On the other hand, the prison claims to have in recent years dramatically reduced the incidence of one of the most brutal behaviors in the prison, the Supermax cell "extractions," in which a SWAT-type team of armored guards violently subdues a disobedient and usually mentally ill prisoner and straps him into a restraint chair. And recently an inmate, Norman Kehling, wrote to the Phoenix commending the prompt response of prison staff when he was stricken by a heart attack. "I am lucky to be alive, and I owe it to these wonderful people," he says.
Perhaps, then, all is not bad at the Maine State Prison.
Lance Tapley can be reached at ltapley@roadrunner.com.
Related:
Three years and counting, Putting an end to the hunger strike, Federal investigation requested, More 
- Three years and counting
For the past three years, Portland Phoenix contributing writer Lance Tapley has been the only reporter in Maine to pay attention to the appalling conditions suffered by inmates in the Maine State Prison
- Putting an end to the hunger strike
Maine State Prison officials ended a hunger strike involving at least 10 inmates of the solitary-confinement Supermax unit in Warren by threatening to withhold the strikers’ psychotropic medications, according to allegations by an inmate who participated in the strike.
- Federal investigation requested
Stirred into action by the murder of a wheelchair-bound prisoner, human-rights activists have asked the federal Department of Justice to investigate the treatment of Maine State Prison inmates.
- The failure of ‘tough-on-crime’ tactics
It was after midnight, and Dawn Jacques lay sleepless in her cell at the Adult Correctional Institutions, shuddering. Bathed in sweat, she stared at the ceiling for hours until it blurred.
- Pressure rising
Four months ago, a Phoenix investigative series revealed abuses of inmates at the “Supermax,” a 100-bed, solitary-confinement, maximum-security facility inside the Maine State Prison in Warren; since our articles were published, several important developments have taken place.
- Death in the Supermax
A 25-year-old inmate killed himself in the state’s Supermax prison on October 5, corrections officers say. But while a Rockland newspaper quoted the prison warden as saying the inmate was not considered a suicide risk, Ryan Rideout had a long history of mental illness and suicidal behavior.
- An unprecedented crime
I have a true ghost story to tell: the story of 35,000 ghosts in America, the largely invisible inmates of our solitary-confinement “supermax” prisons.
- Arbitrary imprisonment
Joseph Steinberger thought he had won one of the most important trials of his legal career.
- Lockdown
If you were a reporter and you received a letter like the one excerpted below, what would you make of it? Lance Tapley discusses reporting the prisons
- Dangerous waits for psychiatric evaluations?
State officials admit delays for jail-inmate psychiatric evaluations have increased considerably.
- Rise of psychosurgery
This article originally appeared in the March 11, 1972 issue of the Boston Phoenix.
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, U.S. Government, U.S. State Government, Edward Karass, More
, U.S. Government, U.S. State Government, Edward Karass, Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability, David Trahan, David Trahan, Rhonda Dawson, Warren, Beth Ashcroft, Politics, Less
