The Mentally Ill, Behind Bars
Mayor Bill de Blasio and his new correction commissioner, Joseph Ponte, have inherited a city jail system in which nearly 40 percent of the 12,000 inmates have mental illnesses — up from about a quarter just seven years ago. Yet despite the stark shift, the system has not been redesigned to serve the complex needs of inmates with mental illnesses.
Ex-Riverview patient wants to leave prison, return to hospital
Michael James appealed his discharge from the state forensic hospital and on Wednesday asked the state's highest court to return him there.
Horror at Rikers Island and what a former LePage appointee can do about it
On Monday, The New York Times published a damning investigative report about the treatment of inmates at the hands of corrections officers at Rikers Island in New York. Over the course of 11 months last year, 129 inmates suffered injuries beyond the capacity of the jail’s doctors to treat in-house incidents with corrections staff members. Seventy-seven percent of the severely injured inmates had a mental illness diagnosis.
Inmate convicted of 1990 murder dies at Maine State Prison
Willard Eastman, 63, had served 21 years of his 50-year sentence.
Free speech may be limited for prisoners, but not taken away
Like many inmates before him, Randall Daluz, convicted of murdering three people, says he has found God, and he wants to share his insights with others. Working through a Christian couple who visit inmates at the Penobscot County Jail, Daluz’s writings are currently shared on his website, The Journal of a New Creation.
Our View: Jail is the wrong way to make offenders pay fines
It’s not only unfair to incarcerate those who can’t pay, it’s a bad way to use public funds.
Taxpayers lose as Maine counties jail indigents over unpaid fines
An ACLU of Maine study finds many inmates are behind bars solely for not paying court costs, but the burden on the state is more than what they owe.
Pregnant prisoners should not be in shackles
Maine is the only New England state that allows this practice.
Female prison inmates knit blankets and bears for abused kids
YORK - Among the 16 York area yarn and fabric shops that showcased their wares at the second annual Fiber Marketplace Saturday at the York Harbor Inn was a special table that featured teddy bears and blankets created by female Maine prison inmates.
Our View: Jail time for unpaid fines unfairly penalizes poverty
A bill now before the Maine Legislature justifiably targets what amount to debtors' prisons.
Judge praises progress at Maine’s Riverview Psychiatric Center
During a hearing on a 1990 consent decree involving former AMHI patients, hospital officials describe a new approach to integrating patients committed through Maine's criminal justice system.
Too many people incarcerated in ‘debtors prison,’ de facto mental health wards
Now that lawmakers and Gov. Paul LePage have found a short-term fix to the county jails funding problems, they can turn their attention to the underlying cause. Maine, like other states, has jails that are over capacity, not because crime is on the rise, but because too many people are incarcerated for too long.
Our View: The death penalty wrong for Maine
Our state's life without parole is the right punishment for the worst of the worst.
Oppose a new policy that punishes incarcerated Maine writers
We, the undersigned—a national community of writers, writing teachers and concerned Americans—are writing to oppose some of the proposed changes in Maine’s Department of Corrections discipline policy Ch. 10 Subsection 20.01.
Lawmakers postpone inquiry into hazing of Maine State Prison guards
Sen. Stan Gerzofsky, co-chairman of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, says the committee will question Department of Corrections officials in December.
At state-run Riverview, danger and dysfunction pervasive
A Telegram investigation of the Augusta facility unearths troubling evidence of a culture of abuse and a staff ill-equipped to cope with the mentally ill.
Report details accusations against Maine prison guard charged with sexually assaulting inmate
York County Sheriff Maurice Ouellette has called a press conference for Friday morning about recent indictments against current and former corrections officers.
Seven current and former York County Jail guards indicted
York County Sheriff Maurice Ouellette says the indictments against the officers and three others stem from smuggling contraband into the jail.