Stan Moody

POB 240
Manchester, ME 04351
207/626-0594
www.stanmoody.com

December 13, 2010

Maine Department of Corrections a black hole

Would you hire a prison guard to manage the third-highest budget item in the
state of Maine? Do I hear a “Yes” anywhere? As affable and “aw-shucks” a guy as
is Commissioner Martin Magnusson, and as distinguished as his career has been,
his department was identified by a recent Heritage Foundation report as having
grown 33 percent over the past nine years of fiscal austerity.
With six prison facilities and 15 county jails under his jurisdiction, he presides
over a state and county corrections budget of over $300 million a year.
If you ask Magnusson what is the annual incarceration cost per prisoner, he will
give you the party line - $36,000. In your 1980s dreams! It is closer to $50,000 and
maybe even higher.
Indeed, the cost of running Maine State Prison alone and apart from corporate
services is $75,000 per prisoner per biennium. Add the pro rata share of
administration and medical services of $12.5 million for 1,000 prisoners, and you
are right at $87,500 per biennium, or $43,750 per year. That may not include other
obscured costs such as bond debt service and facility depreciation, or it well may,
depending on who you ask.
What is even more astounding is that while this has been happening, the index
crime rate for Maine has plummeted by 40 percent in the past 25 years, and the
prison population has more than tripled.
Index crimes are the eight serious and dangerous crimes: murder, rape, robbery,
aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson.
If those crimes have declined by 40 percent in Maine in 25 years, why has the
prison population nearly tripled? At the top of the list of reasons are drug
trafficking and possession, OUI offenses and housing the mentally ill.

1
 The cost then for a 4-year sentence for non-index crimes in Maine exceeds
$200,000, approaching that of brain surgery. It seems that you could employ a
whole team of substance abuse counselors for less.
The biggest factor in the exploding prison population in the face of a declining
crime rate, however, is political. To put it simply, public opinion-sensitive
legislators from top to bottom are riding back into office by convincing a gullible
public that they are keeping them safe – at more than $1,000 per Maine family per
year.
The year 1980, with its law-and-order agenda, seems to have been the turning
point in “keeping America safe” but broke. The public, apparently, prefers
confiscation by taxation to the odds against burglary and robbery or the cost of a
good alarm system.
In short, corrections has become a growth industry rivaling such essentials as
education and human services. Since 1980, California, the bellwether state, has
seen its corrections budget increase roughly 500 percent and its education spending
decline by 25 percent. Maine’s track record is not quite there – yet.
While satisfying the law-and-order appetite in Maine through an increase of 33
percent in corrections and a whopping 56 percent in public safety over the past
nine years, economic development expenditures have declined by 41 percent, labor
support by 31 percent and agricultural resources spending by 26 percent.
In other words, while the Department of Corrections has been feathering its job
security nest, job creation is on the back burner. One wonders if the reader is
feeling especially safe and secure in all but the illusive American Dream.
I wish Commissioner Magnusson the best as he sails into official retirement with
the outgoing Baldacci administration – soon enough, we hope, to stop the financial
bleeding. On the other hand, the Heritage Foundation report ought to be a wake-up
call for incoming Gov.-elect Paul LePage to scrap any ideas of appointing a local
political patron to the job.
The task at hand is a simple one that precedes any thought of building a private
prison in Milo. It is to clean up the mess we have made of our 21 prisons, restore
staff morale, get rid of the “double dipper” retirees in management, reduce
recidivism by as much as 80 percent through a community-based re-entry program
and insist on a more aggressive use of deferred disposition on non-index crimes.

Rev. Stan Moody, Ph.D., of Manchester, is a former state representative and most
recently a chaplain at Maine State Prison in Warren. He advocates for
transparency and accountability in Maine’s prison system. A prolific and
published writer, Dr. Moody is pastor of the Meeting House Church in Manchester
and has been a speaker on human rights issues at conferences around the nation.

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END

Maine Department of Corrections a Black Hole

Stan Moody of Manchester, ME, former Maine State Representative and most recently a Chaplain at
Maine State Prison in Warren, is advocating for transparency and accountability in Maine’s prison
system…A prolific and published writer, Dr. Moody is pastor of the Meeting House Church in
Manchester and has been a speaker on human rights issues at conferences around the nation…

December 10, 2010

Would you hire a prison guard to manage the 3rd highest budget item in the State of
Maine? Do I hear a “Yes” anywhere? As affable and “aw-shucks” a guy as is Commissioner
Magnusson, and as distinguished as his career may have been (and it has been), his department
was identified by a recent Heritage Foundation report as having grown 33% over the past 9
years.1 With 6 prison facilities and 15 county jails under his jurisdiction, he presides over a
budget between $300M and $400M a year.
If you ask Commissioner Magnusson what is the annual incarceration cost per prisoner,
he will give you the party line - $35,000 - $40,000. In your 1980’s dreams! Doing the math and
factoring out the $17M in probation services will show a per prisoner cost of around $80,000 for
Maine’s 4,000 incarcerated citizens, reported by some as the highest in the nation.2 The easiest
way to estimate this burgeoning figure is to divide the $75M cost of running Maine State Prison
by its 1,000 guests - $75,000 per prisoner.
What is even more astounding is that while this has been happening, the index crime rate
for the State of Maine has plummeted 40% in the past 25 years3, and the prison population has
more than tripled.
Index crimes are the 8 serious and dangerous crimes - murder, rape, robbery, aggravated
assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson. If those crimes have declined by 40%
in Maine in 25 years, why has the prison population nearly tripled? At the top of the list of
reasons are drug trafficking and possession, OUI offenses and housing the mentally ill. The cost,
then, for a 4-year sentence for non-index crimes in Maine exceeds $300,000, approaching that of
brain surgery. It seems that you could employ a whole team of substance abuse counselors for
less.
The biggest factor in the exploding prison population in the face of a declining crime rate,
however, is political. To put it simply, public-opinion sensitive legislators from top to bottom
are riding back into office by convincing a gullible public that they are keeping them safe – at
more than $1,000 per Maine family per year, and climbing. The year 1980, with its law-and-
order agenda, seems to have been the turning point in “keeping America safe” but broke. The
1
http://www.mainepolicy.org/2010/12/the-fastest-growing-general-fund-programs-in-maine-government/ , p. 1.
2
http://portland.thephoenix.com/news/54542-loud-business-drumbeat/?page=2#TOPCONTENT
3
http://www.easybackgroundchecks.com/me-maine-background-check.htm

3
public, apparently, prefers confiscation by taxation to the odds against burglary and robbery or
the cost of a good alarm system.
In short, Corrections has become a growth industry rivaling such essentials as education
and human services. Since 1980, California, the bellwether state, has seen its corrections budget
increase roughly 500% and its education spending decline by 25%.4 Maine’s track record is not
quite there – yet.
While satisfying the law and order appetite in Maine through an increase of 33% in
Corrections and a whopping 56% in public safety over the past 9 years5, economic development
expenditures have declined by 41%, labor support by 31% and agricultural resources spending
by 26%. In other words, while the Department of Corrections has been feathering its job security
nest, job creation is on the back burner. One wonders if the reader is feeling especially safe and
secure in all but the illusive American Dream.
We wish the esteemed Commissioner Magnusson the best as he sails into official
retirement with the outgoing Baldacci administration – soon enough, we hope, to stop the
financial bleeding. On the other hand, the Heritage Foundation report ought to be a wake-call for
incoming Governor-elect LePage to scrap any ideas of appointing a local political patron to the
job.
The task at hand is a simple one that precedes any thought of building private prisons in
Milo. It is to clean up the mess we have made of clusterizing our 21 prisons, restore staff
morale, get rid of the “double dipper” retirees in management, reduce recidivism by as much as
80% through a community-based re-entry program and insist on a more aggressive use of
deferred disposition on non-index crimes.
Anyone for a retirement cell in Warren?

4
Stephen Hartnett, http://www.zoklet.net/totse/en/politics/police/167421.html , p. 3.
5
Maine Policy, p. 5.