More than a half million dollars in federal stimulus funds has been awarded to fund a study aimed at creating a pre-trial risk assessment program for the Two Bridges Regional Jail.
Mark Westrum, the jail administrator, said the funds were awarded to the jail in partnership with the Volunteers of America and the Edmund Muskie School for Public Service at University of Southern Maine to develop the program.
“We need a tool to help us know which pre-trial prisoners should be released,” Westrum said.
Current Two Bridges population figures show the regional jail has 150 inmates while 71 await trial, Westrum said.
The study’s goal is to craft a program to identify pre-trial prisoners who are more likely to be a danger to the community and are less likely to appear in court.
The program to be developed should allow jail and court officials to release more pre-trial prisoners and lower the numbers of jail inmates.
It should help the district attorney and judges expedite their release processes, reduce tax dollars, lower the risk of recidivism and help jail officials maintain control of jail populations, Westrum said.
This project will seek to shape the pre-trial release system that maintains the integrity of the law enforcement process and recognize the inmate who has been accused, but not convicted.
The grant will permit the Volunteers of America to hire three case managers to help implement the program while the Muskie School will hire additional staff to develop it, he said.
