Bangor Eyes Its Legal Options as LePage Moves Ahead With Planned Psychiatric Facility

The Bangor City Council on Monday night will weigh its legal options for slowing or blocking construction of the psychiatric facility that Gov. Paul LePage intends to have built in the city, Council Chairman Joe Baldacci says.

Baldacci said Friday he is not necessarily opposed to having a fenced, 21-bed “step-down” forensic psychiatric facility on Hogan Road, but he thinks Bangor’s residents and community leaders should first get their questions answered. (A step-down facility’s inmates have court permission to leave the facility on occasion.)

“My issue is that this is going to be a privately run prison on Hogan Road that has had zero input from the community where it will be located,” Baldacci said. “Whether it’s called a step-down facility or not, this will have to be a secure facility to hold people involuntarily who in one way or another have been charged with criminal offenses, and most often they’re felony charges. Security, public safety, city resources and the impact on the city are all legitimate questions.”

Baldacci said City Manager Cathy Conlow reached out to Gov. Paul LePage to ask for a meeting with state officials about the planned facility and was told to look up the information online.

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