What November’s vote means for the future of the Penobscot County Jail
By Kasey Turman, Bangor Daily News Staff
Penobscot County voters will decide this November if the county jail can move out of Bangor.
If passed, the ballot question would allow the Penobscot County Jail and its accompanying services to move out of Bangor. It does not specify where the jail would be moved, but county officials have paid to hold a location in a Hampden industrial park.
“[This vote] gives us the breathing room to look around and say, ‘OK, what’s the next best step?’” Penobscot County Commissioner Chair David Marshall said.
The ballot question is the first step in which voters have a voice in a complicated process to build a new jail. Here’s what we know — and don’t know — about what voting “yes” or “no” on the ballot question means for the jail and Penobscot County residents.
What are Penobscot County residents voting on?
Penobscot County residents will see this question on their 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?”
The ballot measure will decide if the Penobscot County Commissioners are authorized to relocate the Penobscot County Jail, and related buildings, outside of Bangor. The vote and its approval is required by state law before a new jail can be built outside the county seat, where the jail has been operating for more than 150 years.
A “Yes” vote would allow the commissioners to relocate the facility to any town in Penobscot County. A “No” vote would not.
County officials have said the related buildings are for jail operations and do not include the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office.
The question does not say where the jail will be built or how much it will cost. Commissioners are paying to hold a lot in a Hampden industrial park, but the question does not limit them to just that space.
“What we’ve looked at the last three years has been disappointing for a host of reasons. And then we looked across [to Hampden], we saw this, and my goodness, this is just perfect,” Marshall said.
Penobscot County residents will not be voting on any funding for a new jail in this year’s election.
Why does this vote matter?
Voter approval to relocate the jail would allow county commissioners to move forward with building a new facility outside of Bangor. Commissioners are working toward plans to build a new facility in Hampden but need voter approval before issuing requests for proposals for engineering and construction.
If it were voted down, commissioners would have to create and propose a new plan or present the same ballot question at a later election.
The last time a jail proposal was met with voter disapproval was in 2019. The criticism forced commissioners to create new plans.
Why does the county want to build a new jail?
The Penobscot County Jail has been operating in its current location for more than 150 years.
Penobscot County Sheriff Troy Morton has often described the facility’s cracking foundation, leaking plumbing and aging boilers as costly defects that drive up maintenance expenses. Upgrades and renovations were made since the facility opened in 1869, with the most recent being in 1988, but the jail still has aging infrastructure.
Others, including Marshall and Hampden Town Council Chair Matt LaChance, have said the aging facility makes correctional officers less safe at work and doesn’t allow inmates to receive needed medical services.
“The building has deteriorated. It was built 23 years before electricity came to Bangor, and the infrastructure is just falling apart, and it costs more to try and repair it every year. We’re looking at a building that is unsuitable,” Marshall said.
These costs, coupled with the expense of boarding out inmates when the jail is at capacity, have cost taxpayers millions of dollars. The county spent more than $2 million to board out more than 60 inmates in 2024. The current facility holds 157 inmates.
County commissioners and officials have said Penobscot County Jail’s expenses, which have been underfunded by the state, caused the county’s multimillion-dollar financial crisis. A new facility has been presented as a way to save, and potentially earn, county funds.
County and local officials have said building a new facility would eliminate boarding and maintenance costs because it would have more beds and updated technology, saving county taxpayers money.
“It’s like there’s a hole in the bathtub. County tax dollars are washing right out the bottom of it, We’ve got to put a plug in it,” LaChance, who supports a new jail, said.
The No Penobscot County Jail Expansion group has said a jail with more beds is not needed, and county officials should fund diversion programs instead of a new facility. Building a new jail would not incentivize police or county officials to divert inmates, the group’s members have said.
What does this vote mean for Bangor?
If approved, the Penobscot County Jail could be relocated outside of Bangor, but it would not happen immediately. County officials have said it would take approximately three years to build a new facility and begin operating. The existing jail would still be used during that time.
Once a new jail is built and operational, county commissioners would be able to decide how to use the current jail facility. Commissioners and county officials have discussed how the building could be used, but nothing has been decided, Marshall said.
“Once we get a new facility, those are decisions that are down the road. I have my idea of what I’d like to do, but this is a little bit too early to speak about that,” Marshall said.
What does this vote mean for Hampden?
While Hampden is not specified as the new location on the ballot, it’s the only town that county commissioners have publicly shown interest in for building a new jail. A site has not been purchased and a jail design has not been decided.
Hampden residents would see changes if a facility was built in their community, LaChance said. Building the jail in the town would create more calls for police, fire and emergency services to the facility, meaning Hampden would have to add employees to provide the same level of services to its residents, LaChance said.
“The fear is overextending the capabilities or the capacity of our current staffing levels, which might require adding more personnel to the police and fire department through either paramedics or police officers, so then all of that could compound into a bigger cost to the Hamden taxpayers, specifically without any type of gain because the jail wouldn’t be contributing to the tax pool,” LaChance said.
LaChance, who is part of a group of local leaders who have helped the county’s jail efforts, said the proposed Hampden location is a good choice “geographically speaking” but does raise questions for residents, and not all of them have been answered.
To offset the potential tax hike, Hampden Councilors asked county officials for a tax break to offset costs for additional staff. Hampden councilors have not heard a response from the county, LaChance said.
Other concerns some residents have had, including a reduction in property values or an uptick in crime, are not supported by analytics from other communities, LaChance said.
There may be other options to lessen the burden on Hampden taxpayers, including changing town lines to place the proposed plot in Bangor or creating a mutual-aid agreement, but nothing has been decided yet, LaChance said.
What would happen next?
If the relocation passes this year, another vote would be held to approve funding for the new facility in 2027. The vote would likely happen in the November election, Marshall said.
Before residents vote on the proposed funding, the county will share information about the proposed costs, building design and location, Marshall said.
“By that time, trust me, everybody’s going to know exactly what we’re offering, why we’re offering it, what impact it’s going to have, what it’s going to cost, what savings they can expect to see. We’re going to be very, very transparent about that,” Marshall said.
Because a design and bid have not been selected, details for funding haven’t been finalized. Marshall said discussions have focused on a 35-year bond for a modular design. Recent cost estimates for a 258-bed facility were between $72.7 million and $84.5 million, but it’s unclear what the yearly cost would be for bond payments.
It’s unclear what next steps county officials would take if voters deny the relocation.
When asked what would happen if it’s denied, Marshall said; “I have no answer to that. It’s just like if you asked me ‘After you die, what do you think you’re going to do?’ I have no clue.”
Marshall said he expects the vote to pass.
The last time residents disapproved of a proposed Penobscot County Jail in 2019, commissioners were forced to find a new design and location. This November’s vote is the first proposal since 2019.