News

ATM cuts down on jail overcrowding in Maine county

May 18, 2003

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AUBURN, Maine -- The Androscoggin County Jail is believed to be the first correctional facility in the state to have an ATM inside its walls, according to a report in the Boston Globe.

Inmates with debit or credit cards can get the cash they need to bail themselves out of jail. Captain John Lebel, the jail administrator, said the ATM is particularly useful for people arrested for nonviolent offenses such as driving without a license.

People charged with that offense are often assessed a $50 bail. When added to a bail commissioner's $40 fee, that's $90 to come up with -- more cash than many folks carry.

'Most of them have plastic, though,' Lebel said.

Lebel came up with the idea of a jail ATM about two years ago because many people were spending the night in jail simply because they could not access their money. The overnight inmates were contributing to a crowding problem, according to the Globe report.

He called several local banks about bringing in an ATM, but nobody was interested.

When Elmer Berry, an Androscoggin County commissioner, brought up the idea again late last year, Mechanics Saving Bank agreed to provide the machine.

The bank brought in a cash dispenser about three months ago. Since then, 60 to 70 people each month have been using the ATM; about 90 percent of them are inmates getting cash for bail, while the rest work at the jail and the adjacent county courthouse. Users pay a $1.50 surcharge.