Institutional care is expensive. It costs a lot to heat, staff and maintain. You've got to feed everybody. All these things cost money. I think the public asks the corrections system for security first - bricks and mortar and guards.
Services are secondary.
I think the Department of Corrections would say Maine is better. We know Maine's prison population is smaller - 1,700. That's nothing if you look at Texas, California, New York. Seventy people who are concerned have joined an advisory committee. I have heard from the commissioner that my research is not Maine-based.