Androscoggin County is getting fees from other counties.
By Daniel Hartill
Staff Writer

AUBURN – The Androscoggin County Jail is filling its empty beds with other counties’ crooks.

On Wednesday, the jail held 10 people from away: the midcoast, Down East and central Maine. For each, the jail is paid $75 a day.

“I could be boarding another 30 people if I had the room,” said Capt.. John Lebel, the jail’s administrator.

Finally, the jail is making some money.

For several months, the Auburn jail has seen its population decline, from an all-time high of 160 in 2002 to recent dips below 100. So with the jail’s budget surpassing $3.2 million, it has found a welcome revenue stream from helping overcrowded jails in other parts of Maine.

“I’m a taxpayer, too,” Lebel said. “I live in this county.” He understands the universal desire to keep taxes, which pay for the jail’s operation, from climbing any higher.

Meanwhile, the jail can help its “sister” institutions, he said.

Virtually all of Maine’s jails have felt some overcrowding. About 1,100 people currently reside in Maine jails. There are 15 in all, one for each county except Sagadahoc, which sends its prisoners to Kennebec County.

On Wednesday, boarders in Auburn included people from Somerset, Lincoln and Knox counties.

The new income will be used to offset the jail’s costs at the start of 2004, when the new fiscal year begins.

It’s needed money, but it’s not secure. Neither Lebel nor other officials know why the jail’s population went down. It could rise again fast, he said.

“Those swings can move really quick,” said Lebel. “I could be back up to full tomorrow.”

For example, 19 arrests were made over the weekend by area police. Each of the 19 was sent to the jail. Room for the locals takes priority.

On Wednesday, the population including the boarders was 130.

If too many people are arrested, the shift supervisor at the Auburn facility has the authority to have them removed.

“They’ll be able to call the jail they came from and say, ‘Come and get ’em,'” Lebel said.

Until that happens, most of the money is profit for county coffers. Unless an inmate has special needs, he or she could be housed at a cost to Androscoggin County of $10 each, Lebel estimated. The building is there and the staff will not change for the boarders, he said.

When the jail was first built in 1989, boarding prisoners was a big revenue maker. It brought $200,000 to $300,000 to Auburn each year, said Lebel. Then the numbers rose.

The revenues will never be that generous again, he said.

There are bonuses, though.

The jail’s current budget includes $75,000 for boarding its inmates in other jails. It was a request made when the jail population still looked critical.

“We haven’t spent a penny of that money,” Lebel said.

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