waldo County payments the sources of revenue keeping Two Bridges afloat, jail authority members reached an agreement — after extensive debate — not to accept other counties’ inmates without a contract, unless there were an emergency situation.
Jail authority members were unable to resolve how to develop short-term contracts with other counties that are not based on a per diem rate or the definition of an emergency that would cause Two Bridges to open its doors to out-of-county inmates.
Jail authority members did agree all future contracts should be based on a baseline rate determined by the contract with Waldo County, which equates to $100,000 per month.
Cash-strapped counties, however, already have made clear they will not be able to reimburse receiving jails for housing their inmates, jail authority members said.
According to Westrum, the Somerset County Jail, also a “flagship jail” under jail consolidation, asked Two Bridges to support them in sending Kennebec County a bill for the Kennebec County inmates the two jails housed. Kennebec County responded by pulling their inmates out of the jails.
Penobscot County is grappling with overcrowding at its jail and has made clear it will be unable to pay if charged by receiving jails for their inmates. The decision to not accept Penobscot County inmates at Two Bridges to alleviate the condition was one Merry and Lincoln County Sheriff Todd Brackett took issue with.
According to Brackett, overcrowding at a jail is, in itself, an emergency that not only threatens the safety of inmates and staff but will result in critical situations that will raise insurance rates for the entire county corrections system.
For other jail authority members, the decision to not house out-of-county inmates without a contract is a solution to a problem Two Bridges has grappled with ever since jail consolidation took effect.
Two Bridges Regional Jail was constructed in 2006, in partnership with Sagadahoc County, through issuing $24.6 million in bonds. At the time, the facility was able to rent out extra beds to inmates from outside counties at a per diem rate of $85. The additional income from per diem boarding rates was intended to offset the debt service of the jail.
However, when jail consolidation went into effect in 2008 and Two Bridges became a flagship jail, Two Bridges’ debt service and capital improvement projects rested solely on the shoulders of taxpayers from Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties.
For about seven years, Two Bridges struggled to receive full payment from the state through the Maine Board of Corrections, the governing body established to oversee jail consolidation. Officials from Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties consistently complained their tax dollars were subsidizing out-of-county inmates during the Board of Corrections era.
The Aug. 12 decision by the jail authority marked the beginning of a new era for Two Bridges Regional Jail. While no longer willing to subsidize out-of-county inmates with Lincoln and Sagadahoc tax dollars, Lincoln and Sagadahoc taxpayers remain the main source of revenue for the jail.
About $2,420,839 was raised in Lincoln County taxes for Two Bridges in 2015. An Act to Reverse Jail Consolidation increased the property tax cap for county jails, increasing the amount to be raised in taxes for the jail to $2,657,105 in 2016.
Westrum was unable to present a full budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year to the board because of lingering questions about state funds and the inability to project future prisoner counts. The two-month budget Two Bridges has been operating on was continued for September.
The temporary budget is based on an inmate population of approximately 120. Westrum and the finance committee agreed to meet to run numbers for a full 12-month budget.
“I’ve cut everything there is to cut. The only place left to go is personnel,” Westrum said.
Two Bridges already is down about seven positions, Westrum said. If inmate numbers spike, which typically happens in September and January, Two Bridges will need its current staffing numbers, jail authority members said.