News & Commentary

Black people are twice as likely as white people to be arrested for marijuana possession in Maine, despite the fact that they use marijuana at the same rates, according to a startling new report from our national office.Alarmingly, in York County, blacks are five times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession – higher than the national average of just under four times.According to the report, there were 2,842 arrests for marijuana possession in Maine in 2010, accounting for 47.9% of all drug arrests. 75 of them, or 2.6 percent, were arrests of black people, even though black people made up only 1.2 percent of the population.The report estimates that Maine spends $8.8 million on marijuana possession enforcement annually - including police, judicial and legal services, and corrections expenditures. Nationally, states spent an estimated $3.61 billion enforcing marijuana possession in 2010 alone.This information comes as the Maine Legislature considers LD 1229, which would send the question of marijuana legalization directly to the voters. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Diane Russell, will be voted on by the full House and Senate soon and has our support.Eliminating penalties for low-level marijuana possession will prevent people from becoming enmeshed in the criminal justice system in the first instance. Moreover, legalization will eliminate the many collateral consequences that flow from marijuana arrests, thereby reducing the number of people entering or otherwise harmed by the criminal justice system.The time has come for Maine, and the nation, to realize that less punitive approaches to criminal justice not only make more fiscal sense but also better protect our communities. We look forward to working with the people of Maine for sensible reform.

“We belong together, with the rainbows and the butterflies.”   Last year, an inmate at Maine State Prison sang those sweet words as part of the closing ceremonies of the Maine Hospice Council’s conference on aging prisoners. It was a moving song, and before playing it in front of the large audience he explained that he had written it behind bars for his young daughter. With several years left on his sentence, he was destined to miss her childhood. I was particularly touched by this moment at last year’s conference because it humanized a group of people who are too often dehumanized. Rarely do we get the chance to hear from prisoners directly, and certainly not as part of an all-day conference that puts a microscope on their rehabilitation and on the good work they are doing behind bars.At America's Expense The Maine Hospice Council runs a program at the State Prison that gives inmates the chance to provide end-of-life hospice care to fellow prisoners. These volunteers shared some fascinating insights into the experience during a panel discussion, while other presenters – who ranged from academics to politicians to corrections officials – spoke about the challenges of an aging prison population.   Last year’s event was such a success that it’s been doubled this year! Now a two-day conference – on June 25th and 26th – this year we’ll go even deeper into issues such as end-of-life care for inmates, overpopulation of prisons, and how the United States compares to Canada in terms of aging prisoners.   The ACLU of Maine co-sponsored last year’s conference and we’re excited to be doing the same this year. In addition, Shenna will be delivering an hour-long presentation on mass incarceration and the need for sentencing reform. Some of the themes she’ll talk about were addressed in a comprehensive report issued by the ACLU last year, which you can find here.   If you’d like to attend, follow this link to register. You can come for one day or for both, and as an ACLU member you’ll get to sign-up at the reduced rate offered to Hospice Council members. One thing to keep in mind: Even though the conference is on June 25th and 26th, the registration deadline is June 15th due to security requirements at the prison. So don’t wait to sign-up!

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation. National Security President Obama gave a speech yesterday about two important civil liberties concerns, closing Guantanamo and the drone program. The president announced two key steps to closing Guantanamo. A few weeks ago we asked him to 1) appoint a senior person to lead on closing Guantanamo; and 2) start transferring detainees who have been cleared for transfer.   On targeted killings, there’s still more opportunity to make our voices heard. Click here to tell President Obama to put an end to the unlawful killing program.   Privacy & Surveillance   If the government knows where you are, they know who you are. That’s why we’ve been supporting a bill in the Maine legislature that requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant before accessing location information from your cell phones or your GPS. Last night, the Maine Senate voted in favor of warrants for cell phone tracking. Now the bill heads to the House.   Also of interest to civil libertarians concerned about surveillance, Justin Peters at Slate magazine wrote this article about traffic cameras.  

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation. Guantanamo Prisoners in Guantanamo are now in their third month of a hunger strike. This past Wednesday’s New York Times article gives more details. One prisoner’s Op-Ed (here) describes being painfully force-fed with a feeding tube. In his words for the Op-Ed, “I’ve been detained at Guantánamo for 11 years and three months. I have never been charged with any crime. I have never received a trial. I could have been home years ago — no one seriously thinks I am a threat — but still I am here.”   Privacy and Technology The ACLU of Maine is currently supporting a package of privacy bills. Three of five of those bills will have their public hearings this coming Thursday.  One of those bills protects employees from having to forfeit passwords to their social media accounts to their employers. As Allie Bohm, advocacy and policy strategist for our National office, is quoted saying here, "We'd balk if an employer said, 'I want to look at your photo albums once a week or listen in on your dinner party conversation.’…By allowing them to monitor your social-media presence, that's what they might be doing."   In other privacy related news, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to update the main statute protecting online privacy, the Electronic Communication Privacy Act. Read more here.    Two other articles of interest for electronic-privacy minded civil libertarians include this one on how students can protect their privacy and this one  describing how Facebook and data brokers work together to show you targeted ads.

The injustice of solitary confinement and the transformative power of art are explored in Herman's House, a new feature documentary from first-time director Angad Singh Bhalla. Join the ACLU of Maine on Wednesday, April 24 at Space Gallery in Portland for a screening of this fascinating film! Herman's House follows the unlikely friendship between visual artist Jackie Sumell and Herman Wallace, one of America's most famous inmates, as they collaborate on an unprecedented - and widely acclaimed - art installation. The screening will be followed by a live video Q&A with Sumell. To learn more about the film and buy tickets, go here. To learn more about the ACLU of Maine's work to reduce the use of solitary, go here.

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation. Immigration Reform The highly anticipated comprehensive immigration reform bill dropped this week. At the ACLU, we celebrate the possibility of a pathway to citizenship for more than 11 million people in this country. As you can read here, eight in 10 Americans support a fair immigration system.  While the bill as drafted contains some concerning provisions (See our blog about the E-verify system), we are, on the whole, excited about the prospect of more people having more rights as citizens. ACLU lawyers are currently digging through more than 800 pages of the proposed bill armed with their civil liberties expertise. The Washington post gave their overview here. Other media can be read here, here, and here.   CISPA The House passed an overreaching "cyber security" bill on Thursday known as CISPA.  CISPA could compromise your electronic privacy by allowing companies to share private information (for a full breakdown of what it says and what it should say, visit our resource CISPA Explained). Fortunately, the president shares some of our concerns and has threatened to veto the bill. Read a New York Times technology article on CISPA here. Forced Blood Tests at the Side of the Road: The Supreme Court ruled in Missouri v. McNeely that the warrantless blood test of a man suspected of drunk driving was an unconstitutional search. ACLU legal director Steve Shapiro, who argued the case in the Court, was quoted here saying, “Today’s decision appropriately recognizes what half the states have already demonstrated -- that maintaining highway safety does not require sacrificing personal privacy” ACLU Sues Flower Shop for Discrimination The ACLU affiliate in Washington state filed a lawsuit on behalf of a gay couple denied service at a flower shop for their upcoming wedding. Read more in this news story.   Texas Execution Texas executed its third death row inmate this year, the eight execution in the country this year. Read more here.

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation. Immigration Immigration was the hot topic this week for policy makers, civil libertarians, activists, and even Mark Zuckerberg.  The latest news indicates that a bipartisan group of senators aims to unveil an immigration bill as soon as Tuesday. In anticipation of an immigration reform bill, thousands gathered at a rally in Washington D.C. on Wednesday and the ACLU of Maine joined the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition for a press conference in Maine as part of a nationwide day of action. As Rachel said in her blog, immigration reform must create a welcoming roadmap to citizenship and protect civil liberties. If you agree, tell your congressional delegation by clicking here.     The Death Penalty in the News 1) The father of an adult with mental illness wrote this opinion piece about using different calculations for punishment of the mentally ill. 2) One of Florida’s longest-serving death row inmates was executed Wednesday. He was sentence in 1981. Read more here. 3) Texas executed an inmate sentenced in 1990. More on that here.   Privacy and the IRS Last year, the ACLU sent a FOIA request to the IRS asking for records regarding whether or not the IRS gets a warrants to read emails, text messages, and other private electronic communication. The documents obtained suggest that the IRS does not have a uniform, nationwide policy of requesting warrants before it reads electronic communication in criminal investigations. Click here for more details.   These documents provide further evidence for the need to update our privacy laws. (For a recent update on potential new privacy laws here in Maine, see yesterday’s blog by Shenna).  

Today, I testified for the first time before the Joint Standing Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife - not exactly a committee that hears from the ACLU on a regular basis. We opposed two separate bills that would drastically increase criminal penalties for introducing certain types of fish into Maine waters. Later this week, we will oppose another bill that proposes a new crime for the unlawful possession of ruffed grouse.   Why the sudden interest in wildlife? Each of these bills, if passed, would unnecessarily expand Maine's penal code. Criminalizing new behavior does little to solve society’s problems.   Incarceration rates across the country have risen as the result of public policy – laws passed by Congress and in 50 state legislatures each year that have collectively driven incarceration rates dramatically upward, so that in 2008 one out of every 100 adults in the United States was behind bars. The United States accounts for nearly 25% of the world’s prison population while having only 4% of the world’s general population. We imprison more people per capita and in total than any other country in the world by far.   Protecting Maine's wildlife and natural resources is a noble goal. But, laws that protect wildlife by putting Mainers behind bars have devastating effects on our communities. Unfortunately, one such bill passed the House and Senate today. LD 632 creates criminal penalties for elver license violations - which is likely to have a disproportionate effect on the Passamaquoddy tribe.   We hope that the IFW committee will consider other penalties, short of criminalization, as they take steps to protect Maine's wildlife.

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation. This week, we bring you highlights from the national ACLU Blog of Rights.What’s Wrong With CISPAWe've written extensively about the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protections Act (CISPA) over the last year, but since the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is set to mark the bill up next week, and the full House to vote on it the week after that, we're posting in more depth about its shortcomings. Information sharing isn't offensive per se; it's really a question of what can be shared, with whom, and what corporations and government agencies can do with it.VICTORY! Students Triumph over Private Prison Company’s Bid to Name College Football StadiumFor-profit prison company GEO Group announced its decision last night to withdraw the $6 million donation it made to Florida Atlantic University in exchange for naming rights to the school's football stadium. Student groups, faith groups, the ACLU, and other civil rights groups actively campaigned for the university to dissociate from GEO Group.CIA to Promote Head of "Black Site" Where Torture Occurred?According to media reports, the acting director of the CIA's clandestine service has, for the last month, been an official who was "in the chain of command" in the CIA's torture program in the years after 9/11. According to a book by Jose Rodriguez, the former head of the clandestine service, this unnamed official even headed one of the early CIA "black sites"—notorious secret prisons set up overseas to torture detainees. Media reports indicate that the unnamed career officer also reportedly signed off on the destruction of 92 videotapes documenting some of the most brutal mistreatment carried out under the CIA program.