Reject Penobscot County jail question

To the Editor;

Our jail system in Penobscot County costs taxpayers millions but does not seem to make us safer. And now county commissioners want to build a new jail outside Bangor. A question will be on the Nov. 3 ballot just for Penobscot County asking to move the jail location out of Bangor. This will raise taxes even higher. It seems commissioners only know how to spend our tax dollars, not how to save them. It’s time to say “No!”

I don’t believe we need a new jail. We can renovate the one we have for much, much less. We can use diversion and not arrest so many, so that people who need mental health or substance use programs can get the treatment they need, which they often can’t get if they’re locked up.

I urge you to vote a loud “no” to this question on the ballot: “Do you favor authorizing the Penobscot County Commissioners, as required under Title 30‑A, §122, to relocate the county correctional facility and any related buildings to a site outside of the county seat?”  

Larry Dansinger

Bangor