PARIS — The Oxford County Jail is set to reopen by the middle of December, nine months after being closed for HVAC upgrades.

It has only been used as a holding cell since March.

Since then, the county has been paying to house inmates at four jails in the state. 

At a public hearing on the Oxford County budget Oct. 22, Maj. Dana Dillingham, jail administrator, said the number of people being brought to the jail is the highest he has seen during his nearly 26-year career — from 40 in March to 86 this month.

“I don’t know what’s happened, the population has just exploded,” Dillingham said.

He noted the majority of those being arrested struggle with substance use disorder and many of the crimes have to do with theft related to drugs, like robbing houses or stealing from stores.

The budgeted cost to house prisoners at other jails in the state is $1.25 million, the second-highest line item behind full-time staff. This is based on paying to house 40 inmates every day of the year, assuming the jail can take back about half of the current population once it reopens in December.

This is an increase from the $25,000 budgeted for fiscal year 2024. So far this year, as of Aug. 31, the jail has spent $664,408 to house inmates.

The total proposed budget for the Oxford County Jail is $5.29 million, a 60.7% increase from last fiscal year.

Dillingham said the courts need to work faster at getting criminals processed and sentenced to help reduce the jail population in the state. Out of the 86 inmates held by Oxford County, only three of them have been sentenced. Once they are sentenced, they can begin work programs to reduce sentences and do work for municipalities and nonprofits, he said.

“We can’t do any of that if we don’t have sentenced inmates,” he said.

The jail also must contract with a provider for basic medical care, but for any “extraordinary” services, the jail must pay for that. Dillingham said if an inmate has a heart attack and has to spend some time in the intensive care unit at the hospital, “that bill is astronomical.”

“The population is getting sicker and more unhealthy every year and that is all because of drugs,” he said.

County commissioners will hold a workshop with the Budget Committee at the courthouse at 6 p.m. Nov. 19.