Page 17 - 2021 Annual Report

Major Timothy Kortes

The mission of the Cumberland County Jail is to provide a healthy, safe, secure
and humane environment for all inmates whether they have been accused or
convicted of crimes. The Cumberland County Jail is the largest in the state of Maine.
Approximately 3,239 arrestees were processed in 2021. Our average daily population
was 305 inmates per day. Between midyear 2020 and spring 2021 the total number of
people incarcerated decreased only 2% across the United States.

The current pandemic has been challenging for the 2nd year at the Cumberland County
Jail. The proactive safeguards are still maintained at the Jail to protect and limit the
exposure to staff and offenders. We remain vigilant in improving our efforts daily
with updated guidance from the CDC and other venues. In addition, Sheriff Joyce
was instrumental in the acquisition of COVID vaccinations that were used on-site
to provide another layer of protection, for both staff and offenders. We currently still
maintain a Quarantine housing unit for new admissions to properly medically clear
offenders to be housed in the general population. We did have several outbreaks at the
Jail with the COVID variant (Omicron) that have affected our offender population and
employees which have caused operational/staffing challenges.

Captain Don Goulet still maintains oversight during the pandemic and currently oversees procedures in place to conduct proper
follow-up on incidents and open communication with all stakeholders. This ensures all aspects are fulfilled i.e. universal testing,
contact tracing and status updates with the CDC. Captain John Costello continues to coordinate with staff and vendors to
maintain a high level of cleaning and decontamination efforts which include in-house refurbish upkeep projects that are ongoing
to maintain facility operations. The Jail access and lobby operations are still limited to staff only as well as approved vendors to
provide essential functions that are vetted through a COVID screening process. The Jail has in place a Covid screening kiosk that
adds another safeguard layer and also provides a tracking system. Based on the current pandemic situation, re-opening stages are
being explored.

Operationally, we continue to utilize creative solutions in regards to virtual communication for judicial proceedings and limiting
offender outside exposure. The offender tablet program is in its 2nd year since implementation. This allows offenders to maintain
communication with family and friends through real-time e-messaging, including pictures and videos during the pandemic. In
addition, video virtual visitation is being explored to provide an alternative to in-person visits until we can safely re-open this
venue at the Jail. During the winter holiday season, we did accommodate limited in-person non-contact visits.

In regards to accreditation, the Jail successfully passed a PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) audit in July 2021. We continue
to maintain our PREA compliance by re-evaluating and implementing best practices from the field. The Cumberland County
Sheriff’s Office has always had a zero-tolerance policy for sexual abuse and sexual harassment. Offender programming for this
past year has been limited for outside involvement and virtual communication has been implemented for a temporary substitution.
The facility is preparing for its upcoming ACA re-accreditation this coming Fall of 2022. In addition, several personnel
adjustments have been made to improve the overall daily operations i.e. an Inner Perimeter Security and Operations component
in line with national best practices in the Corrections field.

The CCC (Community Corrections Center) Pre-release is still temporarily closed and the work release program was suspended,
due to offender COVID exposure concerns in the community. All in-person offender education has been suspended this past year
and hopefully will restart this coming year with our in-house Education Technician staff to include a virtual collaboration with
outside resources.

The MAT (Medically Assisted Treatment) Coordinator, Chelsea Valentine was hired to oversee the program within the facility in
response to the current opiate crisis. She has continued to make great strides with offender engagement and treatment in a short
time. In addition, we currently have a Re-Entry Specialist Lexie Bernier. She works with offenders to transition back into society
and also provides outside resources upon their release.

Currently, we are in the planning stages of reopening the Jail for outside volunteers and visitors which is being coordinated
by Lieutenant Jason Wilmot, who was recently assigned to this project roll out. Another Re-Entry specialist position has been
secured through grant funding for the next three years to provide offender assistance in the successful transition into society. All
community outreach programs were suspended for 2021, but we hope to restart in stages during the year 2022. The Jail is twenty-
eight years old and we continue to address the replacement of equipment and updating areas of Capital Projects.