DOVER-FOXCROFT – A small group of Charleston Correctional facility inmates are repaying society for their crimes by applying their talents to the renovation of the new Dover-Foxcroft police station.

More than $100,000 worth of free labor has been donated by inmates from the facility to renovate the former Clukey house over the past few months. The three-story house, located next to the Thompson Free Library, was purchased by the town to provide police with more space and better privacy for interrogations. Some rooms in the building will be rented to the Probation and Parole Department. And the possibility exists later to renovate and lease an apartment on the second floor of the building for added revenue.

Police, who have $50,000 budgeted for renovations, hope to move into their new facility by mid-June.

“The guys [inmates] have just done a fantastic job,” John Roberts, trades instructor at Charleston Correctional facility, said this week. “They really took a personal interest in the house.”

The inmates have gutted and insulated all of the first floor rooms and are in various stages of restoration throughout the house. In addition, the bathrooms have been renovated to meet requirements of the American Disabilities Act.

Selectmen this week awarded a $2,144 contract for the plumbing work to Edgerly Plumbing of Dover-Foxcroft. The firm submitted the only bid. Because Elwood Edgerly, who owns the firm, is a selectman, he abstained from the vote.

Chief Dennis Dyer said the renovations are designed to maintain the integrity of the old home. Where needed, trim from the second floor has been used to finish up the first-floor projects. The fireplaces that exist in many of the rooms will remain but will not be functional, he said.