Visiting Maine’s prisons has been an eye opening experience for me, personally and professionally. I think more of my legislative colleagues should visit, too, and here’s why.

As an elected official who votes on policy about many aspects of our lives and our state, I see it as my responsibility to understand the issues that I vote on from many different perspectives. I serve on the legislative committee that oversees jails and prisons across Maine, the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, which means that I should know what these places look like and how they are running. It is not easy to see the inner workings of a prison. By their nature, they are not designed to get in and out of easily. But being a legislator opens many doors; I have visited almost all of Maine’s prisons and some of our county jails.

Included in our state government’s policy decisions are judgments about how to allocate tax dollars. This year, the Department of Corrections requested a $40 million increase over its previous budget. For context, the entire DOC budget is about $240 million annually. This is just the state’s share of this system — there are also county jails to fund and the cost to communities, both financial and social, when acts of violence are committed.

Simultaneously, Mainers’ access to mental health services and treatment for substance use disorders is in crisis. According to the DOC, nearly 80% of the men incarcerated at the Maine State Prison in Warren are there for offenses related to drugs. At the Maine State Prison, residents have access to psychiatric and mental health professionals. Imagine what our communities would look like if these resources were available to folks before they committed whatever offenses landed them in prison. We couldn’t save everyone, but more community-based services would mean fewer victims of crime and fewer people serving time.

Maine offers treatment and programming to incarcerated people to help alleviate trauma, substance use disorders or to rehabilitate individuals while they’re in custody. Once folks are successfully treated, however, we continue to keep them incarcerated at great emotional cost to themselves and their families – and at great economic costs to everyone – because Maine is one of just 16 states that does not have parole.

Legislators agree that people who commit acts of harm require and deserve treatment, but we don’t seem to agree that these treatment options work. If we all thought the treatments worked, we might have passed the parole bill in the last legislative session to provide incarcerated folks a way to complete their sentences in the community. Parole is not a progressive policy idea; many conservative states offer parole.

Prisons need oversight. Policy makers need to go into the prisons to see what is going on behind their high walls and fences. We need to understand that when we spend millions of dollars within prisons, we’re left with less money to build safer communities and keep folks from ever entering prisons.

I urge my colleagues in the legislature to go see Maine’s prisons – and not for a scripted tour. Go during visiting hours and talk with the families and loved ones of the men, women and children who are incarcerated. Go meet with incarcerated folks and talk to them about their experiences in the prisons, and their experiences prior to their arrivals. Ask them about their access to defense attorneys. Go meet with the medical and psychiatric providers within the DOC. Go see what is invisible to people in halls of power. Many colleagues have already gone, including current and former members of my committee. I hope these colleagues and the Governor will go again and more colleagues will go in the future.

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