BY DAVID HENCH

MaineToday Media, Inc.

Corrections officials vowed Tuesday to work with legislators in developing an online database of Maine's prisoners.

The Department of Corrections had started developing the internet database, which is intended to be accessible to the public, to keep crime victims informed and to allow offenders' family members a way to send money to cover expenses like telephone charges, Associate Corrections Commissioner Denise Lord said.

But Rep. Stan Gerzofsky, D-Brunswick, co-chairman of the Legislature's Criminal Justice and Public Safety committee, was incensed that the project had been initiated without the committee's involvement.

"I don't think that this registry is necessary," he said. "I haven't heard a single thing that would lead me to believe it's for the good of the people or the system."

Gerzofsky said he was particularly concerned given some of the problems and litigation that have dogged the state's sex offender registry.

Lord apologized for not briefing the committee before the initiative became public, saying the department was trying to get an idea of how the site would function and had presented it to department staff and a group of victims.

"It is not ready to go into production," Lord told the committee. "We're certainly not ready to go live until the committee is ready to give us guidance."

Lord said the information that would be included on such a site would be information that is publicly accessible already, although getting at it is not as simple as searching an online database. Some 40 states already make online access to prisoner information available, and 23 of them provide information about people who are on probation, she said.

One major motivation behind the site is to make it easier for victims to know where the person who offended against them is housed and when they will be released.

Committee co-chairman Sen. William Diamond, D-Windham, said he wanted to make sure the development of the site and the content included on it are subjected to public hearings and committee workshops.

There are 8,000 people incarcerated in prisons and jails and another 2,000 on probation, he said.

"We all know that going to this next step, a Web site registry, that brings with it a whole new frontier," he said.

As if to underscore the point, later in the committee's meeting Attorney General Steve Rowe updated the committee on 20 lawsuits that have been filed by people who are to be listed on the state's sex offender registry who are challenging the requirement on constitutional grounds. Six people have sought temporary restraining orders to bar the state from enforcing the registry rules.

The committee is exploring ways to create a tiered system that would have the most serious offenders listed on the state registry, but not including offenders who are less of a risk to the public on the generally accessible Web site. The changes are in part a response to the killing of two registered sex offenders in 2006 who had been tracked through the internet by Stephen Marshall, who later killed himself.

The committee plans to study what other states have done in creating different levels of registration based on risk.