By Kathryn Skelton,Staff Writer

Eighty-five registered sex offenders live in Lewiston, more than in Portland, Bangor, Augusta or any other big city in Maine.

Three years ago, Lewiston area lawmakers raised concerns about the high number here, then 48.

Each offender had been released from prison with $40 for bus fare, but without counseling, housing vouchers or food.

Denise Lord, an associate commissioner at the Department of Corrections, said recently that the release process has changed, but that affordable, available housing still makes Lewiston an attractive place.

“Obviously I’m concerned about the number of offenders living here. Obviously there’s a chance of reoffending and it places kids in danger,” said Lewiston Police Chief William Welch.

While the numbers in Lewiston remain high, Welch said one aspect has improved.

Three years ago, when the large population of offenders was publicized, “one of our biggest concerns at the time was that we were not being notified in a timely fashion” when an offender was released.

“People were here a week, two weeks, three weeks before we even knew where they were living,” Welch added. “That’s improved a lot.”

Last month the Department of Corrections hired a new transition coordinator to work with sex offenders getting ready to leave prison.

The coordinator will work with probation, family and a local sponsor to develop a release plan, Lord said. The aim: “containing the offender to reduce the likelihood of reoffending.”

In addition, the Maine Correctional Center has started a sex offender residential treatment program, she said. It’s for the people who pose the greatest risk after release. For two years, they’ll live in a separate part of the prison and receive regular counseling.

Twenty-eight to 30 inmates are currently taking part. The program began several months ago. She said it took a year to design.

Lewiston police Detective Dan Stone, who maintains contact with local sex offenders, said he’s seeing more who have a counseling component to their probation after release.

That counseling often isn’t available in small towns, again making Lewiston an attractive destination.

An expansion in the state’s Sex Offender Registry in 2002, when the Legislature added more crimes and pushed back the registration date, could also account for the higher number now known to be living here, he said.

Stone said it’s rare that he hears about someone on the registry being harassed by members of it public. It’s also rare that they’re re-arrested for a sex crime.

“The majority of sex offenders that go back to jail, in my experience, violated probation or committed an unrelated crime,” Stone said.

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