A state Board of Corrections ad-hoc committee is recommending a restructuring of how federal funds are dispersed among the 15 county jails throughout Maine. 

The board wants to make sure the funds are going to support alternative corrections programs, Lincoln County Sheriff Todd Brackett told County Commissioners during their most recent meeting December 18. 

The funding, which totals approximately $5.6 million out of the state's $80 million corrections budget, supports “pretrial diversion” programs aimed at reducing crime.    

Brackett said funds are still being dispersed to county jails based on an assessment conducted in the mid-to-late 1990s. Brackett serves on the ad-hoc Reports Assessment Committee.

The federal County Community Corrections Act was established in 1987 to facilitate the disbursement of funds to county jails, accommodating shifts in population, changing demographics and financial responsibilities. 

According to Brackett, 20 percent of the CCA funds is intended for community corrections programs (split evenly between adult and juvenile offender facilities), with the remaining 80 percent to go to management and operational expenses.

“It makes sense for the board to revisit this,” Brackett said. “To see how these funds are disbursed.”

A lot has changed since the last assessment of county jails was conducted, Brackett added. There are also some significant differences in how some of the jails operate. 

For example, Franklin County Jail operates as a 72-hour holding facility, Waldo County is used for reentry offenders and the Two Bridges Regional Jail is a full-service facility. 

Brackett said a reassessment would involve looking at each of the county jail budgets and facility operations. The resulting information would give corrections officials insight in determining how the CCA funds could best be used.  

“The money should follow the inmates and programs,” Brackett said.  The programs CCA funding supports are designed to cut back on recidivism and the same behavior that causes offenders to return to jail.

The committee has met four times in the past few weeks to assess three different reports: a report by the Corrections Alternatives Advisory Committee, a financial assessment from accounting firm RHR Smith issued in June 2012 and a technical assistance report from the National Institute of Corrections.

The reports, each compiled separately and in different years (2006, 2011 and  2012), offer recommendations to improve the overall system of county jails. 

Out of these recommendations, several individuals have focused their sights on ways to cut back on recidivism, the pattern by which offenders return to jail by way of the same criminal acts.

On the Maine Department of Corrections Facebook page, there is a posting for an October 17 presentation by Commissioner Joseph Ponte and Portland Equal Opportunity Director Rachael Talbot Ross called, “Innovating for Positive Impact in Maine Prisons and Communities.” 

The presentation asked what is the socio-economic impact of inmates who are released and then return to incarceration on the state of Maine. Alternative sentencing and pretrial programs seek to minimize this pattern. 

The Corrections Alternatives Advisory Committee recommends CCA funds, “be enhanced strategically to support community-based supervision, pretrial and alternative sentencing programs, counseling, day treatment and other evidence-based practices designed to treat offenders appropriately and reduce recidivism.”

Funding that goes to Two Bridges Regional Jail helps support work release and reentry programs that transition inmates to society, by offering alternatives to crime and encouraging people to lead productive lives.