Two Bridges Regional Jail

Progress at jail’s fire-damaged wood shop

Waterfront kiosk on temporary shutdown
Fri, 07/18/2014 - 3:30pm

Cleanup is wrapping up and repairs should be getting under way soon at Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset, scene of a June 5 fire that damaged a wood shop.

The shutdown in production has forced the temporary shutdown of a kiosk where the goods the inmates make are sold on Wiscasset’s waterfront; but the inmates in the woodworking program have been busy preparing the building for repair work, according to Naomi Bonang, lieutenant of the jail’s industries program.

That program, which includes the woodworking, a garden and crafts, employs inmates and benefits Toys for Tots and area food pantries.

“The inmates have been working the entire time we have had production down,” Bonang states in July 18 emails to the Wiscasset Newspaper. “They have done all of the deconstruction on the inside and will continue with that until we get permission to build, which they will also be doing. They have also been busy in the garden preparing for the first harvest for the food pantries.”

The jail will be following the recommendations it got from a structural engineer, to replace six of the building’s trusses and and replace damaged portions of the roof, the emails state.

Some production can resume after the building is rewired for electricity; plans call for the waterfront kiosk to reopen in August. Following last month’s accidental fire, it stayed open until the inventory was mostly sold.

Weather permitting, the jail’s wood shop may be back up and running full-time in September, in time to start the annual work on the Toys for Toys project, Bonang added.

The jail takes inmates from Lincoln, Sagadahoc and other counties, as well as the Maine State Prison.