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By ALAN CROWELL
Staff Writer Tuesday, July 3, 2007

"It is our job to change what got them there in the first place," Allen, 39, of Skowhegan, said Monday.

Allen spoke after watching commissioners Philip Roy, Robert Dunphy and Lynda Quinn break ground on the new $30 million structure using a three-handled golden shovel. Sheriff Barry DeLong and Ralph Nichols, of the Maine Department of Corrections, also wielded shovels.

Roy said the structure is $2.3 million under budget and called it the biggest construction project ever in the county.

He said he and the other two commissioners are working to bring accountability, respect and management to the county.

The commission "is here to move Somerset County into the 21st century," he said.

For the county jail, at least, the groundbreaking was an important milestone on a long journey.

With leaky plumbing, unreliable electronics and a long list of code violations and safety problems, the existing Court Street facility was built when horses and buggies ruled Skowhegan's roads and the jail held mostly a few petty criminals and Saturday night drunks.

While it has been renovated and expanded several times, most recently in 1984, it remains unsafe and outmoded, with no room for programs for substance abuse treatment or anger management.

Even with a state variance, the facility can only hold 55 inmates.

The county is often responsible for housing more than 90, with excess inmates boarded at other counties' facilities.

It also has no specialized facilities for mentally ill or for female inmates, who make up an increasing percentage of the population of both county and state corrections populations.

The new jail under construction just over the Skowhegan line in Madison will not only have more cells -- it will initially have bed space for 172 -- it will also reflect modern correctional thinking, with room for programs designed to help inmates stay out of jail once they are released.

Allen said anger management, substance abuse and mental health programs will be priorities. He said helping inmates further their education is also important.

Because the jail holds primarily short-term inmates, incarcerated for less than a year, long-term programs are not an option.

Allen said, however, that the jail can help prisoners begin moving in a positive direction and encourage them to continue that momentum when they leave.

"It is a push in the right direction," he said.

Allen is currently in charge of the special management unit at the state prison in Warren, which was formerly known at the "Supermax," where inmates are kept under the tightest possible security.

In his new role, however, Allen said that while he is a believer in tight security, he wants inmates to work in the community as much as possible.

"I really think it is good for the prisoner and the community," he said.

Allen, who officially begins work for the county next Monday, said that his first task will be to put together the policies and procedures that will largely govern the jail's day-to-day operations.

The new jail is designed around the direct supervision corrections model, which places corrections officers inside inmate living areas, or pods.

That model allows prisoners to earn a relatively high degree of freedom inside the jail, said Allen. But if inmates behave poorly, those freedoms can also be revoked.

"The inmate actually feels like part of the system," said Allen.

The first pod is expected to be completed before the rest of the facility to give the corrections officers time for training. Fairfield-based Sheridan Corp., which is building the jail, was constructing the walls of that first housing unit Monday.

Sheridan began work on the jail just days after their bid was approved by commissioners last month. The jail is scheduled to be complete in 16 months.

Once it is fully staffed, commissioners have said they hope to lower the cost of the facility to taxpayers by accepting boarding inmates from other counties as well as federal agencies and even the state.

If there is enough demand for beds, additional pods could be added, boosting capacity to well over 200.

Alan Crowell -- 474-9534, Ext. 342

acrowell@centralmaine.com

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