The Cumberland County Jail began accepting new inmates again on Thursday.
That comes weeks after county commissioners declared the first ever emergency at the Portland jail amid a COVID-19 outbreak that infected 13 staff and four inmates.
Sheriff Kevin Joyce said Friday that the emergency declaration allowed the jail to cope with the outbreak and a staff shortage. In late September, when Joyce asked commissioners to declare the emergency, the jail had 67 openings for corrections officers. That’s since fallen to 64.
During the state of emergency, inmates were kept in lockdown for all but an hour a day, and all new inmates were diverted to Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset or the York County Jail in Alfred.
That emergency declaration was rescinded Friday morning, Joyce said.
Currently, two inmates at the jail are in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, according to the sheriff. They are scheduled to be released from quarantine Tuesday.