MACHIASPORT — The Maine Department of Corrections is considering closing the Down East Correctional Facility in Bucks Harbor.
Closing the prison could cost 68 people their jobs.
Corrections Commissioner Joseph Ponte says repairs to the Down East prison have been deferred for years. He says the facility “started at the bottom of the list, in the worst condition” and the state has never put any money into it.
Ponte says it would take at least $1 million to bring the 149-bed prison up to building- and electrical-safety codes.
The prison opened in 1985. It had been a U.S. Air Force radar facility.
Ponte tells the Bangor Daily News Bucks Harbor is the only prison currently proposed for closure. He says it would save the state $4 million a year.
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