By Christopher Cousins
Bangor Daily News, Maine
BANGOR, Maine — Legal filings continued Wednesday in the battle over Downeast Correctional Facility, with a claim by the plaintiffs that the LePage administration violated a judge’s order to reopen the facility by returning only five employees and eight inmates to the Machiasport prison.
The filing by labor unions and former workers at the prison also claims that “DCF is not operating safely and that the inmates are not being afforded adequate food or rehabilitational opportunities.”
Among the claims is that there is no nurse on duty, correctional officers are working individually with no backup support, a work release program has not been restarted and inmates “are eating cereal for breakfast and frozen food for dinner.”
The ongoing lawsuit to reopen the prison was bolstered earlier this month when the court ruled that Gov. Paul LePage’s closure of the prison violated state law and the Maine Constitution. But the order stopped short of mandating any employee or inmate counts, and LePage responded by returning five employees to the site.
Meanwhile, a legislative effort to fund the prison for another year at a cost of about $5.5 million is still under debate. On Wednesday, the House enacted the bill following a vote a day earlier that came within six votes of a veto-proof majority.
In the latest court filing, one of the employees who has returned to the prison, Daniel Ramsdell of Whiting, said that he returned to work March 22 and is the only overnight guard on duty.
“I do not feel safe being the only one on duty at night,” Ramsdell said, according to the filing. “Before the shutdown of the facility, there always was someone on duty to back me up if necessary.”
©2018 the Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine)