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Former Maine Prison Official Stole $2.4 Million Through Fraudulent Supply Orders
Article • April 1, 2026 • from PLN April, 2026
Filed under: Contractor Misconduct, DOC/BOP misconduct, Bribery/Extortion/Theft, Fraud and Deceit
Former Maine Prison Official Stole $2.4 Million Through Fraudulent Supply Orders by Former Maine prison official Gerald Merrill, 64, pleaded guilty on March 16, 2026 of theft and accepting a bribe after stealing $2.4 million in stolen funds. As part of Merrill’s plea agreement, signed several days before a jury …
News in Brief
Article • March 1, 2026 • from PLN March, 2026
News in Brief by News in Brief Alabama: The Alabama Reflector reported that state lawmakers authorized $800,000 in contracts on February 5, 2026, to defend the state Department of Corrections (DOC) against civil rights lawsuits accusing guards of brutalizing prisoners. $200,000 each will be paid to Capell & Howard in …
Maine Was the First State to Abolish Parole. Incarcerated Mainers, Advocates Hope to Bring it Back.
Article • March 1, 2026 • from PLN March, 2026
Filed under: Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Parole, Post-release, ex-offender, re-entry, Probation, Parole & Supervised Release, De Facto Life Sentence
Maine Was the First State to Abolish Parole. Incarcerated Mainers, Advocates Hope to Bring it Back. by Emma Davis by Emma Davis This article was originally published by Maine Morning Star.   Incarcerated Mainers can get college degrees, earn wages through remote work and vote. There’s universal access to medication …
News in Brief
Article • January 1, 2026 • from PLN January, 2026
News in Brief by California: A suit filed in state Superior Court for San Francisco County on December 1, 2025, accuses the New York Post and Los Angeles Times of defaming Nima Momeni, 41, while he was detained in the County’s San Bruno jail before his December 2024 murder trial. …
Maine Superior Court Order to Reform Public Defender System Paused on Appeal
Article • December 1, 2025 • from PLN December, 2025
Filed under: Indigent Defense, Injunctions, Habeas Corpus, Sixth Amendment, Counsel - Constructive denial of
Maine Superior Court Order to Reform Public Defender System Paused on Appeal by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney In a class-action suit, the Kennebec Superior Court of Maine ordered commissioners of the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services (“MCPDS Defendants”) to create a plan to remedy the systemic failure to …
Former Maine Prison Guard Arrested 
and Detained by ICE Agents
Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025
Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Guards/Staff, Immigration Law/Offenses
Former Maine Prison Guard Arrested and Detained by ICE Agents by Gratien Milandou-Wamba, 32, fled to the United States on a tourist visa in 2023 from the Republic of the Congo; he applied for asylum several months later, claiming that he had been tortured in his home country because of …
U.S. Pulls $1.5 Million in Funding from Maine DOC 
Over a Single Trans Prisoner
Article • June 1, 2025 • from PLN June, 2025
Filed under: Totality of Conditions, Transgender
U.S. Pulls $1.5 Million in Funding from Maine DOC Over a Single Trans Prisoner by A dustup over trans athletes in high school sports between Pres. Donald J. Trump (R) and Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) spilled over into that state’s Department of Corrections (DOC) on April 8, 2025, when …
Suboxone Manufacturer’s Delayed-Release Buprenorphine Injections Show Promise at Maine Jail
Article • March 1, 2025 • from PLN March, 2025
Filed under: Medication, Drug/Alcohol Withdrawal, Drug Overdose, Drug Treatment/Rehab
Suboxone Manufacturer’s Delayed-Release Buprenorphine Injections Show Promise at Maine Jail by The stock price of Richmond, Virginia-based Indivior PLC was down 20% in the first 12 days of February 2025, after delayed approval from the federal Food & Drug Administration (FDA) of label changes on its Sublocade medication—a single injection …
Mentally Incompetent Maine Defendants Sent to South Carolina Wellpath Lockup Called “Essentially Prison”
Article • January 15, 2025 • from PLN January, 2025
Filed under: Private Contractors, Bankruptcy, Mental Health, Involuntary Treatment/Drugging
Mentally Incompetent Maine Defendants Sent to South Carolina Wellpath Lockup Called “Essentially Prison” by Pre-trial detainees found not criminally responsible in Maine are being quietly transferred from the state’s Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta to Columbia Regional Care Center, a South Carolina psychiatric lockup owned by Wellpath, Inc. Wellpath has …
News in Brief
Article • December 15, 2024 • from PLN December, 2024
Filed under: News in Brief
News in Brief by Alabama: Wiregrass Daily News reported that Mobile Metro Jail guard Timothy Lee Scarbrough, 39, was arrested on September 9, 2024, and charged with first-degree sodomy for the alleged sexual assaulting of a detainee who was still under the effects of anesthesia after eye surgery. Scarbrough had …
Maine State Prison Warden Replaced As Misconduct Allegations Investigated
Article • October 15, 2024 • from PLN October, 2024
Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Disciplinary Hearings
Maine State Prison Warden Replaced As Misconduct Allegations Investigated by An investigation into staff misconduct at Maine State Prison (MSP) resulted in replacement of its top leader. New Warden Nathan Thayer began work on May 20, 2024. Meanwhile, state Department of Corrections (DOC) Director Randall Liberty had no update on …
Solitary Confinement Prompts Lawsuit in Massachusetts, Hunger Strike in Maine
Article • September 15, 2024 • from PLN September, 2024
Filed under: Hunger Strikes, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement
Solitary Confinement Prompts Lawsuit in Massachusetts, Hunger Strike in Maine by A suit filed by six Massachusetts prisoners on July 1, 2024, alleges that conditions in what the state Department of Corrections (DOC) calls a “Secure Adjustment Unit” (SAU) are no different from solitary confinement—something state legislators outlawed in 2018. …
First Circuit Tolls Claim for Maine Jail Death from Date of Detainee’s Injury, Rather Than When He Died
Article • August 15, 2024 • from PLN August, 2024
Filed under: Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death), Excessive Force (Wrongful Death), Suicides, Pretrial Detention and Detainees
First Circuit Tolls Claim for Maine Jail Death from Date of Detainee’s Injury, Rather Than When He Died by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney Of the many hurdles prisoners and jail detainees face, the statute of limitations for a civil rights claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 is among the first. …
HRDC Awarded Over $130,000 in Legal Costs and Fees for Defendant’s “Bad Faith” in Maine Records Lawsuit
Article • April 1, 2024 • from PLN April, 2024
Filed under: Attorney Fee Awards, Public Records Act, HRDC Litigation
HRDC Awarded Over $130,000 in Legal Costs and Fees for Defendant’s “Bad Faith” in Maine Records Lawsuit by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On January 16, 2024, Maine’s Superior Court for Kennebec County ordered state officials to pay $130,600.02 in attorney fees and legal costs to PLN’s publisher, the …
Maine Prison Official Charged with Theft and Bribery in Decade-Long Kickback Scheme
Article • February 1, 2024 • from PLN February, 2024
Filed under: DOC/BOP misconduct, Corrections Audits, Kickback Scheme, Fraud and Theft Loss
Maine Prison Official Charged with Theft and Bribery in Decade-Long Kickback Scheme by A deputy prison superintendent with the Maine Department of Corrections (DOC) was arrested and charged with theft and bribery on July 25, 2023. Gerald E. Merrill, 61, is accused of using his state-issued credit card over the …
HRDC v. Maine County Commissioners Risk Management, ME, Proposed Order, Public Records, 2024
Brief • January 16, 2024
Filed under: Public Records, Public Records Act
HRDC v. Maine County Commissioners Risk Management, ME, Proposed Order, Public Records, 2024 CAPITAL JUDICIAL CENTER AUGUSTA COURTS I COURT STREET, SUITE 101 AUGUSTA, MAINE 04330 II) Ill :3 (.) .,:. Ill 0:: r;:: us POSTAGE P Hic:Y BOWE ~~~ ~f ~~330 $ 000.630 M1 1 :J006068209 JAN 16 2024 …
Maine Ends Prison Gerrymandering
Article • January 1, 2024 • from PLN January, 2024
Filed under: Voting, Census, Voting Rights, Felon Disenfranchisement Statute
Maine Ends Prison Gerrymandering by Maine became the latest state to end prison gerrymandering on June 30, 2023, when Gov. Janet Mills (D) signed LD 1704/HP 1093 into law and joined 16 other states to count prisoners at their home address instead of the prison where they are incarcerated. The …
HRDC v. Maine County Commissioners Risk Management, ME, Order, Public Records, 2023
Brief • December 21, 2023
Filed under: Public Records, Public Records Act
HRDC v. Maine County Commissioners Risk Management, ME, Order, Public Records, 2023 STATE OF MAINE KENNEBEC, ss. SUPERIOR COURT CIVIL ACTION DOCKET NO. CV-21-131 HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENSE CENTER, ) ) ) ) Plaintiff, ) ORDER V. MAINE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ASSOCIATION SELF-FUNDED RISK MANAGEMENT POOL, Defendant ) ) ) ) ) …
HRDC v. Maine County Commissioners Association Self-Funder Risk Management Pool, ME, Order, Denial of FOIA Request, 2023
Brief • December 21, 2023
Filed under: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
HRDC v. Maine County Commissioners Association Self-Funder Risk Management Pool, ME, Order, Denial of FOIA Request, 2023 STATE OF MAINE KENNEBEC, ss. SUPERIOR COURT CIVIL ACTION DOCKET NO. CV-21-131 HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENSE CENTER, Plaintiff, V. MAINE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ASSOCIATION SELF-FUNDED RISK MANAGEMENT POOL, Defendant ) ) ) ) ) ORDER …
News in Brief
Article • December 1, 2023 • from PLN December, 2023
Filed under: News in Brief
News in Brief by Alabama: Within 48-hours of booking into the Morgan County Jail on August 29, 2023, Miles Rea Batson, 39, had two second-degree assault charges added to his public intoxication charge as well as another for disarming a law enforcement agent. WHNT in Huntsville reported that during booking …
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