Jail officials are expected
to unveil their budget request on Monday.
AUBURN
In theory, Lisa Webster controls the elevator and the locks throughout the Androscoggin County Jail.
Behind the tinted windows of the command center, she presides over a board of lighted switches and a bank of security monitors, connected to cameras all over the cinderblock fortress.
“I’m its eyes and ears,” she said. “It’s all about me.”
But like a broken Lite Brite, the buttons and lights on the control board flicker or change at will. Lights meant to signify whether a cell is locked sometimes lie. Unsecured doors seem safely locked. And seemingly free doors fail to open.
It’s a matter of safety for everyone who works inside, say jail officials, who hope to replace the control board by the year’s end. And it’s not the only big fix that’s planned for the 14-year-old facility.
When Jail Administrator John Lebel appears before the Androscoggin County Commission on Monday with his proposed 2004 budget, there will also be some money to begin buying new heat exchangers and to clean the ducts in the jail, a $200,000 expense.
Meanwhile, the new control board is expected to cost about $250,000, money that has been set aside in past budgets.
Sure, it’s a lot of money to spend on a relatively new building, but there seems to be no other way, Lebel said.
In the case of the heat exchangers and duct cleaning, the work would correct mistakes made when the jail was built, said Lebel. Experts say the current heating and air conditioning system was badly designed.
As it stands, some rooms can surpass 80 degrees and humidity surges throughout the building.
“It’s the humidity that’s downright unreasonable,” said Lebel.
Meanwhile, so much dust has accumulated in the ducts that it keeps setting off the building’s smoke detectors and fire alarms.
Lebel plans to do the work in pieces over the next few years, so it doesn’t force too large an increase over the jail’s current $3.2 million budget.
The changes on the control board are scheduled to happen by year’s end. Already, a few of the surveillance cameras have been replaced.
The board is the worst problem, though. Parts must be custom-made. The electronics are not made well enough to ensure a longer life. Built around the same time as the local jail, the Penobscot County Jail is operating its third system.
The new controls for Androscoggin County will include touch-screen technology and digital video recording. There will be no more buttons, switches or lights.
“It’s been very frustrating to keep track of how many lights are broken,” said Webster, who often learns that one more has gone when she begins her morning shift.
Sometimes, the inmates learn even before the guards do.
In one case, she watched through her security monitor as inmates pushed open a cell-block door and walked out. The control board had said it was locked.
Webster immediately alerted guards, who rounded up the loose inmates. They could never have escaped, she said. There are too many doors with too many locks.
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