News & Commentary

Update: LD 1013 becomes law!

The Eighth Amendment of our Constitution explicitly prohibits any cruel or unusual punishment from being imposed, and yet, we see examples of this throughout our criminal justice system. From use of the death penalty to solitary confinement and inadequate provision of medical care, America's enormous prison system has a reputation for its terrible conditions.  

Taking photographs of things that are plainly visible from public spaces is a constitutional right — and that includes recording police and other government officials as they carry out their duties. Read my blog post about this right, and our lawsuit to protect it, over at the New England First Amendment Coalition.

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.