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Prisons

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Limiting Supermax solitary

 Legislation Drafted
Representative James Schatz, a Blue Hill Democrat, has proposed legislation to tightly limit when prisoners can be kept in the solitary confinement of the 100-man Supermax unit of the Maine State Prison in Warren.
By LANCE TAPLEY  |  October 08, 2009

Injustice everywhere

Letters to the Portland Editor, October 9, 2009
Thank you for the timely interview with Harvey Silverglate.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS  |  October 07, 2009

Dangerous slurs

 Gay rights in prison
A heavily tattooed, self-described Satanist serving a life sentence for savagely murdering two people in Augusta in 1998 — his 16-year-old stepdaughter and his 87-year-old former landlady — inmate John L’Heureux, 39, is probably not the man Maine’s gay-rights groups would choose to represent their cause in the state prison, if they were inclined to choose anyone there.
By LANCE TAPLEY  |  October 01, 2009
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Less than equal

 State officials, including prejudiced human-rights commissioners, block inmate complaints
This story has a bias. It’s in favor of human rights for all people.
By LANCE TAPLEY  |  October 02, 2009

Time for law to end torture

Letters to the Portland Editor, September 18, 2009
In a collaborative effort between human-rights activists and incarcerated Mainers, a bill to end the use and abuse of solitary confinement has been drafted and will be submitted to legislators soon.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS  |  September 16, 2009
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A Tale of Two Towns

Renowned for its roguish history, Charlestown is finally getting Hollywood's attention
Charlestown was baptized in bloodshed. Yet this unique, fertile turf has been generally overlooked by Hollywood, which has preferred instead its old rival South Boston, the primary backdrop for Oscar winners Good Will Hunting and The Departed .
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  September 29, 2009
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10 years later, we told you so

Ten years of being right (well, mostly)
Like many in the alternative press, we pride ourselves on being ahead of the game. Sometimes, of course, that means we're wrong about what might be coming down the pike — that's part of the risk of being "out front" and not just reacting to the news as it happens.
By DEIRDRE FULTON  |  September 16, 2009
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Prison ‘troublemaker’ confronts racism, medical abuse

Exiled
Vacillating between grit and despair — between aggressive lawsuits and suicide attempts — Deane Brown, the prisoner who in 2005 blew the whistle on the torture of mentally ill inmates at the Maine State Prison’s solitary-confinement “Supermax” unit, is struggling against prison conditions in Maryland, where he was exiled by the Baldacci administration.
By LANCE TAPLEY  |  September 09, 2009

Another Supermax hunger strike

Dungeon Watch
Protesting that nothing had been done by prison authorities to relieve the torture of prolonged solitary confinement, on August 17 inmates of the Maine State Prison’s 100-man Special Management Unit or “Supermax” reprised a hunger strike that had been abandoned last May.
By LANCE TAPLEY  |  September 02, 2009

Article aided big oil

Letters to the Portland Editor, September 4, 2009
Nothing helps big oil, and big coal, more than a piece like "What's Wrong With Wind Power?" (by Deirdre Fulton, August 21).
By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS  |  September 02, 2009

Letters to the Editor: August 28, 2009

Letters to the Portland Editor
The venting of wind-power skeptics in the Phoenix piece " What's Wrong With Wind Power " (by Deirdre Fulton, August 21) really misses a major point — global warming. When we finally get down to grappling with dangerous climate disruption all forms of non-carbon emitting power will rise.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS  |  August 26, 2009
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Ted's turn

Clinton caves on crime bill, but Kennedy can still salvage it
A little-known provision in the crime bill now being negotiated by a House-Senate conference committee would greatly expand the number of prison cells available to house violent criminals, and it wouldn't be cost a dime. But it may be doomed unless Senator Ted Kennedy is willing to spend some political capital.
By AL GIORDANO  |  August 26, 2009

Miraculous Appearances

Phoenix questions prompt action
Two weeks after the Phoenix began its prison Board of Visitors interviews, which revealed the group had not produced annual reports as required by law and had not met with the Legislature's Criminal Justice Committee in years, reports for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 suddenly materialized.
By LANCE TAPLEY  |  August 17, 2009

Letters to the Portland Editor: August 21, 2009

Letters to the editor
Regarding Lance Tapley's latest effort on the Maine State Prison Board of Visitors (see  "Secret, Unaccountable, and Co-opted,"  August 14), what he sometimes refers to as advocacy journalism might be more appropriately termed agenda journalism.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS  |  August 19, 2009

Letters to the Portland Editor - August 14, 2009

Letters to the editor
Letters to the editor
By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS  |  August 12, 2009
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Secret, unaccountable, and co-opted

If the prison Board of Visitors had done its job, it might have helped prevent several recent tragedies
The state prison in Warren has been hammered in recent months by an inmate murder and other violence, a prisoner hunger strike, legislative investigations exposing mismanagement and poor guard morale, and a request by human-rights groups for a federal probe of prisoner mistreatment.
By LANCE TAPLEY  |  August 17, 2009

Budget cuts

Prison staffing crisis hits perilous level
“Things are as tough at the prison right now as I’ve seen them in a long time,” state Corrections commissioner Martin Magnusson told the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on July 29. He spoke about the consequences of the staff cuts that the 915-inmate, 410-employee Maine State Prison in Warren has had to endure.
By LANCE TAPLEY  |  August 05, 2009
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The punch that took two lives

Nearly 17 years ago, Joe Donovan initiated a tragic chain of events with a brutish act of machismo. But should he be in jail for life?
When he was 17 years old, Joseph Donovan made the first of two stupid, and even reckless, mistakes. On the evening of September 18, 1992, in a brutish act of machismo, the East Cambridge native and minor-league delinquent punched out Norwegian MIT student Yngve Raustein.
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  August 05, 2009
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Our journalism echoes our politics

If the press reflects the times, which way will it go now?
Why won’t the Maine press inquire deeply into major issues?
By LANCE TAPLEY  |  August 03, 2009

Federal investigation requested

More prison turmoil
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.
By LANCE TAPLEY  |  July 22, 2009
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White-supremacist code printed nationwide

One man's death spread the numeric code for "Heil Hitler" across the world.
While von Brunn survived to face federal criminal charges and may yet die slowly in federal prison, he did manage to get newspapers around the globe to print a white-supremacist code praising Adolf Hitler right next to his name.
By JEFF INGLIS  |  June 17, 2009
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Prison in turmoil

Investigators probe killing, stabbing, corruption allegations
Will reform have to wait for a new governor?
By LANCE TAPLEY  |  June 17, 2009

Dr. Lovemonkey: Jailbait and Jailbirds

Dr. Lovemonkey answers your questions
Is there something I'm missing?
By DR. LOVEMONKEY  |  June 09, 2009

Putting an end to the hunger strike

Prison Watch
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.
By LANCE TAPLEY and JEFF INGLIS  |  May 18, 2009

Arbitrary injustice

Sent to Supermax solitary confinement
Fears doesn't like the particular prison where he now resides. He would prefer to be in one near his family in Arizona, and not in solitary confinement.
By LANCE TAPLEY  |  April 09, 2009
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Lawmakers to probe prison

Several investigations begin simultaneously
For years controversy has churned over the Maine State Prison's treatment of both inmates and correctional officers. For the first time, legislators have taken action.
By LANCE TAPLEY  |  April 08, 2009
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Fighting the good fight

DARE faces major changes and challenges
As Rhode Island's poor and working-class citizens face a shrinking job market, social program cuts, and an avalanche of home foreclosures, a leading low-income advocacy group faces major changes.
By STEVEN STYCOS  |  April 01, 2009

92. Rick Ross

INSPECTOR BLECCH
The boss of the South likes to slang rhymes about slinging rock, but  according to the Smoking Gun , the only hard time he did in Dade County was on the other side of the law: although he refuses to admit to it, he reportedly served 18 months as a corrections officer. For a rapper, that’s about as sexy as blowing your hype man on stage. As it is, Ross is so ugly he keeps his sunglasses on at all hours — even when traumatizing a Fader TV interviewer by whipping off his shirt to reveal his numerous tattoos . . . and his (bigger-than-Trina’s) man-tits.
By Boston Phoenix Staff  |  March 25, 2009
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You're Probably in a Drug-Free School Zone Right Now

For all the good it does
Ever seen a crack dealer brandish a chrome tape measure and inch his way out of a "drug-free school zone" before slinging fat rocks to pregnant teenage mothers? No?
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  February 11, 2009

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