New prison designed to minimize conflicts 400 Thomaston inmates to move to Warren facility

WARREN – If an inmate needs his head examined, he won’t have to leave the Maine State Prison to see a doctor. And the doctor won’t need to visit.

Technology at the new Maine State Prison, which is set to open later this year, will allow medical interviews between off-site psychiatrists and inmates. By using telemedicine, prison staffers also will be able to take photographs of, say, a skin rash and forward them to an off-premises specialist so the inmate won’t need to be taken under security to an outside medical facility. Even ear exams can be done that way.

It’s a big difference between the 176-year-old Maine State Prison at nearby Thomaston and its new counterpart in Warren. “We’re excited,” said Denise Lord, associate corrections commissioner.

Inside the prison complex, which will have 916 inmate beds, the surroundings are much brighter and spacious than at the Thomaston prison. The complex is filled with technology that is supposed to aid in managing the inmate population from within cells to the outdoor fenced-in areas and beyond.

The systems installed at the $76 million dollar facility are geared toward saving the state money, providing greater security and improving standards of living for inmates, the department says.

Inside each cell there is a metal bunk with a fireproof mattress, a television table, a desk, chair, combination sink and toilet, a metal mirror, cable connection and electrical outlet, and collapsible coat hooks, designed so that only a certain amount of weight can be placed on each.

Each cell has one tall, narrow window that offers a view to the outdoors and a sliding steel door – rather than bars – that has a food tray slot and a small, narrow window that looks out into the day-room area.

The design of the prison is structured to reduce potential conflicts. For example, it includes four dining halls where inmates will be randomly assigned and seated each day. Domelike video monitors in the eating areas and throughout the facility relay to a central command post what is going on in every corner of the institution.

“It’s managing people, as well as surveillance,” Lord said.

As inmates file into the serving area, there is a “blind feed” or setup that prevents the person dishing out the food from seeing the inmate on the receiving end. The reason for that is to ensure that everyone gets the same meal, Warden Jeffrey Merrill said.

Or, as state Corrections Commissioner Martin Magnusson said Tuesday, “So one guy doesn’t get one pork chop and another gets three.” Such tactics are sometimes performed to show favoritism or to “strong-arm” another inmate.

At the new prison, there will be 3,000 prisoner meals served each day in the four dining areas, which are prepared by inmates and staff.

From design features to fixtures, the goal was to provide safer, more secure living conditions at the Warren prison, Merrill said.

In the close-custody unit there are six housing pods with 56 cells in each. “Close custody” is the new name for “maximum security.”

Other units include medium-custody and special management, which has beds for mental health inmates, high-risk management, administrative segregation and disciplinary segregation.

The pods are designed so one guard can oversee what is happening in the pod. One feature in the pods is that a guard will have the ability to control the opening of individual cell doors with the touch of a button or all of them at once in case of emergency.

The day rooms have vending machines that are operated with debit cards that automatically charge an inmate’s account, showers, telephones, cards and board games and an interview room.

Within the complex, which is surrounded by a one-mile security perimeter, there are seven buildings that provide housing, programs, industries and services for the inmate population. The 16-acre compound has 497,819 square feet of building space.

The move to the new facility is expected to take place within a few weeks, according to Magnusson, and will save the state $18 per day per inmate in overall prisoner costs. At Thomaston, the current cost to house one inmate for a day is $92, he said.

“We plan to be moving around the clock,” Magnusson said of the shifting of more than 400 inmates from Thomaston to Warren. The transfer is expected to take 48 hours.