PREDICTING JAIL NEEDS OFTEN TOUGH TO DO

SKOWHEGAN - Increasing numbers of incarcerated women and more widespread
use of drugs like heroin and OxyContin are among the factors that have
Department of Corrections officials concerned about inmate population
projections.

A study for the Department of Corrections released earlier this year
projects county jail populations will grow relatively slowly at about 11
percent between 2000 and 2010.

But officials say several factors, including more probation officers, could
change those projections significantly, turning a projected overall surplus
of beds in 2010 into a serious deficit.

Those see-sawing trends illustrate the tough job faced by corrections
officials and communities as they try to plan new jails.

"It is a very dynamic environment," said Ralph Nichols, director of the
Department of Corrections.

Nichols is also a member of the Somerset County Jail Building Committee now
trying to determine whether to expand the existing 45- bed jail in downtown
Skowhegan or build a new facility elsewhere.

At present, the committee favors adding an 80-bed wing to the existing
facility. After a number of modifications to the old facility, the new jail
would have the capacity to hold about 115 inmates.

But some members of the committee say that plan will leave the county with
a facility with little room for parking and no room for expansion.

Somerset County Sheriff Barry DeLong said he would like to at least be able
to compare the cost of an addition with a totally new facility that could
be expanded easily.

Recently, fluctuations in jail populations show the difficulty predicting
the number of inmates jails will have to house, let alone the make up of
future jail populations in terms of gender or treatment needs.

Statewide, county jails have seen a dramatic 17 percent increase in their
population over roughly the past 12 months.

That increase followed a decrease of roughly the same size in county jail
populations from 2000 to 2001.

Nichols said part of the reason for the recent increase appears to be
courts cleaning up their sentencing backlogs, more probation revocations
possibly caused by an increase in the number of probation officers, and an
increase in burglary and theft due to drug abuse.

"We believe that drug trafficking in cocaine and heroin in particular has
caused that spike," he said.

Abuse of drugs like heroin and OxyContin is often tied to more theft and
burglary crimes as addicts steal to support their habit.

Despite their rising numbers, women remain a small percentage of the
overall jail population - in 2000, there were an average of 1,117 men in
county jails statewide, compared to 93 women, according to the report.

The increase in female inmates is only one of many challenges jails face,
Nichols said.

"We are seeing much more drug addiction and many more mental health
(consumers) than we used to see. That is resulting in some pretty big
increases in costs," he said.

It is also a trend that takes a hard toll on corrections officers.

Often inmates with drug or mental health problems arrive at jails in
crisis, Nichols said.

"When you get them they are acting out. They are out of control," he said.

DeLong said those trends have hit his county hard.

"We are having people brought in routinely who probably shouldn't be in
jail. They are mentally ill," he said.

Built in the 1890s and renovated in the early 1980s, the Somerset County
Jail has room for 45 inmates, but has often had more than twice that
number. On Thursday it held 73.

More of those inmates are incarcerated for violent crimes, like rape and
murder, than in past decades, DeLong said. And more are women.

DeLong agreed with Nichols that the influx of drugs like heroin, cocaine
and OxyContin is a factor behind the increase.

"There seems to be a tendency to have women become more involved in
criminal activities ... it appears that drugs has had a big influence on
that," he said.

Jail Administrator Stephen R. Giggey estimated that the number of women has
at least doubled in the past three years and that trend is showing no sign
of reversing.

Because Somerset County Jail cannot house women, each female inmate is
taken to another facility at a cost of about $75 for the trip alone and
$82.50 for each night at that facility.

DeLong said he believes that any new jail should be designed and built to
allow for easy future expansion.

"I think we should look at long-term as well as immediate needs," he said.