News & Commentary

Last week, the Pew Charitable Trust Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation released a report examining state prison health care spending. Overall, Maine has the eighth highest percentage of elderly prisoners in the country, with 15.2% of the population over the age of 50. 

This weekend, the Boston Globe published an article focused on Governor LePage’s prioritization of arrests over treatment in response to Maine's rise in drug abuse rates. The article pointed out that last month, the governors of New England convened a meeting to address the sharp rise in opioid overdoses across the region and to discuss best practices to combating this tragic public health problem. LePage however, was a no show.

Last week, the New York Times published an article on sky-high phone rates and money transfer fees in prison. The article focuses on Clallam Bay Corrections Center, a state prison in rural Washington. There, phone calls start at $3.15, outgoing emails at 33 cents and all money transfers at $4.95. Two private companies, Global Tel-Link and JPay, are contracted to provide all phone, Internet and money transfers to the prisoners there.

Yesterday, the ACLU released a report on the rise of heavily armed Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams in cities and towns across America.  War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing is based on a year-long investigation into state and local law enforcement agencies, and includes the first-ever publicly-available statistical analysis of raw police data on the use of paramilitary weapons and tactics to conduct domestic policing.

A shocking new study finds that people who have spent time in the juvenile justice system are more likely to die violently than their peers who have not been involved in the system.

Last weekend, I spent a substantial amount of time binge watching the new season of Orange is the New Black. While the show puts a somewhat comical spin on the issues of life inside a women’s prison, it also has been a reminder for me of the unique challenges women face while incarcerated. Women are the fastest growing prisoner population in the country. Even here in Maine, between 2001-2013 there was a 624% increase in the number of women incarcerated in Maine state prisons.

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

Our partner profiles highlight the broad range of individuals and organizations we work with to advance and protect the rights of all people in Maine.

Over the past year, I have blogged quite a bit about the consequences of mass incarceration for those in prison – they are separated from their communities, locked away under terrible conditions of confinement, and, upon release, subjected to legalized discrimination and denied basic constitutional protections - making it all the more likely they will someday be sent back to prison. However, what I have focused less on are the consequences for the family members of those incarcerated – those who are left behind when someone is sent away.