News & Commentary

This Friday a new youth curfew law, one of the strictest in the nation, will go into effect in Baltimore. It will require unaccompanied children under the age of 14 to be indoors by 9pm and 14, 15 and 16-year-olds to be indoors by 10pm on weekdays and 11 pm on weekends and during the summer. Children found out after the curfew will be picked up by police and brought to one of two curfew centers where the child's parents will then be called. Parents can face anywhere from a $30-$500 fine.

Gov. LePage announced today that he is pushing forward with a plan to subject people with prior drug felony convictions to drug tests before they can receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits. There's not much I can say about Gov. LePage's proposal that Aasif Mandvi didn't say best in this amazing Daily Show clip:

Perhaps one of the most insidious aspects of our prison system is that even after serving their sentence, the majority of former offenders find themselves unable to extricate themselves from the system. In addition to having the dubious honor of being the largest incarcerator in the world, the United States also has the highest rate of recidivism of any country in the world. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, over two-thirds of people released from prison will be rearrested within three years. In Maine, a study of 966 offenders released in 2004 found that 58% of them had been re-incarcerated by May 2008.

A new infographic out from the ACLU debunks the notion that putting more people in prison means safer streets. In fact, as the infographic shows, many states are reducing crime while at the same time reducing their reliance on the prison system and its crippling economic and human costs. 

Last week, we got the news of yet another botched execution, this time in the state of Arizona. After being given an experimental combination of lethal drugs from an unknown source, Joseph Woods took nearly two hours to die, snorting and gasping for air 660 times. This comes not long after the botched execution of Oklahoma prisoner Clayton Lockett, who writhed in pain for 45 minutes before dying of a heart attack.

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation.

Two weeks ago, Mallory Loyola became the first woman to be arrested as a result of Tennessee's new law criminalizing pregnant women. In April, Governor Bill Haslam signed a bill that allows a woman to be charged with criminal assault if she uses narcotics during her pregnancy. The law went into effect early July. One week after the bill was enacted, Mallory Loyola was arrested and charged with assault after she and her newborn tested positive for amphetamine. Amphetamine is not a narcotic.

Last Sunday, on the HBO late night talk show Last Week Tonight, comedian John Oliver took on our criminal justice system. He began by showing a clip from Sesame Street, where Muppets were explaining incarceration to children. Like many kids, I grew up watching Sesame Street - most of my memories just involve puppets singing songs about the importance of sharing, counting to 10 in faux accents, or, in the case of Cookie Monster, hunting for cookies. For me, this was a reminder of how much things have changed, even in just my lifetime.  Today, nearly 2 million children are growing up with a parent in prison or jail and nearly 1 in every 100 Americans is currently behind bars.

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation.