The Piscataquis County Jail has had its operations restricted by the Maine Department of Corrections after it failed to meet a number of key standards during an inspection last month.

The jail, in Dover-Foxcroft, must stop all new intakes, return all boarded inmates to their original facilities and create a plan of corrective action. That plan is due by the end of the week and must outline actions the sheriff and jail administrator will take to come into compliance.

“We are lacking in some areas, enough to cause the DOC Commissioner to restrict our operations,” Piscataquis County Sheriff Robert Young wrote in an email Tuesday.

The jail failed to meet 11 mandatory standards and one essential standard, the Corrections Department said in a statement Tuesday. Dozens of other standards could not be reviewed due to a lack of documentation.

“After thorough review and consideration of the audit results,” the department’s notice to the county states, “the Commissioner has determined that the scope and nature of the failures are substantial enough to constitute a danger to the health and safety of staff, inmates, and/or visitors and is taking immediate action to restrict the operations of the facility.

“These failures include discrepancies in medical records, improper medication and sharps management, and not following infectious disease protocols.”

Deputy Commissioner Anthony Cantillo did not reply to an inquiry for further information and access to the inspection report.

Young said he received the inspection report about an hour before the Press Herald contacted him and would provide more information after he thoroughly reviews it.

The county has already begun “taking steps to bring us back into full compliance,” Young said.

“I would stress, our inmates are safe and being well provided for,” he said.

There are hundreds of standards a county jail must meet in Maine, from intake and release procedures to food services and the proper storage of toxic cleaning supplies. County jails are subject to inspections every other year.

A jail must meet 100% of the mandatory standards and at least 90% of the essential standards set in the Maine Standards for County and Municipal Detention Facilities to be licensed by the MDOC.

The Piscataquis County Jail has a capacity of 38 inmates with a daily average of 25, according to the county’s website. It employs 14 full-time and five part-time corrections officers, along with two cooks and a part-time medications manager.

An inspection of the jail was originally scheduled for May, but was pushed off nearly a month after the jail requested an extension, “noting the need for additional time to prepare,” the DOC notice states.

If the sheriff and jail administrator fail to take steps to address the jail’s shortcomings, or their plan of corrective action is deemed inadequate, its operating license will be revoked. A process to transfer the jail’s population to other facilities would then be established, the DOC notice states.

Jail Administrator Jean Larson did not answer phone calls or emails Tuesday, and Piscataquis County Manager Michael Williams was unable to take a phone call on Tuesday afternoon.

Androscoggin County Jail received high marks in its state inspection in June, meeting 100% of the mandatory standards and nearly 99% of the essential standards. It received similar grades in its 2019 and 2021 inspections.

Several county jails faced challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Penobscot County Jail was found to have well over its capacity of 157 inmates in a 2021 inspection. Cumberland County Jail inmates and their families decried conditions there in 2021. They equated social distancing protocols and the pausing of various programs to solitary confinement and reported deteriorating mental health among prisoners.

Maine was found to have “many problems with its jails” in 1978, prompting a statewide detention study and closure of two jails, according to a 1987 report from the National Institute of Justice.

Space constraints were a major concern of Maine’s jails in the 1970s and 1980s, according to the report, which led to a number of facilities undergoing expansions.