Governor John Baldacci's plan to merge the county jails into the state prison system is not good for Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties, according to Lincoln County Commissioner Sheridan Bond, who also serves as chairman of the Lincoln and Sagadahoc Jail Authority, and the Sagadahoc County Commissioners. The Jail Authority governs the new Two Bridges Regional Jail, built by both counties, just off Route 1 in Wiscasset.

The proposal, LD 2080, "An act to better coordinate and reduce the cost of delivery of state and county correctional services," is expected to go before the legislature late this week, or early next week.

According to Bond, "The proposal is not good for the Two Bridges Regional Jail, or the taxpayers of the two counties. Therefore Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties are hoping the bill will be defeated, or amended to exempt Two Bridges.

"The Two Bridges Regional Jail was built larger to allow inmate boarding that would generate revenue to offsite taxation," Bond said.

Under the governor's proposal, the jail could board inmates, but the state would determine where the revenue would be spent.

A nine-member state board of directors made up from state, county, municipal governments, and the public, appointed by the governor, would govern the county jail and state prison system.

Sagadahoc County Commissioners and the Sheriff of Sagadahoc County have sent a letter to all state representatives asking them before they vote on this bill to speak with their constituent county commissioners to get their opinions, and not depend on the claims of certain groups.

Although they agree the state needs to centralize advisory authority to provide a statewide perspective regarding future construction, programs and bed availability, this is not the plan to do it, they say.

According to the commissioner's letter, the plan would "minimize local control, transfers the majority of state prisoner boarding costs to the property tax and makes empty promises about the future funding to the counties."

The letter outlines the concerns of the county as follows:

" Shifts state jail costs to pro p erty taxpayers . The plan definitely does not give any assurance of property tax relief to property taxpayers."

"Strips counties of local control . The plan transfers control to a state dominated board of corrections. The counties will have minimal input in decisions regarding: what jails will close; where their county prisoners will be housed; and whether their county jail is designated, in whole or in part, as a `special needs' facility."

" Thwarts alternative sentencing and transitional programs. The plan's intent to designate `special population' jails will separate prisoners from their families, support systems and alternate sentencing /work release programs. The plan will significantly increase bed-days for those counties that currently maximize alternative sentencing."

" Is likely to eliminate many pr o active training programs. Many county jails have superb training/transitioning programs. The Department of Corrections has already proven that it is more than willing to sacrifice the space necessary to conduct these programs in order to increase bed space."

" Makes funding promises the state cannot keep. The plan promises the state will pay correction costs that exceed a predetermined cap. Even if this legislature could bind future legislatures, history tells us the promise will quickly be discarded, and if there were some way to bind future legislature to the promise, where would they get the money?"

" Creates a burden at county level for transportation. The proposed `cap' does not include county transportation costs. The counties will bear the entire burden of transportation cost the will result from the board of corrections assigning prisoners outside the arresting county.

"Counties would be responsible for transporting their prisoners to the jail, back to the county for arraignment, back to jail, as well as to medical appointments required outside the jail. The counties will have to establish 72 hour holding cells. The financial impact on the counties will be huge."

" Will unfairly penalize counties that recently built new facilities. The plan originally included a provision through which the state would either absorb jail debt or spread the debt in some fashion amongst all counties. Those provisions were eliminated from the plan, leaving some counties with both a staggering loss of state prisoner boarding revenues and the financial burden of millions of dollars in debt for the state mandated facility over which the counties have very little control."

The commissioners from both counties have indicated the plan will not reduce jail operating costs despite statistics published by the Department of Corrections that show the county jail expenses have increased more than state prison expenses.

According to the Sagadahoc Commissioners, over a 13-year period, the largest jail in the state has kept its annual operating increases under 3.5 percent and although figures are not readily available, smaller jails have claimed the small record.

The Two Bridges Region jail opened in November of 2006. It has the capacity to house 170 inmates, but the staffing to accommodate about 120. The estimated operating budget proposal for 2008-2009 is $7.2 million with an estimated $2.2 million to come from boarding prisoners outside the area. As of March 20, there were 121 inmates at the jail with 31 inmate boarders.