Speaking at the Tuesday, Sept. 15, meeting of the Lincoln County Commissioners, Sheriff Todd Brackett raised the possibility of a bail fund and additional bail commissioners as a means of reducing costs for the Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset.

The county currently only has two bail commissioners — one in Wiscasset and one in Boothbay Harbor — who respond to calls in those towns any time of the day or night.

Maine law provides for bail commissioners to set pre-conviction bail for a defendant in a criminal proceeding.  

Not all criminals are eligible for a bail commissioner in Maine, however; and a list of exceptions includes crimes such as murder, sexual assault and domestic violence.

Bail commissioners are appointed by the chief judge of the district court for a term not to exceed five years. Training is required and applicants are vetted and are paid $60 each time they are called to a police department. Police officers are not permitted to be bail commissioners.

Brackett cited his goal to increase the number of bail commissioners in the county and to meet with local police chiefs to explain the program. He indicated that there could be a “significant impact” on the costs of housing prisoners at Two Bridges if criminals who were arrested in Lincoln County could be booked and released at the local police department rather than “going to the jail overnight and then being bailed out in the morning.”

The sheriff also raised the question with the county commissioners about a small bail fund. The fund would provide smaller bail amounts for indigent people who remain in jail because they cannot make bail to be released. 

“Our sentenced jail population is only about 1/3 of our total jail population,” Brackett said. “If we spent $10,000 from a bail fund we might save $40,000 in jail expenses.” 

The current daily cost for each prisoner at Two Bridges is $100. Brackett also reminded the commissioners that the fund would be allocated to low-risk prisoners who would be in a supervised pretrial program.

For example, Brackett said, there were three people at Two Bridges last week who would have qualified for the small bail fund program, which would have released them on bail for less than $500, rather than the $100 per day they were costing the county jail authority.

As a result of his suggestions, the commissioners asked Brackett to revise his 2016 budget submission to include a bail fund.

“I’d hate to see an opportunity like this bypassed. It makes sense,” Commissioner Hamilton Meserve said.