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Reform Comes to Maine Supermax: New commissioner cuts population by more than half; prisoner rights advocates help in the reform
Less than three months into his job, Maine’s new corrections commissioner, Joseph Ponte, has begun to dramatically reform the Maine State Prison’s long-troubled solitary confinement “supermax” unit.
He has cut its population by more than half.
He has stopped – so far, after several weeks under his new rules – ...
He has cut its population by more than half.
He has stopped – so far, after several weeks under his new rules – ...
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More from this issue:
- Remembering Attica Forty Years Later, by Dennis Cunningham
- Extra Earned Time Sentence Reductions Save Oregon $25 Million
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- 800,000 Ex-Offenders Regain Voting Rights – 5.3 Million More to Go
- Female Prisoners Removed from CCA Facility in Kentucky
- PLN Files Censorship Suit Against Michigan Jail over “Postcard Only” Policy
- Reform Comes to Maine Supermax: New commissioner cuts population by more than half; prisoner rights advocates help in the reform, by Lance Tapley
- $73,700 Jury Award for Guard’s Sexual Encounters with Massachusetts Prisoner, by David Reutter
- New Mexico Spends $20 Million in Federal Stimulus Money to Fund Prison Jobs
- Sixth Circuit Upholds Tennessee’s Financial Obligation Re-Enfranchisement Law, by Mark Wilson
- Ninth Circuit Finds Maricopa County Jail’s Cross-Gender Strip Searches Unreasonable
- $60 Million in Strip Search Settlements for Cook County Jail Prisoners, by Derek Gilna
- California: OAL Disapproves Proposed Parole Board Regulation Formalizing Lifer Risk Assessments, by Michael Brodheim
- Feds Pay Wrongfully Convicted D.C. Men $1.9 Million
- Florida Reenacts Reconstruction-Era Felon Disenfranchisement Rule, by David Reutter
- EEOC Files Suit Against GEO Group for Sexual Harassment at Arizona Prisons
- Georgia Deputy Fired for Refusing Threesome with Sheriff
- Feds Intervene in Suit, Allege “Sadistic” Stun Gun Use at Ohio Jail; Jail Settles, by Brandon Sample
- Federal Court Dismisses Virginia Lifers’ Parole Suit
- New Laws Improve Job Prospects for Former Prisoners
- Florida Prisoner’s Suicide Suit Settles for $500,000
- $85,000 Settlement in Philadelphia Wrongful Imprisonment Suit
- Former Federal Prisoner Seeks Almost $280,000 in Attorney Fees from BOP
- Prisoners Used to Clean Foreclosed Houses in Georgia
- Third Circuit Upholds Unanimity Requirement for Pennsylvania Pardon Recommendations
- Texas Chaplain Who Complained of Jail Conditions Reinstated, Suit Settled
- Protective Order Denied in Privately Run Florida Juvenile Facility Class-Action Suit, by David Reutter
- $4.5 Million Settlement in Texas County Jail Strip Search Suit
- Florida’s House Speaker Wants to Quicken Executions, by David Reutter
- Third Circuit Upholds Pennsylvania Sex Offender Treatment Parole Requirement, by Mark Wilson
- Michigan Prisoner’s Failure to Protect Case Settles for $100,000
- Florida Courts Criticize Indefinite Detention While Awaiting Civil Commitment Trials
- North Carolina Prisoner’s First-Degree Murder Conviction is Valid Basis to Deny Awarding Good Time Credits, by David Reutter
- Parole Violator Leaps to Death at Alaskan Jail
- North Carolina Jail Prisoner Housed with TB Infected Cellmate Receives $2,250 Settlement
- New Mexico State Auditor Investigates Prison Contracts
- Washington State Closes McNeil Island Prison, by David Reutter
- Canadian Prison Guards Hold Prisoners at Gunpoint for 10 Days
- Smoke ’Em if You Got ’Em, Says Oklahoma DOC
- California: Orange County Jail System Ordered to Remedy ADA Violations, by Michael Brodheim
- Oregon Settles Prisoner’s Heart Failure Medical Mistreatment Case for $390,000, by Mark Wilson
- Arizona County to Pay Ex-Prisoner $325,000 in Jail Guard Beating
- An American Radical: Political Prisoner in My Own Country, by Susan Rosenberg (Kensington Publishing Corp. 2011), 400 pages, $14.95 paperback
- UNICOR Wins $20 Million No-Bid Body Armor Contract
- Federal Stimulus Money Not Spent as Intended by San Diego County Probation Department
- Paperwork SNAFU Leaves Mentally Ill Woman Jailed in Louisiana for Eight Months
- California State Auditor Reports on CDCR Malfeasance
- Official Capacity Not the Same as Governmental Agency in Texas Civil Suit, by Matthew Clarke
- News In Brief
More from Lance Tapley:
- “Natural Causes Killed Victor: A Death in Solitary,” a folk opera by George Swanson (DVD, 55 minutes), Jan. 10, 2017
- Bonnie Kerness: Pioneer in the Struggle Against Solitary Confinement, July 9, 2014
- No Death Penalty for Maine Prisoner, April 15, 2014
- A Rare Look Inside the Maine State Prison's "Supermax", March 15, 2014
- Prison Reforms Under Maine’s New DOC Commissioner, March 15, 2013
- Solitary Confinement: Bad for Chimps, Okay for Humans?, Oct. 15, 2012
- Reform Comes to Maine Supermax: New commissioner cuts population by more than half; prisoner rights advocates help in the reform, Sept. 15, 2011
- Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire, by Robert Perkinson, Metropolitan Books/Holt, 484 pp (October 2010), $20.00 paperback, May 15, 2011
- Maine Governor Rakes in Private Prison Money, Shows Appreciation, April 15, 2011
- Mass Torture in America: Notes from the Supermax Prisons, Feb. 15, 2011
More from these topics:
- Nebraska Pioneers Diversion Program to Help Arrested Veterans Avoid Jail, Jan. 15, 2025. Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Rehabilitation Act, Veterans.
- Washington Prisoner’s Sentence Vacated After Attorney Calls and Visits Were Recorded, Aug. 15, 2024. Attorney Client, Prisoner Privileges, Disclosure of Records, Recordings, Sentences - Corrections or Modifications of.
- North Carolina’s Largest City Elects First Ex-Prisoner to Council, July 1, 2024. Elections, Rehabilitation/Recidivism.
- Colorado Program Employs Prisoners as Professors, July 1, 2024. Work, Education, Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Release and Reentry.
- Missouri DOC Models Re-entry Program on Norwegian Prisons, June 1, 2024. Prison Reform, Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Post-release, ex-offender, re-entry.
- Federal Prisoners Released Under First Step Act Show 37% Reduction in Recidivism, April 1, 2024. Crime, Statistics/Trends, Rehabilitation/Recidivism, First Step Act.
- Sixth Circuit: Plain Error Where District Court Required Defendant at Resentencing to Admit Guilt in Order to Fully Consider Defendant’s Evidence of Rehabilitation, Nov. 1, 2023. Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Rehabilitation Factors, Admissiion of Guilt.
- What’s ‘Sufficient’ Rehabilitation for Compassionate Release?, Sept. 1, 2023. Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Compassionate Release.
- Op-Ed: Fix the First Step Act and Let Reformed Prisoners Out From Behind Bars – Time Credits and the Irrebuttable Presumption Doctrine, May 15, 2023. Rehabilitation/Recidivism, First Step Act.
- Beyond Rehabilitation: Personal Achievement and Selfless Service as Grounds for Federal Compassionate Release, May 15, 2023. Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Compassionate Release.