ALFRED — Women prisoners who have three years or less to serve on their sentences may be serving that time in Alfred beginning July 1, if they meet eligibility requirements.

York County government has entered into a five-year agreement with the Department of Corrections, which will lease a long-vacant building on the York County Jail grounds that has been known as the county’s pre-release center. The county will earn $70,000 annually from the lease.

The Women’s Reentry Center has been located in a wing of the Dorothea Dix center in Bangor since 2007. Department of Corrections Director of Special Projects Judy Plummer said the department ended the contract it had there with Volunteers of America, which managed the program, and the department itself  will be managing the Women’s Reentry Center.

Plummer said the move to Alfred makes sense.

“We thought southern Maine was a better idea because there are more work opportunities,” for women upon their release from prison, as compared to the Bangor area, Plummer said.

In making the move to Alfred, the number of women that can be served by the program is expected to double. Plummer said about 30 women are in the re-entry program in Bangor, and another 30, currently incarcerated at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, may be eligible. In all, up to 67 female prisoners may be housed at the Women’s Reentry Center, Plummer said, though the DOC initially expects fewer than the maximum.

To be considered eligible, the women must be classified as minimum or community security level, according to the DOC and have three years or less remaining to serve on their sentences. Disciplinary issues while incarcerated could make an inmate ineligible for the program.

The county’s pre-release center is a modular structure, made up of three units, that was once attached to the old York County Jail on Route 4, now the county’s government center. The modular units, at a total cost of about $1.3 million, were purchased following a February 2001 riot that, at least in part, was attributed to overcrowding at the old jail. The new jail was opened in 2004 on Layman Way off Route 4, and a year later, the modular units were moved to the same location, at an estimated cost of about $600,000, but the building never functioned as a pre-release center and had been virtually vacant for years.

Philip Cote, who was sheriff at the time, said during a 2006 interview that there were not enough inmates nearing the end of their sentences to be housed there, nor was there staffing for the center. Since that time, there have been various attempts to find a use for the building but none have been successful, until now.

Proponents of the reentry center say there are many upsides to the plan: Women who have been incarcerated will have an opportunity to take part in programs that assist in reintegrating them into society; the lease by the state puts the long-vacant building to use; and it is a new source of revenue to the county.

York County Sheriff Maurice Ouellette has been talking to state corrections officials about their leasing the building for some time.

“It’s a good thing,” said Ouellette of the lease.

County Manager Greg Zinser said the building is undergoing some repairs that became necessary because the building has been idle for so long. The original siding, constructed of wooden T-111, has rotted in places and is being replaced by metal siding. The repairs are funded by DOC.

DOC will be hiring a new director of women’s services to manage the female prison population within the DOC, both at the Women’s Reentry Center and Maine Correctional Center. The DOC is also advertising a number of positions, including corrections officers, a community programs coordinator, social workers, correctional trades instructors along with an office position.

Plummer said programs proven to work with female offender populations will be offered as well as work release opportunities for those with one year left to their release.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, Ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.