AUBURN – It’s the first jail in Maine to dispense both justice and cash.
The Androscoggin County Jail has installed an automated teller machine inside its lobby. Now, prisoners armed with debit or credit cards can bail themselves out, sometimes within an hour of their arrest.
Between 60 and 70 people each month use the ATM machine, jail officials said. About 90 percent of them are people who are drawing money for bail. The rest are staffers from the jail and the adjacent county courthouse.
“We have drawn a line,” joked Capt. John Lebel, the jail administrator. “We’re not going to put a sign outside that says ‘ATM available.'”
The machine was an idea Lebel came up with about two years ago. He knew some people were spending nights in the jail only because they could not access their money. Meanwhile, the jail was crowded.
So he called several local banks, asking if they would consider bringing in a cash machine.
“We didn’t get any interest,” Lebel said. “I kind of let it die.”
Then Elmer Berry, a county commissioner, brought the idea up late last year. He called Mechanics Saving Bank. Its officers liked the idea.
They already were hoping to install another machine in the city.
“We got to help out their clients,” said Pat Kosalka, Mechanics Savings’ security officer. The Auburn-based bank brought in the machine, one of their mini cash dispensers, about three months ago.
There is no cost to the county.
Neither the county nor the bank has heard of another jail with an ATM inside. Now officials at the Cumberland County Jail are considering getting one, too.
There are other jail-bound ATMs. According to bank Web sites, they exist in Los Angeles; Flint, Mich.; and Portland, Ore. There may be many more.
The biggest benefit is to people who are incarcerated on nonviolent offenses for which a relatively small bail is assessed.
For instance, someone arrested for driving without a license might be assessed a $50 bail. When added to a bail commissioner’s $40 fee, that’s $90 total to come up with, more cash than most people carry.
“Most of them have plastic, though,” Lebel said.
To access the ATM, a prisoner is hand-cuffed, shackled and escorted into the lobby under guard. The little gray box sits within view of a guard who watches through a window.
A $1.50 fee is assessed each time.
“The prisoners don’t mind that a bit,” Lebel said.
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