PISCATAQUIS OBSERVER - Half a year after Penobscot County passed a $35.4 million budget to address a years-long financial crisis, county spending is on track, county officials said. But it’s unclear how much money the county actually has or if it will stick to its 2026 budget.

The county is “right on target” with spending the $16 million it borrowed in February to operate until municipalities pay their county taxes, County Treasurer Glenn Mower said. Mower did not have figures of how much cash the county had on hand available when he was asked, but said county officials are “doing the best we can” with the funds they have.

Penobscot County Administrator Blair Tinkham did not provide a dollar amount when asked how much money the county has.

BANGOR DAILY NEWS - Penobscot County voters will decide this November if a new county jail can be built in Hampden.

Penobscot County Commissioners Dave Marshall, Andre Cushing and Dan Tremble on Wednesday approved adding the measure to the November ballot, pending a notification of the county’s budget committee.

Under state law, voters need to approve when a county facility is built outside of the county seat. The November vote will not determine if the jail will be funded.

MAINE MONITOR - The money from the settlements is intended to address the harms of the opioid epidemic through prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery initiatives. But it’s taken years for many recipients to get money out the door, if at all.

“The vast majority of people in this jail or any jail are ill in one way or another,” NPCJE member Doug Dunbar describes. “Many of them are also locked into deep poverty, they’re homeless, they get out of jail, they’re homeless, they’re still struggling with mental health issues, oftentimes a substance use disorder issue. And without help, they end up in a revolving door, going in and out, in and out.”

FOX 22 BANGOR - The general consensus among Penobscot County residents is that the jail is overcrowded.

Where opinions diverge is on the solution.

Most residents agree the current jail cannot continue operating as is. When it comes to a path forward, community leaders fall into two distinct camps.

Bangor Daily News highlights Doug Dunbar’s work with the group No Penobscot Jail Expansion and Penobscot County Cares and his advocacy for diversion programs as an alternative to incarceration.

WABI - While Penobscot County works on plans to relocate the jail from Bangor to Hampden, a local group has formed to offer an alternative.

Hoping to keep folks out of jail rather than expand the number of beds, local activists have created the Penobscot County Diversion and Problem-Solving Pilot Initiative.

A letter to the Bangor Daily News expresses support for the recent op-ed, “A new diversion program is a better solution than a bigger jail in Penobscot County.”

“A bigger jail won’t solve the real issues driving incarceration in Penobscot County and, as the authors note, is an outdated approach.”

BANGOR DAILY NEWS OPINION LETTER - Maine has a reputation for being a caring state, a fact many are proud of. But we believe our overburdened, outdated justice system is the state’s scarlet letter. We need to begin confronting these issues with care and understanding, not punishment. And now, we have a way to do it.

MAINE BEACON - Advocates are pushing back against an effort by Penobscot County to increase capacity of its Bangor-based jail, saying the expansion effort is misguided and urging the county to instead focus on reducing the number of people it incarcerates.

Penobscot County has put out a request for proposals for project management to expand the Penobscot County Jail. This expansion, as described in the RFP, would add 203 beds rather than the original 100 discussed in the media.

BANGOR DAILY NEWS - Penobscot County is asking architectural firms for proposals to add about 100 beds to its existing jail on Hammond Street in Bangor, marking the county’s latest attempt to ease overcrowding at the 161-year-old facility that regularly exceeds its licensed capacity of 157 inmates.