< Haute or Not
Maine Prisons
The Portland Phoenix’s prison investigation, focusing on the Maine supermax and prisoner abuse.
-
1.
Torture in Maine's Prison | November 11, 2005
November 11, 2005 | In our initial story, prisoners described supermax conditions, especially solitary confinement of the mentally ill, that met United Nations definitions of torture. An online video showed guards beating an inmate in a "cell extraction." (Corrections instituted some reforms, but basic conditions remain.) | By Lance Tapley -
2.
Video of an "extraction" at the Maine State Prison | November 11, 2005
A WARNING TO POTENTIAL VIEWERS: These extremely explicit and graphic scenes are real. -
3.
-
4.
-
5.
.jpg)
Arbitrary imprisonment | July 21, 2006
July 21, 2006 | A jury found supermax prisoner Michael James not guilty because of insanity in 10 assaults on guards, but the state disobeyed a judge's order to place him in a mental hospital. (It took his lawyers a year to have him placed there.) -
6.
-
7.
-
8.
-
9.
Lockdown: What do prison officials have to hide? | December 15, 2006
December 15, 2006 | Deane Brown, our chief inmate informant, was sent to the Maryland supermax to prevent him from revealing more about prison conditions, and officials effectively banned us from the prisons by placing unacceptable restrictions on coverage. (Media organizations protested, but it took a year before we could interview inmates on acceptable terms.) | By Lance Tapley -
10.
-
11.
Sluggish response to suicide: Supermax watch | January 5, 2007
January 5, 2007 | Eyewitnesses said a guard taunted mentally ill supermax inmate Ryan Rideout to kill himself, then let him hang a while when he found him. Rideout died. (The guard was fired.) | By Lance Tapley -
12.
-
13.
-
14.
-
15.
-
16.
-
17.
-
18.
Punish the mentally ill! | April 13, 2007
Maine attorney general office pursues controversial legislation that would punish severely mentally ill prisoners before treating them | By Lance Tapley -
19.
Prisoners as commodities | April 27, 2007
April 27, 2007 | Governor Baldacci attempted to send prisoners to a Corrections Corporation of America lockup in Oklahoma. The company's lobbyist, we revealed, was a Baldacci fundraiser and confidant. (The Legislature blocked the transfer.) | By Lance Tapley -
20.
-
21.
-
22.
-
23.
Maine prison bosses violate court orders | June 29, 2007
June 29, 2007 | We discovered Corrections had ignored 1970s federal court orders requiring prisoner access to the press. (Access improved.) | By Lance Tapley -
24.
-
25.
-
26.
-
27.
-
28.
-
29.
-
30.
-
31.
Group seeks to hold Maine to UN standard | August 31, 2007
Portland-based prison activists knock on Munjoy Hill doors collecting signatures to oppose the “legalized abuse of prisoners” in Maine and throughout the country | By Jeff Inglis -
32.
Stabbed in the back | September 14, 2007
September 14, 2007 | By sending him to a violent out-of-state prison, Corrections endangered the life of a state prison inmate who had revealed an escape plot and prevented a bloodbath, (Corrections moved him to a safer prison.) | By Lance Tapley -
33.
-
34.
-
35.
-
36.
-
37.
Wave of reform | February 8, 2008
There is now a chance to fix Maine’s broken corrections system, but only if the public speaks up | By Lance Tapley -
38.
-
39.
-
40.
-
41.
-
42.
-
43.
-
44.
Time for a clean sweep?: A former guard calls for prison reform | July 25, 2008
In early 2007, Rhonda Dawson, a thoughtful, candid, 45-year-old African-American guard at the Maine State Prison in Warren, quit her job after four years because, she says, of racist taunting from her fellow correctional officers | By Lance Tapley -
45.
-
46.
-
47.
Falling down: Mistreatment of Maine prison guards lands heavily on inmates | November 7, 2008
November 7, 2008 | Abused guards — overworked, underpaid, poorly managed, stressed — tended to abuse prisoners and didn't last long. (Little has changed.) | By Lance Tapley -
48.
Corrections changes: NAACP leader challenges Maine prison policies | December 12, 2008
NAACP national president Benjamin Jealous swept into the 900-inmate Maine State Prison in Warren on Monday, quelling protests among the prisoners and, at least temporarily, rescuing the organization’s prison chapter from being snuffed out by state corrections officials | By Lance Tapley -
49.
-
50.
-
51.
Lawmakers to probe prison | April 10, 2009
April 10, 2009 | The Legislature's Government Oversight Committee and the state auditor launched investigations of state prison mismanagement. (Critical reports resulted.) | By Lance Tapley -
52.
-
53.
-
54.
Prison in turmoil | June 19, 2009
June 19, 2009 | Sex-offender inmate Sheldon Weinstein's death was attributed to a beating by other inmates or to withheld medical care. (A state police investigation is still pending. The longtime warden was removed from his post and replaced by someone from out of state.) | By Lance Tapley -
55.
-
56.
-
57.
Secret, unaccountable, and co-opted: If the prison Board of Visitors had done its job, it might have helped prevent several recent tragedies | August 14, 2009
August 17, 2009 | The citizen Board of Visitors hadn't done its job of monitoring the state prison. (Missing reports were written, but otherwise little changed.) | By Lance Tapley -
58.
-
59.
-
60.
-
61.
Less than equal | October 2, 2009
State officials, including prejudiced human-rights commissioners, block inmate complaints | By Lance Tapley -
62.
-
63.
-
64.
-
65.
-
66.
-
67.
-
68.
Screams from solitary: ‘By dehumanizing prisoners, we dehumanize ourselves’ | February 19, 2010
February 19, 2010 | The case against supermax solitary confinement was presented in advance of the legislative vote to restrict it. (The Legislature approved a study of solitary instead.) | By Lance Tapley -
69.
-
70.
-
71.
-
72.
Are doctors complicit in prison torture? | April 23, 2010
Some Maine doctors are now looking closely at the state’s supermax, saying that solitary confinement constitutes torture, and asking if the medical professionals and psychologists involved with the facility are complicit in torture | By Lance Tapley -
73.
-
74.
A prison obituary: the tragedy of Victor Valdez | July 30, 2010
July 30, 2010 | A sickly immigrant was taken to the supermax. Inmates said guards beat him and medical care was withheld. (The attorney general said he died of natural causes.) | By Lance Tapley -
75.
-
76.
-
77.
-
78.
-
79.
-
80.
-
81.
At a turning point | February 9, 2011
LePage's nominee to head Corrections has the skills to fix Maine's broken prison system. Will the governor and lawmakers give Joseph Ponte the tools? -
82.
LePage kisses the Phoenix | February 23, 2011
Valentine's Day
-
83.
Lock-up lessons | April 14, 2011
The new corrections commissioner wants Maine prisons to learn from the state’s juvenile-treatment model. -
84.
NAACP, others bristle after GOP Senator censors anti-private-prison testimony | May 4, 2011
What is it with some Republicans and racial issues, anyway? -
85.
-
86.
Reform comes to the supermax | May 25, 2011
Less than three months into his job, Maine's new corrections commissioner Joseph Ponte has begun to dramatically reform the Maine State Prison's long-troubled solitary-confinement "supermax" unit. -
87.
-
88.
-
89.
Reducing solitary confinement | November 2, 2011
Exclusive Interview: How Maine’s corrections commissioner dropped supermax numbers by 70 percent . . . and became a national leader in prison reform (if anybody follows)
-
90.
Senator Collins helps derail prison reform | November 9, 2011
'Toxic' Washington
-
91.
-
92.
-
93.
-
94.
Whistle-blower asks to come home | September 26, 2012
Exiles’ Return
