Downeast Correctional Facility likely to stay, may see changes

The Downeast Correctional Facility (DCF) in Washington County will remain if a bill before the legislature is approved, but what form the minimum‑security reentry facility may take is still to be determined.
The original bill and Department of Corrections plan called for a $165 million bond to fund a major revamping of the Windham Correctional Center, with the implication being that DCF would need to be closed to help fund the project. During the final work session of the Committee for Criminal Justice and Public Safety on March 2, Department of Corrections Commissioner Joseph Fitzpatrick assured the committee that he would not "abandon" Washington County. The bill, LD 1477, was amended to include a requirement for a report in about one year's time on progress made on any plans for DCF as well as the Windham project. The bill must still receive approval from the Appropriations Committee before going to the House and Senate.
"Nobody on the committee wanted to close DCF," says Rep. Will Tuell of East Machias. "I've spoken with several of them after the vote who said that if the department hadn't agreed to keep a prison in our area, they wouldn't have gone for this bill. That's people on both sides of the aisle, and it shows that the legislature recognizes that we need to be looking at more than just one facility in one part of the state."

Prisoners contribute to Downeast industries
If DCF were to be closed it would mean the loss of the 149‑bed facility with from 49 to 55 employees. After hearing many concerns about the impact of closing it, Fitzpatrick toured the facility and then sent a team for an additional visit. A compelling argument was made for retaining the prison in the county, but not for reasons that bode well for the state as a whole, he says. The DCF prison population contributes significant labor to the local economy for the wreath, blueberry and lobster-trap industries through a work‑release program. Fitzpatrick says, "It's apparent to us that the work‑release program is a great benefit to local businesses." While he was concerned that this meant prison inmates taking jobs that might otherwise go to others, he was told by businesses that this is not the case and explains that they showed his team advertising efforts that go unfilled.
"We don't go looking for the jobs," explains DCF Director David Daniels. "They come to us." While he agrees that it is not a positive commentary about the availability of employees Downeast, the inmate population that is tapped for positions in the lobster-trap, blueberry and wreath‑making businesses learn valuable skills. Inmates are paid the same wage as anyone else who would be hired for the position. But that's where the similarity ends. Of the paycheck, 20% goes to the state to pay for prison room and board plus an additional amount to pay for transportation fuel, then any court‑ordered restitution or other costs such as child‑support are deducted. Of any funds that are remaining, 10% must go into a savings account. Last year $128,000 came from DCF work‑release wages and went into the state prison system's budget as income for room and board.
The prison is minimum security and is specifically for inmates readying for transition back into society. Vocational training, work‑release employment and community service are combined with social services programs. In 2014 inmate community service work amounted to a savings of $15,500 for local communities. Such work might include painting a municipal building, sweeping streets and installing docks at the Greenland Point Center camp for area youth. The vocational programs presented the state with $182,000 in savings in 2014. "They're a big selling point for us," Daniels says of the vocational programs. The welding program, which teaches welding of all types, including aluminum, always has a waiting list. The carpentry program starts an inmate on the basics and might end at the construction of a building. The prisoners also sew prison uniform jeans and boxer shorts for many of the prisons and even some jails with a savings of $55,000 in clothing costs to the state so far for the fiscal year 2015‑2016. While the prison does not job‑track inmates after they have left to see how well their vocational training has served them in finding a related job, Daniels notes that instructors will occasionally hear back.

Options being explored
If the bill passes, Fitzpatrick expects that plan implementation for the DCF facility, whether that means relocation to a new or different building or staying in the same, would happen within a two‑year timeline. He also points to the need to reevaluate the service industry programs. "Do we revamp, expand or change" them, he asks.
Tuell notes in his legislative newsletter that "the commissioner has offered early estimates of a 30- to 70-bed facility in the greater Machias area." Daniels, while admitting his partiality, believes the current operation works well for the inmates and the county. If it becomes just a work‑release facility he thinks it unlikely that vocational and community service programs would continue. "The facility is in good working order, with new windows, new boilers, new doors. It's not dilapidated as one is led to believe," and a competent facilities crew is on hand to make sure it stays that way. "There's a lot going on that I think we would lose if we became just work release."
If the bill does not pass, Fitzpatrick is concerned that it could mean the reevaluation of the entire prison system across the state because of the pressing lack of beds for female inmates at the Windham facility. It's a lawsuit waiting to happen, he suggests, and he notes that the plans for the new Windham facility would include room for women, substance abuse treatment and mental health beds, a geriatric wing and more. Without that expansion, he anticipates having to find new ways to use the existing system to accommodate the most pressing needs.