This week's Portland Phoenix highlights the work the MCLU and other Maine organizations are doing to investigate the treatment of Maine State Prison inmates. Read the article here.

The MCLU and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, as well as other prison-issue activist organizations, have asked the federal Department of Justice for an investigation of “systemic issues” in Maine
prisons. These systemic issues include: “inadequate psychiatric and medical care, lack of protection
against violence for the most vulnerable prisoners, and stress on overworked guards”.

MCLU Legal Director Zachary Heiden notes that the Special Litigation Section of the Office of Civil Rights “can be pretty quick” in investigating and demanding corrective action once it decides to get involved. That is why it is so important for us to track the treatment of prison inmates and to speak up when patterns of inadequate treatment emerge.

Learn more about the ACLU’S National Prison Project, the only national litigation program on behalf of prisoners, by clicking here.