Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset is turning away a handful of inmates from the York County Jail over concerns about the facility’s recent coronavirus outbreak.
Col. James Bailey, the jail’s correctional administrator, told the Lincoln and Sagadahoc Multi-County Jail Authority last week that he’d received a request from York County Jail to board five or six female inmates who previously tested negative for COVID-19, The Times Record reported.
So far, the disease has infected at least 48 inmates and 18 other people who work in the building that houses the York County Jail in Alfred.
Two Bridges has a contract with Oxford County to board inmates until the end of December and regularly accepts more from other counties for $65 per day. Bailey said he expects to have new inmate boarders from Penobscot County soon, according to the Brunswick newspaper.
The jail — which previously hadn’t turned away any inmates — decided not to board ones from York County, Bailey said, adding that it would have been difficult to quarantine them, given the number of newly arrived inmates from Sagadahoc and Lincoln counties.
“We’re dealing with a very unique population where you can’t just say we’re going to let you go,” he said. “We have a duty to hold them there so yeah, it’s very scary.”
The surge in cases stem from an Aug. 7 wedding in the Millinocket area, which one York County Jail employee attended.
The outbreak has since spread to some of the facility employees’ family and household members, as well.