HOUSING, NOT JAILS

When I came to Maine in 1969, I volunteered to teach some enrichment
classes at the women's prison in Skowhegan. There were seven or eight
prisoners housed in a farmhouse outside the town.

Two years later, the women were moved to a new facility in Hallowell.
There the windows were barred, but still the place had the look of a
college dormitory. Within five years, however, the number of
prisoners had exceeded the facility's limited capacity of 50, and the
women were moved to the Maine State prison in Windham.

In the '90s, I had the privilege of working with the Volunteers for
Hancock Jail Residents. A typical writing class for women had an
attendance of seven or eight, the same number as the total prison
population in Skowhegan in 1969.

While the population of Maine between 1907 and 2000 grew by 75
percent, its prison population grew by 1,250 percent.

The women I have met in prison over the years were there for the most
part because of crimes of poverty: bad checks written at the end of
the month, driving an unregistered car or driving without a license,
owing money for past fines for the same offense.

The big difference between the eight students in Hancock County jail
in 1995 and the prisoners in the Skowhegan farmhouse in 1970 was in
the number of drug offenses. Yet these women in the Hancock County
jail found it extremely difficult to get into rehab programs as there
were not enough slots to meet the need.

Perhaps a solution to jail overcrowding could be found by taking the
money for new prison construction and investing it in more rehab
centers. Perhaps the former U.S. government monthly food distribution
program could be brought back. Perhaps instead of building more
prisons, money could be restored to housing construction for low-income people.

Karen Saum

Belfast