PORTLAND – A homeless man who was jailed for refusing drugs necessary to prevent the spread of tuberculosis has been moved to a Boston hospital that has a secure tuberculosis ward to prevent patients from leaving.

Officials said John Donohue infected three people in the Portland area this year before he was sent to the Cumberland County Jail for public drinking. He was diagnosed there with the contagious respiratory disease.

Authorities took the unusual step of jailing Donohue so he could receive treatment because he had failed to complete a six-month course of medication in the past. Because of that, he now has a strain of tuberculosis that is resistant to drugs.

“We do not want the people of Maine to be exposed to tuberculosis unnecessarily, especially multi-drug resistant TB. We would have a major crisis on our hands,” said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, Maine’s top health officer.

Jail officials felt that it was safe for Donohue to receive his medication at jail because he was no longer contagious, Sheriff Mark Dion said.

But inmates reacted angrily when they learned from a newspaper article that Donohue was staying in the jail. He was moved Wednesday to Boston’s Lemuel Shattuck Hospital.

“They didn’t tell us about this guy,” said Michael Alexander, who is in jail on a charge of violating his probation. “He was in this pod with 75 guys in a small area. I feel they kind of put us at risk.”

Donohue was initially sent to Maine Medical Center in Portland to receive TB medicine. In late August, when he was no longer contagious, he was transferred to the Barron Center in Massachusetts to complete the regimen. But he left after a week, saying he was bored.

The Lemuel Shattuck Hospital has one of the nation’s few secure tuberculosis wards, where patients cannot simply leave if they want to.

State officials said Donohue’s situation has been resolved by his placement at the Boston hospital, but there’s still a need to address the issue of housing people who refuse treatment for contagious diseases.