LEWISTON — The chairman of Maine’s Board of Corrections plans to make one final plea to talk with Gov. Paul LePage about the immediate and long-term effects of tearing down the network connecting the state’s 15 county jails. About half of Maine jails — including the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn — could begin running […]
Androscoggin County Jail
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Sheriffs aim to keep inmates from collecting unemployment
AUBURN — Serving jail time for a drunken-driving arrest or sitting in a cell awaiting trial for drug-dealing, robbery or murder ought to prevent you from receiving unemployment benefits. That was what Androscoggin County Sheriff Guy Desjardins figured when he saw a newspaper story about a Georgetown man, Joshua Harwood, who was sentenced to two […]
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Androscoggin County copes with just-discovered shortfall
AUBURN — Androscoggin County commissioners met Wednesday — only six days before the county jail’s budget year ends — to figure out how to pay a just-discovered $70,000 shortfall. “Every bill has been paid, with the exception of one bill that somehow slipped through,” County Treasurer Robert Poulin said. The bill, a $70,519 payment on […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
County Jails checking new inmates’ EBT cards
AUBURN — Getting arrested in a growing number of Maine counties, including Androscoggin and Oxford, now includes a check of EBT cards. Since last fall, the jails have discovered dozens of the Electronic Benefit Transfer cards in the possession of arrestees but issued to someone else. The state uses the cards to disburse welfare money, […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
After decades in charge at Androscoggin County Jail, John Lebel plans retirement
AUBURN — On his first night as a uniformed corrections officer, bosses asked John Lebel to explore a dingy nook of the old Androscoggin County Jail with his bare hand. It was a known hiding place for contraband. And Lebel, then a tall, lanky 26-year-old, could reach farther and deeper than the other guards. “I […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Oxford Hills, River Valley
Oxford County feeling jail space crunch
PARIS — Oxford County inmates are again being housed at jails more than an hour away from the county jail in Paris, despite a multi-county agreement to keep inmates closer to home. A decrease in the number of available beds for inmates for Oxford County is partially due to an influx of prisoners whose jail sentences […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
More cuts at Auburn jail would endanger officer and inmates, commissioners say
AUBURN — Androscoggin County commissioners have given up looking for immediate savings inside the county jail, saying any more cuts would violate law or endanger the safety of inmates and corrections officers. “We’re basically going to throw ourselves to the governor and say, ‘Look, what do we do?’” Chairman Randall Greenwood said. “We got through […]
Posted inMaine
Budget squeeze may force layoffs at jails across Maine
AUGUSTA — The State Board of Corrections told the operators of Maine’s 15 county jails Tuesday to get by this budget season with a zero increase, potentially forcing layoffs and even closures at several jails. The board voted 3-2 to approve an $80.3 million budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014. It’s about […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Task force seeks compromise on Maine’s jail system
LEWISTON — A legislative task force created to repair Maine’s foundering network of 15 county jails is nearing a compromise that would boost the system’s authority to place inmates wherever there are empty beds. The compromise could force Somerset County to open its jail to inmates from the Franklin County jail in Farmington, which has […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Franklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills, River Valley, The Franklin Journal
State group aims for fix of county jail system
LEWISTON — An effort to examine Maine’s foundering jail network — and find a fix — now rests with a 15-member group of appointees who will meet next week with the public. On Oct. 4, the Commission to Study Board of Corrections is scheduled to host a public hearing in Augusta. Meanwhile, appointees are gathering […]