Prison Farm Faces Cuts In Maine
Maine DOC has proposed cutting the inmate population at the Bolduc Correctional Facility in Warren in half and cutting about 20 jobs, according to Unit Manager Ray Felt.
Felt said the proposed cuts threaten the very mission of the minimum security facility, which is to rehabilitate and train prisoners before transitioning them back into life outside the prison. He said he and the other employees at the Bolduc Correctional Facility are passionate about this mission. “We want to try to change behavior so they won’t come back,” he said of the prisoners. “A lot of these guys are going to be your neighbors” …
The Bolduc Correctional Facility provides prisoners with opportunities to work, learn job skills, take classes, and deal with emotional and substance abuse problems. The prison farm is minimum security and many of the prisoners are involved in work release programs. Prisoners work jobs and perform a great deal of community and public service. If the proposed state cuts are made, the prison farm will not be able to provide prison workers for community service programs …
Right now, the facility has about 63 employees and 180 prisoners. It has the capacity to handle up to 224 prisoners. If the cuts are implemented as planned, only about 90 prisoners will be left there. The state has proposed cutting 10 support staff positions and 10 security officer positions. The prison farm employs 27 corrections officers, six sergeants and one captain to provide security and keep it in operation 24 hours a day, seven days per week.
Felt said that if the cuts are made, some of the prisoners will be sent to county jails and the Maine State Prison, which he said will start double-bunking prisoners, putting more prisoners in each cell …
“When you think of prisons, everyone thinks about the negative,” Felt said. “We do a lot that’s positive.”
The article in the Warren Village Soup is full of good detail.
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