Corrections Corporation of America

* Paul LePage campaigns for governor.

* Corrections Corporation of America donates $25,000 to the LePage campaign.

* Paul LePage is elected governor.

* Governor LePage appoints former Corrections Corporation of America official Joseph Ponte as MDOC Commissioner (Joseph Ponte is still owns Corrections Corporation of America stock).

* Even though there is little demand for additional space, Governor LePage proposes to replace the Maine Correctional Center in Windham at a cost of $100 million.

Can anyone guess what’s coming next?

SJ Link

Can anyone guess what’s coming next? Privatization and high paying jobs for the Governor's buddies?

It's coming...but I don't know if Ponte can get it done before LePage is kicked out of office.

“It’s like he’s (Ponte) had this all planned,” Desjardins said. "Maybe he was waiting for the jails to fail so the state could begin its takeover", the sheriff said.

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One step closer...

Joseph Ponte: Broken county jail system begs for standardization

"Neither the governor nor I want to dictate to the counties how they need to run." That is what I told Sun Journal reporter Dan Hartill on Feb. 13. Hartill was asking questions about a Feb. 11 letter I had delivered to members of the Legislature's Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety.

In that letter I made two broad points: First, the managing of county jails under the current authority of the Board of Corrections is a failed system. Second, the state corrections system is ready, willing and able to take a leadership role in managing the county jails.

But how to fix the county jail system — or whether to fix it at all — is ultimately a decision made by the Maine Legislature.

My letter has been typecast as, in the words of one headline, a "call for state takeover of county jails." That's disappointing inasmuch as it draws attention away from the real issue: the very serious challenges facing county jails. I wrote in my same letter to the Criminal Justice Committee, "I don't think the state system is better than the county system ..."

The state of Maine is in a situation now where the county and state correctional systems are dependent on each other. In very simple terms, that means that four years of the current failed system under the Board of Corrections is having a negative impact on both systems. And Maine taxpayers are paying for this failure in real dollars.

During some of the most difficult budget years in state government, county jail spending has increased every year, on average, by 2.4 percent. The jail inmate populations during that time stayed relatively flat. The cost increases have been driven primarily by increases in salaries and benefits. The state will be required to fund these costs forever.

Maine Department of Corrections

As Gov. LePage wrote in his Feb. 20 letter to Maine's Senate President, Maine's Speaker of the House and members of the Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs, "In the Commission report there are four options that are laid out for your consideration."

Here are the commissions' recommendations:

1. Give the running of the county jails back to their respective counties;

2. Organize the county jails into four regions run by four regional authorities;

3. Have state government take over full operation of the county jails; and/or

4. Give the Board of Corrections more authority in certain categories.

The study commission vote on the recommendations was in favor of Option 4.

Gov. LePage goes on to say in his Feb. 20 letter to legislative leaders, "It is for you to determine which option should be adopted into law. Whichever option you choose will have to be one that provides adequate funding, authority and oversight to the jail system which is currently so very lacking. The only option ... unacceptable to me at this time is ... perpetuating the problem by leaving the severely flawed system unchanged. If these flaws are not resolved before you adjourn, then I fear that the normal functioning of the county jails will be in jeopardy during the near term."

We have a broken county jail system that begs for leadership and standardization. We have four options or ideas on the table for fixing the broken system. If an individual or group has other ideas for creating a healthy system — terrific. But, the option of "do nothing" is not acceptable.

As the governor says of the "do nothing" option in his letter, "The resulting impacts would be felt by not only the jails, the court system, district attorneys' offices and police agencies, but most importantly, it would be felt by the general public."

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Ponte recognizes he's on LePage's Titanic and is jumping ship before it's too late.

Maine corrections boss Ponte tapped to lead New York City jails

NEW YORK — Mayor Bill de Blasio has named the head of Maine's corrections department to head New York City's jails.

Joseph Ponte was presented as the new commissioner of the nation's second largest jails system at a City Hall press conference Tuesday.

SJ Link