Human Rights Defense Center: Transparency in Maine Jails and Prisons

In 2021, the Human Rights Defense Center requested records relating to a legal settlement in the Kennebec County Jail. After refusing to release the public records, we sued the government entity that refused to comply with HRDC's lawful request and received the public documents.

In 2021, the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC) requested records relating to a legal settlement in the Kennebec County Jail. An incarcerated person had alleged the use of violence and racial slurs by jail staff. The Maine County Commissioners Association Self-Funded Risk Pool settled the case. The risk pool is a government entity that provides risk management services to Maine counties and supplied the funds to settle the Kennebec County lawsuit.

The risk pool refused to release the public records, so we took on HRDC as a client and sued in state court in 2021. We won this case in 2023 in a landmark ruling that established a stronger standards for government transparency in Maine. Read more about the lawsuit here.

See our records request and the public documents we received in the PDFs at the bottom of this page.