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Inmates at a Maine prison that has imposed a near-total lockdown due to a coronavirus outbreak and staff shortage say conditions are damaging their mental health.
Dustin Beach, an inmate at Cumberland County Jail, tells the Portland Press Herald that the conditions are “cruel and unusual”. Another, who has been awaiting trial for two years for armed robbery, says it drives him “crazy”.
“Being locked in a cell all the time, it is sometimes difficult to control how you feel. Emotions come and go as they please, ”Zachary Conway said.
Prison administrators recently told officials that inmates are locked in their cells for 23 hours a day, but inmates say they are allowed out for even less than an hour.
The newspaper says the lockdown has been going on since at least mid-September after nearly two dozen inmates and staff contracted the virus. The county recently declared a jail emergency for the first time in its history.
Sheriff Kevin Joyce said on Wednesday the latest round of tests showed seven staff members and nine inmates tested positive for the coronavirus. Twenty-one correctional officers have resigned from prison this year. It is budgeted for 129 positions and around 60 staff are currently working.
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