News & Commentary

On the most recent edition of “Last Week Tonight,” John Oliver explored the depths of the government’s surveillance capabilities with his typical brand of satire. In an unexpected twist, Oliver actually traveled to Russia for a face-to-face interview with Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who revealed many of the programs that now inform our larger understanding of how expansively the National Security Agency operates.

Contrary to what this op-ed - published last week in the Portland Press Herald - argues, there is no question our criminal fine system has a disproportionate impact on the poor.

On Monday, RH Reality Check published the first article in their “Women, Incarcerated” series. This first article focuses on one former prisoner’s experience with a high-risk pregnancy, forced induced labor, and shackling, all while in prison. The woman in question, Keeley Schenwar, was arrested in the spring of 2013 – the same day she found out she was pregnant. Schenwar had been struggling with addiction and had been in and out of jail several times for crimes related to drug dependency. For her last offense – stealing from Walgreen’s – she was sentenced to a year in Logan Correctional Center.  

This week RH Reality, a daily publication providing news, commentary, and analysis on reproductive health and reproductive justice issues, began a series titled Women, Incarcerated – an on-going investigation into the abuses women face in prisons and jails across the country. The series is a great reminder of why, in order to end mass incarceration and build a more humane prison system, criminal justice advocates must address women in our justice system. 

The police carry guns, and we carry cellphones. Today, we settled a case against a Portland police officer, who arrested our clients after they attempted to peacefully record and observe police activity on a Portland public street. You can read about the settlement here and here and here.

I was excited to see HBO’s John Oliver dedicate the majority of the latest episode of Last Week Tonight to the issue of fines. Court fines, and the practice of incarcerating people for failing to pay them, is an issuing garnering national attention (especially in the wake of a report recently released by the Justice Department lambasting the city of Ferguson, Missouri for its fine collection practices). 

The ACLU of Maine released the following response to the governor’s budget proposal that would increase funding for a law enforcement response to Maine’s drug crisis, without increasing funding for treatment and prevention.

When should we disrupt authority and when should we not? That was the question posed by the Maine Humanities Council last week for an event they hosted here in Portland. As a panelist I shared the ACLU’s perspective, which is centered primarily on governmental authority and particularly the instances where the government overreaches that authority and must be reined in.

The biennial budget proposed by Maine Gov. Paul LePage has drawn plenty of notice this session, but one troubling aspect of it has escaped the attention of most and is particularly relevant this Sunshine Week.