Director’s Update: January 2025
Operations: December operations are on track.
MPAC Holiday break: Dec 23 - Jan 6th
MPAC Board consists of 6 members, Co-Chair Ryun Anderson, Co-Chair Carla Hunt, Executive Secretary Julian Rowand, board members Jadirah Ortiz, Craig Williams, and Rosalani Moore.
MPAC currently has a staff size of 12 individuals. Joseph Jackson, Jan Collins, Peter Lehman, Joelle Jackson, Darlene George, Brandon Brown, Andre Hicks, Antonio Jackson, Linda Small, Sammy Basu, Daria Cullen and Kathy Elliot
MPAC contracted Jeff Evangelos to support clemency and habeas corpus applications.
MPAC has 10 volunteers. Doug Dunbar, Jon Courtney, Jamie Peloquin, Leslie Manning, Tatum Rosenberg, Olivia Hochstadt, Lani Graham, Adriane Herman, Nicole Lund, Sarah Johnson, Ann Beaudry and Craig McEwen. Special thanks for their work and dedication.
MPAC Mission. Value, and Purpose statements:
Our Mission is to support and advocate for Maine’s incarcerated citizens, their families and friends.
Our Purpose is to reduce Maine’s use of incarceration by advocating for a criminal legal system that is ethical, humane and restorative.
Our Vision is of a justice system that is restorative. It supports humanity in every person, and reflects and creates transformation and accountability.
MPAC Staff and Volunteers meet as a full team weekly to update and resolve tensions.
MPAC staff members are in regular communications with incarcerated residents and formerly incarcerated individuals.
MPAC staff meet in-person with incarcerated residents at MSP, Bolduc, MCC, SMWRC.
MPAC Strategy Meeting is the second Saturday of each month from 10-12.
MPAC Legislative Strategy Meeting every Tuesday at 5:30 pm. Link to join here.
Arts Programming Team meets weekly Thursday mornings at 8:00am. Link to join here.
MPAC Website Committee meets weekly, Monday at 5:30 pm
MPAC Development and Communications Committee meets Mondays every other week at 8:00 am.
MPAC grant committee meets weekly on Tuesday.
MPAC Ways of Working committee meets monthly.
MPAC staff are enrolled in the State of Maine retirement benefit program.
MPAC staff continues to support formerly incarcerated individuals in reentry, with transport, peer to peer support. One on one and in group settings.
On-going: Advocacy, correspondence, and Direct Dialogue.
December MPAC Strategy Meeting went well. Dan presented for the MSP-NAACP, but had other significant pieces to discuss. They were grateful for MPAC’S support as fiscal sponsor and as advocates for the grant. Ted Berry also spoke out about the need to repeal the felony murder statute. The topic struck a nerve for many people, including Joseph. Several new people attended on zoom.
MDOC: Met with Commissioner Cantillo on Friday January 3rd to discuss the Maine Initiatives Grant for the MSP-NAACP.
MDOC: Brandon talked with Randy about Shawn Libby’s clemency petition. Several people have written letters supporting clemency for Shaun, including the former Warden Matt Magnusson.
MCC Longtimers: Daria had volunteer training in December and went in with Leslie this month to MCC and SMWRC.
MCC Longtimers: Darlene is working with transgender individuals to make sure they get all the needed paperwork. Darlene and Luca are creating a Pen Pal Initiative for transgender individuals.
MCC Longtimers: Linda and Darlene will met with the MSP-NAACP on Dec 16 & 17 to work on parenting policy. 6.3. which is deterring incarcerated people from seeing their children. It feels like the DOC goes against parents, DHHS is in favor of the parent and incarcerated parents are caught in the middle. The current policy says “DOC policy states it can eschew a court order and override DHHS recommendation for reunification.” Linda and Darlene are working with Tessa Mosher to rework the policy.
MCC Reentry Center: Linda was going in on Wednesday. Only 15 out of 90 people at the center are working. The Unit Manager canceled the meeting. We will reschedule.
Advocacy Coalition: Thursday morning meetings have resumed. Several organizations coming together to develop legislative strategies for social justice issues, particularly youth justice.
Long Creek: MPAC is supporting 19 youth in reentry. There is weekly engagement with youth one-on-one or in groups. Youth are provided food, shoes, and haircuts. They are supported with seeking employment (help with filling out applications). Andre is speaking on behalf of youth during court hearings.
Long Creek: Andre travels regularly to Newport and Lewiston / Auburn to connect with formerly incarcerated youth. On his last visit, he addressed a number of his kids about the danger of guns, after one of his kids was shot in the neck during a late night party. The youth is recovering at Maine Med in Portland.
Long Creek: Andre is reporting that many of his youth participants are doing well in school, and many have jobs. He attributes their success to our commitment to developing authentic relationships with these young people.
MSP: Meeting with the Warden on Monday January 13th, to discuss Inside Vision and other programming within the facility.
MSP has a new Deputy Warden of Resident services. His name is Ray Porter and he was the Director of the Belfast Reentry Center.
MSP clerk jobs have been eliminated. All printing requests will now be handled by MSP staff, and residents have been informed that color copies are no longer available. Financial mismanagement seems to be the source of many of these changes. The religious department is also dissolving all resident employment. The facility is discontinuing the program that offers greeting cards to residents who are indigent.
MSP NAACP will host an MLK Day event and 20th Anniversary on January 24th at 1:30pm. Joseph Jackson will be honored at the event. Senator Rachel Talbot-Ross will be the keynote speaker.
Projects:
Orange Bike Brewing Company is a strong supporter of MPAC’S mission and purpose. They have been instrumental partners around Networking and fundraising.
MPAC advocacy for Board of Visitors (BOV) oversight is bearing fruit. The Sheriff’s Association has agreed to host BOV training webinars on the Sheriff’s Association website.
MPACClemency project: Jeff met with a group interested in supporting Clemency in Maine. They explored how clemency works in Maine and other states, and the challenges faced due to the governor's role. They also discussed a potential collaboration to create and establish an innocence project in Maine, as the current waiting list for the Innocence Project of New England is too long.
MPAC Clemency project: Jeff Evangelos has successfully supported an incarcerated individual with a clemency petition. The petition is being considered by the Governor of Colorado.
Reentry Support: MPAC supported 5 people in reentry transition.
Gallery Exhibit Projecttitled Inside Vision: The Francis Hotel gallery exhibition was taken down the day after Christmas. Over 200 photos were up. The Francis Hotel has committed to another exhibition this year from October-December.
Gallery Exhibit Projector Inside Vision: We have been invited to open an art exhibition at LA arts in March 2025.
Gallery Exhibit Project: UU Brunswick has invited us to exhibit incarcerated artists artwork. This is on hold for the year.
Book drive: Every prison in particular, Mountainview, is regularly requesting books.
BatesCollege students completed their final presentation on our collaborative project. MPAC Family Resource Inventory, Mental Health Resource, Pre-trial Resource, Reentry Resource Inventory
MPAC Film Series: A screening of Dakota 38 was shown at MSP. There were 30 people in attendance. There was a very thoughtful discussion afterwards.
MPAC Film Series: Jon is planning to screen the film Tehachapi in February.
Justice Radio: Cuba Jackson guest hosted a special edition of Justice Radio and interviewed Ted Berry about the need to repeal Felony Murder convictions in Maine. Listen to the episode here.
Justice Radio: Jan was interviewed by Linda on Justice Radio. The episode will air in February.
Charles Jordan House: The city of Auburn requested a description of the project to notify the public. There will not be a public hearing about the issue. Dan is coming to an MPAC Community Strategy Meeting in Feb.
Communications:
MPAC: Daria Cullen is our communications lead.
Website: MPAC Volunteer Jamie Peloquin leads our Website design.
Website: Ann Beaudry joined the communications team. We reviewed the website and made editing suggestions.
Website: Daria is updating News & Events.
MPAC brochures: MPAC Brochure
Public engagement is On-track.
Donors/ funders:
Grant team meets weekly.
PayPal Transition: We’re still working on closing the old PayPal account that was under Irv’s name and transitioning to Zeffy.
draft Donate Button for the Zeffy platform.
Maine Initiatives contributed 15,000 for MSP-NAACP general operating expenses.
MSP-NAACP: MPAC agreed to extend our fiscal sponsor the MSP-NAACP agreement through the life of the grant
Wellspring: Meeting with their director of grants this month.
MEHAF: MPAC is part of the MEHAF design team along with six organizations to develop a plan to distribute 2 million dollars. The 6 orgs made a consensus decision about year one spending of the movement infrastructure funds! Here's a summary of what we decided: In year one (2025) we will disburse up to $496,000 of the fund in the following categories: Design Team grants and facilitation ($290,000), Shared Admin projects ($30,000), Movement School ($126,000), and other discretionary projects ($50,000).
Become A Sustainer campaign: A sustainer is a Donor or Supporter who commits to making monthly or yearly donations of time or money to the organization. Sustainers play a crucial role in providing a stable and predictable source of income for us by allowing us to plan and execute long-term initiatives with greater confidence.
Legislative:
Assistant Director Jan Collins leads!
Legislative Committee meets Tuesdays at 5:30pm each week.
Legislative Committee is experiencing more participation from incarcerated individuals.
Legislative Committee language for Bill to expand SCCP is complete. Nina Miliken sponsoring.
Legislative Committee: Senator Beebe Center is sponsoring the Ombuds Bill.
Legislative Committee: Rep Sayre is the sponsor of the Reentry Bill we are supporting.
Legislative Committee meet with Senator Duson and Rep Abdi about sponsoring for our Parole bill.
Peter is still looking for a sponsor for our Felony Murder bill.
Bills to watch: "An Act to Designate the Warden of the Maine State Prison as Chief Administrative Officer of the Bolduc Correctional Facility" (S.P. 28) (L.D. 17) (Sponsored by Senator BEEBE-CENTER of Knox) (Submitted by the Department of Corrections pursuant to Joint Rule 204.)
Bills to watch: "An Act to Allow the Department of Corrections to Increase Health Care Fees and Use the Proceeds from Those Fees to Offset the Costs of Client Medical Care Support Workers" (S.P. 30) (L.D. 18) (Sponsored by Senator MOORE of Washington)
Bills to watch: "An Act Regarding the Bind-over and Detention of Juveniles" (H.P. 6) (L.D. 42) (Sponsored by Representative SALISBURY of Westbrook)
Bills to watch: "An Act Allowing the Department of Corrections to Offset Some of the Costs of Technology Provided to Residents of Correctional Facilities" (H.P. 9) (L.D. 45) (Sponsored by Representative LEE of Auburn)
Bills to watch: "An Act to Notify the Public of Juveniles Who Are Wanted Persons" H.P. 67 L.D. 102
Bills to watch: “An Act to Facilitate the Improvement of Credit Scores of Residents of Department of Corrections Facilities” H.P. 62 L.D. 97
Legislative Committee / Speakers bureau: Speakers Bureau Brochure
Legislative Update: Parole4Me meets every other Wednesday over zoom. The group is developing a plan to bring the issue back during the next legislative session.
County Jail Boards of Visitors: Jan is on the Franklin County Board of Visitors, Sarah Johnson and Janet Drew are on the York County BOV. All are working to bring more humane policies that focus on successful reentry. Yearly reports for jail and prison BOVs must be submitted to the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee of the Maine Legislature on or before February 15th of each calendar year.
Parole4ME: In addition to our statewide work, we are also hoping to organize by county. York County has begun contacting all of the local rotary clubs to discuss the topics of mass incarceration and the topic of parole. They are using Speaker’s Bureau brochures with a cover letter from MPAC and Prole4ME. Nicole Lund has presented on Mass Incarceration at UMF on Nov 14th and on Parole on Nov 21. Both talks are recorded.
Strategic Partnerships: MaineTransnet, GLADD, Portland Outright, MIO, MYJ, Maine Law School, Disability Rights, Maine Equal Justice, ACLU, Muskie, Recovery Connections, Recovery Housing, JJAG, Women’s League of Voters, MPRN, MPDA, MSP-NAACP, Colby College, Bates College, UMA, RJIM, Maine Immigrants, Maine Family Planning, Maine Humanities Council, FAMM (Families for Justice Reform).
New Partners: Pubic Health Committee for Maine Medical Association, Knox-Waldo Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women. No Penobscot County Jail Expansion, ME-RAP, Southern Maine SURJ(Standing Up for Racial Justice), Amistad, Maine CDC, Vera Institute, Curative, Augusta Recovery Center, Reform Alliance, College Guild, Project Home, Maine Health Equity Foundation, Orange Bike Brewing Company, Friends of Long Creek.
Tensions:
Board Candidates:
Andi Robbins
Thazra-Rosie Hilton
