AUGUSTA (AP) – Gov. John Baldacci will meet with a state legislator from Cutler and corrections officials to discuss the lawmaker’s proposal to build a new prison Down East in Washington County, a spokesman for the governor said Thursday.

“At this point the governor is looking at every option to ease the crowding,” Baldacci spokesman David Farmer said. No date for the meeting between Baldacci and Rep. Ian Emery had been set as of Thursday afternoon. State Sen. Kevin Raye, R-Perry, is also invited.

Maine’s prisons and correctional facilities were 245 inmates over capacity Thursday, according to corrections officials.

Interim steps are being taken to defuse what Commissioner Martin Magnusson has called a dangerous situation for inmates as well as corrections officers.

Some inmates have been sleeping on floors, and guards have been working double shifts because of conditions created by the crowding.

Some inmates are being housed in county jails. A six-member committee created by the Legislature is meeting until mid-May with corrections officials to discuss other temporary solutions.

Emery, a Republican, said building a new prison in Washington County “makes perfect sense,” and said financing could be done in various ways. The state could build and own the prison, he said.

“But we believe it would be better to have the Washington County Development Authority raise the money to build the facility, and the state could lease it back,” Emery said.

He also said the prison could be staffed by state-employed prison guards or by a private company.

“Other states are using private prison companies to handle their overloads, with good success,” he said.

Maine has another prison in Washington County. The medium-minimum security Downeast Correctional Facility, located at the former Bucks Harbor Air Force Station in Machiasport, was established by the Legislature in September 1984.

In a report to a legislative committee last month, Magnusson listed several options to ease crowding including using a vacant dorm at the minimum-security Charleston Correctional Facility and putting more women offenders in transitional housing to provide additional space.

Baldacci was not taking a position on Emery’s idea before hearing more details, said Farmer.

“The question is whether it’s something doable, reasonable and is there money to do it,” Farmer said. “But we do have a serious situation with crowding and we’ll have to see exactly what he’s proposing.”