Governor Paul LePage took a step in the right direction this week by announcing his plan to commute the sentences of low-risk prisoners who are now idling in Maine’s prisons. Although the governor has yet to announce details about which prisoners’ sentences he will commute or how many, his decision acknowledges that Maine needlessly incarcerates too many people for too long.
If the governor really wants to cut the budget of the Department of Corrections to save Maine taxpayers’ money, he should take a few more of those steps: Advocate for reduced prison terms for non-violent crimes; champion treatment for people with substance use disorders rather than prison; and add vocational programs to the state’s prisons to help prisoners transition back to being productive members of society upon their release.
Maine’s state prison population has increased nearly 300 percent since 1980, while the overall state population has grown only 18 percent, according to the United States Census Bureau. Compared to other states, Maine has a relatively low crime rate and low incarceration rate, but it is still higher than even those of Iran and China as well as every nation in the European Union.
The timing of LePage’s announcement of his commutation plan, just days after of his administration revealed it intends to close the Downeast Correctional Facility in Machiasport (a plan that the administration is now walking back), has drawn criticism from legislators and union officials though LePage insists the two decisions are unconnected. Either way, commuting sentences of low-risk offenders still makes sense as long as it is done wisely.
LePage’s plan, however, lacks details. He said in his announcement that he wants to commute the prisoners’ sentences “to allow them to re-enter the workforce.” That is a good reason, but his plan as drafted now includes only strict probation terms for those released without any specific job placement program. Without assuring that the newly released people have workforce training and that there are employers willing to hire people with criminal convictions, those newly released may cycle back into the prison system all over again.
A more effective way to keep low-risk offenders in the workforce would be not locking them up in the first place. Even a day or more in jail could cause a person to lose his or her job, and makes it more likely that they will end up back in the criminal justice system. If LePage is serious about getting prisoners into the workforce, commuting the ends of these sentences is a good start but pushing to keep low-risk offenders out of prison from the beginning would be more effective.
