AUGUSTA -- An inmate accused of murder in the stabbing death of a young mother 26 years ago in Fayette claims he has been denied adequate dental care during the two years he has spent in the Kennebec County jail awaiting trial.

A federal magistrate judge, in a recommended decision issued Tuesday, indicated that a lawsuit filed by Thomas H. Mitchell, 50, against jail officials could continue on the claim of inadequate dental care.

Mitchell, who is representing himself in the civil case, has been in jail since Jan. 17, 2007, on the murder charge.

Before that, he served 20 years in Maine State Prison for attempted murder, kidnapping and gross sexual assault.

He had been living in South Portland when 23-year-old Judith L. Flagg was killed on Jan. 6, 1983. Flagg's husband came home from working a double shift and found her dead on the kitchen floor, their 13-month old son smeared with her blood but unharmed.

At a superior court hearing in January 2007, a forensic DNA analyst said she found Mitchell's DNA on fingernail clippings taken during an autopsy of Flagg's body in 1983. Mitchell is scheduled to go to trial on the murder charge this spring. He is represented by attorney James Strong in that case.

In a decision issued Monday, federal Magistrate Judge Margaret Kravchuk outlined Mitchell's claim of inadequate dental care, saying he complained to jail staff that three teeth were causing considerable pain and that he had complained for more than 18 months.

Mitchell said he was told the jail did not have a dentist.

After he filed a second grievance when a broken tooth left a nerve exposed, he was sent to an outside dentist who extracted an infected tooth.

Two months later, the other two teeth were pulled by the same dentist "because the jail's policy does not permit fillings," according to Mitchell.

"Mitchell alleges that the jail's policy of refusing to provide routine dental fillings to inmates amounts to deliberate indifference to serious medical needs," Kravchuk wrote.

The county has a policy governing "emergency dental care" adopted in 1985 and revised in 1999.

It says, in part, "Dental care will be considered necessary when, in the judgment of professional medical/dental support staff, the inmate's health will be adversely affected during the anticipated confinement period."

It also says medical personnel at the jail will evaluate an inmate's dental problem and "implement necessary treatment(s) and/or referrals."

Mitchell claims the policy "is a violation of his Eighth Amendment right to be protected from cruel and unusual punishment."

Kravchuk said Mitchell "has at least alleged a possible constitutional violation caused by a countywide policy."

The recommended decision also says, "At least one court has held that a policy of requiring that only extractions will be performed for dental problems is constitutionally deficient."

Kravchuk's recommendation and any objections from the plaintiff or defendant, including requests for oral arguments, go to U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock, the presiding judge in the case.

Kravchuk also recommended dismissing other claims in the suit against Sheriff Randall Liberty, and Lt. Marsha Alexander and Sgt. Jody Roberts of the corrections staff.

Kravchuk's ruling came in response to a motion to dismiss all of Mitchell's claims. Attorney Cassandra Shaffer, representing the county defendants, filed that motion.

Mitchell had also challenged "the adequacy of the law library, the sufficiency of inmate legal assistance, the medical department's policy for medical and dental care of long-term, pre-trial detainees, inmate access to the facility's grievance policy, and price gouging by the facility's canteen services," according to Kravchuk's recommended decision.

He initially filed the complaint in Kennebec County Superior Court in May 2008, and the defendants removed it to U.S. District Court for the District of Maine.

In a ruling in December 2008, Kravchuk recommended dismissing claims against canteen manager Laura Briggs, an employee of the private contractor who operates the jail commissary.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com