The Maine Department of Corrections has accepted a plan by administrators of the Piscataquis County Jail in Dover Foxcroft to address health and safety deficiencies uncovered during a recent inspection.
One of the biggest issues was around medication management.
Auditors found inaccurate pill counts and mishandling of controlled medication. In one instance a prescription for one prisoner was given to three others. They also cited incomplete medical records.
As a result, the jail's operations were restricted earlier this week with no new intakes permitted and boarders from other jails transferred back to their original facilities.
The sheriff and jail administrator had been given a deadline of 3 p.m. Friday to come up with a plan of corrective action or risk having their operating license revoked.
In an email late Friday, Corrections Commissioner Randall Liberty said that the jail met the deadline and can now accept new arrestees but not new boarders from other jails.
Piscataquis County Sheriff Robert Young said in an email that the corrective action plan includes hiring a new, full-time certified medical assistant and a part-time medications manager to assist the jail administrator.
Young also said that he disputed a finding by jail auditors who flagged a gastrointestinal event that sickened eight prisoners in Aug. 2024. The inspection report indicated that the jail did not follow proper protocols for quarantine and a report to the Department of Health and Human Services. But Young said a jail doctor did come in and treat the prisoners, food was tested by a DHHS lab and the source of the illness was quickly identified as food poisoning from a chicken patty which he said did not require quarantine.
To address record keeping issues, Young said a compliance officer from the Washington County Jail is being brought in next week to help the jail set up a digital system and bring everything up to date in the next 30 days.
