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A Rare Look Inside the Maine State Prison's "Supermax"
Loaded on March 15, 2014
by Lance Tapley
published in Prison Legal News
March, 2014, page 48
Filed under:
Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement.
Location:
Maine.
An almost-clean version of hell
by Lance Tapley
There was a stain of what looked like blood on the floor of the otherwise shiny-clean, empty Mental Health Unit isolation cell. “It’s Kool-Aid,” said my minder, a deputy warden. He smiled. But, as the saying goes, I hadn’t drunk …
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More from this issue:
- Corizon Needs a Checkup: Problems with Privatized Correctional Healthcare, by Greg Dober
- Florida County Agrees to Pay $4 Million to Deceased Prisoner’s Estate, by Derek Gilna
- Seventh Circuit Upholds Removal of Prisoner’s Dreadlocks
- Second Circuit Vacates Magistrate’s Judgment Entered without Consent
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- Why There’s an Even Larger Racial Disparity in Private Prisons Than in Public Ones, by Katie Rose Quandt
- Arrest-Proof Yourself, by Dale Carson and Wes Denham, by John Dannenberg
- When Victims Speak Up in Court – in Defense of the Criminals, by Andrew Cohen
- Texas Criminal Court Fees are a Tax on Poor Defendants, by Matthew Clarke
- Oregon Jail Guard Quits, Divorces Wife for Former Prisoner
- South Dakota Parole Board Improperly Enhanced Prisoner’s Parole Date
- California Female Prisoners Sterilized
- Kentucky Supreme Court: Probation Cannot be Extended for Sex Offender Treatment
- Former Detainee Alleges Unconstitutional Conditions at Illinois Jail, Accepts $7,501 Judgment
- Seventh Circuit Upholds FTCA Venue Transfer
- Alabama Sheriff Made Party on Counterclaim Alleging Prisoners Subjected to Sexual Abuse
- Adverse Inference Instruction Required for New York Jail’s Destruction of Video Evidence
- Washington Jail Denied Good Time without Due Process; Rehearing Ordered
- Texas Courts Examine Proof of Ability to Pay Probation Fees before Revocation, by Matthew Clarke
- California County Not Liable for Misconduct of Jail Guard Not Acting within Scope of Employment
- Second Circuit: Videoconference at Resentencing Violates Right to be Present
- Taylor County, Texas Rarely Disciplines Jailers
- Eighth Circuit: Denial of Nominal Damages Jury Instruction was Improper
- D.C. Circuit Holds PLRA’s Exhaustion Requirement Inapplicable to Former Prisoner
- Michigan Parole and Probation Supervision Scrutinized; Three Officials Fired
- The Federal Tort Claims Act: A Primer, by Derek Gilna
- Psst! Hey Man, Need Some Execution Drugs?
- A Rare Look Inside the Maine State Prison's "Supermax", by Lance Tapley
- Video Visitation a Growing Trend, but Concerns Remain
- Online Gaming Accounts of New York Registered Sex Offenders Restricted or Closed
- PLRA Does Not Permit Waiver of Court-ordered Answer
- Businesses, Members of Congress Not Happy with UNICOR, by Derek Gilna
- New Hampshire Prisoners Suspected of Breaching Prison Computer System
- Lawsuits filed over Oregon Jail Death
- Ninth Circuit Holds Staff Sexual Abuse Presumed Coercive; State Bears Burden of Rebutting Presumption
- 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:
- Prisoners’ Risk of Death In Custody More than Doubles in Solitary Confinement, July 1, 2026. Statistics/Trends, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Confinement in Segregated Housing, Administrative Detention/Segregation.
- Ombuds Report Doesn’t Rule Out Racism or Retaliation at Red Onion State Prison, June 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Racial Discrimination, Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Failure to Treat, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement.
- $250,000 Paid by Maine to Former Prisoner Held in Solitary Confinement—Which the State DOC Says Doesn’t Exist, June 1, 2026. DOC/BOP misconduct, Americans with Disabilities Act, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Cruel and Unusual Punishment.
- New York Juvenile Detention Officials Sued for Abusing Adolescents with Solitary Confinement, May 1, 2026. Sanitation, Lockdowns, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Juvenile Prisons, Confinement in Segregated Housing.
- Class Certification Granted to Suit Challenging Suspension of HALT Act in New York Prisons, April 1, 2026. Injunctions, Class Certification, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Guard Unions, Administrative Detention/Segregation.
- D.C. Judge Blocks Transfer of Biden-Commuted Federal Death Row Prisoners to “Supermax,” Citing Lack of Meaningful Due Process, April 1, 2026. Transfers, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Fifth Amendment, Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Prison Classification.
- New York City Mayor Appoints Ex-Rikers Prisoner as Corrections Commissioner, March 1, 2026. Prison Reform, Staffing, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Guard Unions, Administrative Detention/Segregation.
- After Exposing Prison Horrors, Incarcerated Whistleblowers Are Moved to Solitary, Feb. 1, 2026. Whistleblowing, Retaliatory Segregation, Work Strikes, Totality of Conditions, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement.
- $404,000 Verdict for Ohio Prisoner Brutalized by Trio of Guards, Kept in Solitary for Two Years, Jan. 1, 2026. Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Retaliatory Segregation, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement.
- U.S. District Court in Arizona Grants Summary Judgment in Favor of Prisoner Denial of Forms for Challenging 455 Days of Solitary, Jan. 1, 2026. Totality of Conditions, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Chemical Spraying of Mentally Ill Inmates, Deliberate Indifference.

