Maine Voices: Gov. LePage coldly wreaks havoc on the lives of prison workers in a poor county
The loss of scarce jobs and work-release inmates from the sudden closing is a big deal for Machiasport and the surrounding community.
Maine attorney general won’t defend LePage administration in prison closure lawsuit
Janet Mills, in fact, wants to argue for the other side, that the state Constitution was violated by LePage officials when they emptied the Downeast Correctional Facility last week.
Violent Riverview patient to be treated at South Carolina facility
Maine's forensic hospital is not equipped to deal with Anthony Reed's level of dangerousness, the medical director testified Monday.
Bill Nemitz: Violence in prison a fact of life … but should it be?
It wasn’t quite the response Irv Faunce expected. But when your son is a convicted killer doing time inside the Maine State Prison, your opinion tends to be yours alone.
Maine prison guards request stab vests
The proposal, outlined for state lawmakers, comes after several violent assaults at the Maine State Prison and Long Creek Youth Development Center.
Our View: ‘Shoot-to-kill’ bill overkill for Windham prison escapes
Should trying to escape from the Maine Correctional Center be a capital offense? A proposal now before the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee could make it one.
Maine curbing per-prisoner health care costs
A study also shows huge increases elsewhere, including a 300 percent rise in New Hampshire.
Maine Voices; Maine, too, is guilty of overusing prisons as punishment
As people across the nation tuned in to the speech by Attorney General Eric Holder last week, it may have been easy for Mainers to tune out. After all, Mr. Holder’s topic was the bloated federal prison system, but here in Maine we have the lowest incarceration rate in the country. Unfortunately, that’s not saying much. America has more people in prison per capita than anywhere else in the world. And even in Maine, we incarcerate people at a higher rate than most European countries.
New Maine State Prison warden named
WARREN, Maine — Rodney Bouffard, who has served as acting warden at the Maine State Prison for the past several months, was named warden Friday.
The Maine Department of Corrections announced the appointment in a news release Wednesday.
Federal judge sides with state in prisoner lawsuits over padlock beatings
BANGOR, Maine — A federal judge has sided with state officials in lawsuits over a trio of assaults in which prison-issued padlocks were used as weapons by inmates against other prisoners.
Gay former prison guard files discrimination lawsuit against state
MACHIAS, Maine — A gay former prison guard has filed a civil rights discrimination suit against the Maine Department of Corrections after she was fired from her position at Downeast Correctional Facility in Machiasport, where both she and her attorney say “an old boy culture of disrespect for women” is entrenched.
Our View: Prison leak probe looks for the wrong problem
If Maine corrections officials are embarrassed, they have good reason. An in-house video that showed a supervisor at the Windham prison inappropriately using pepper spray on a restrained inmate leaving him in distress for 20 minutes was shocking when it was revealed in a story in the Maine Sunday Telegram.
Maine officials seeking pepper-spray video leak
The Department of Corrections wants to know how the media obtained video and documents about how a prison captain pepper-sprayed a restrained inmate.
Our View: Troubled prison has right person in charge
Corrections is the part of state government that most people would like to forget. Stories showing that prisons are dangerous places seem fair to some who think that’s how justice is delivered.