In Maine’s county correctional system, Big Brother is your friend, not your enemy.

In the mid-1990s, corrections officials Maine first dallied with videoconferencing technology to address an evergreen sore spot: transportation costs. Grainy video and abysmal Internet connection speeds doomed the first experiments and slowed its adoption.

Now, some Maine counties are using videoconferencing as a high-tech alternative in traditional jailing. Kennebec County started video arraignments in January, with Aroostook County in the wings. The $24 million Two Bridges regional jail serving Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties that just opened had videoconferencing built-in.

Androscoggin County should follow, as debate over transportation costs at the county jail simply highlights the need for swift implementation of videoconferencing technology.

To trim the county budget, a proposal to eliminate two transportation officers at the jail has caused consternation among local law enforcement. Prisoners must be transported to various court hearings, medical appointments, etc., and if the jail is unable to provide transport, the duty falls on the arresting agency.

For Lewiston, the estimate for city transport of prisoners is an additional $135,000, or $30 per taxpayer, which would effectively eliminate any substantial savings from the controversial “rain fee.” Smaller towns, like Mechanic Falls, said the burden on their taxpayers would be even higher.

Robbing cities to pay the jail is unnecessary when a solution like videoconferencing is more attainable. The state’s Corrections Alternatives Advisory Committee, in a February report, said the average cost of videoconferencing in Maine’s jails is $60,000 annually, while its widespread use could save taxpayers approximately $500,000 annually.

Funding for the technology, however, is the issue. Capt. John Lebel, administrator of the Androscoggin County Jail and a CAAC committee member, said videoconferencing hasn’t occurred here because state funding has been unavailable for the equipment. The jail, Lebel added, is also poorly designed to accommodate a videoconferencing facility.

Yet, Lebel admitted, videoconferencing is coming. And its widespread implementation – not just in courthouses, but in state and mental health agencies as well – would take pressure off jail transport. Lebel uses the example of ferrying inmates from the Maine State Prison in Warren for a local child custody hearing. Using video would save the jail a trip, and Androscoggin taxpayers money.

Some savings would come from local courts, although reduced transportation costs would be offset by additional security in the jail during videoconferences, according to Lebel, who added there would be unquantifiable security savings as well, as video would decrease the time inmates spend outside the jail.

And Lewiston’s courts have been a trailblazer in videoconferencing, earning praise for its use of technology for mental health hearings between the courthouse and St. Mary’s Hospital. Experts on legal videoconferencing point to Lewiston as the “beta test” for other communities and court systems.

The evidence for videoconferencing is clear. As the cost of prisoner transport is debated in Androscoggin County, officials should consider finding efficiencies through technology, not doing more with less.