Are Maine Prisons Out of Control?

 
Stan Moody of Manchester, ME, former Maine State Representative and most recently a
Chaplain at Maine State Prison in Warren, is devoting his time to forcing transparency
and accountability in Maine’s prison system…A prolific and published writer, Dr.
Moody is pastor of the Meeting House Church in Manchester and has been a frequent
speaker on human rights issues at conferences around the nation…
 
April 13, 2010
 
Maine, the State with the lowest incarceration rate in the nation, appears to be
losing to suspicious death a disproportionate number of prisoners from within its
segregation facilities.  This seems somewhat odd in view of the concerted effort that the
Department of Corrections undertook over the past month to defend itself against
legislative bill LD1611, an initiative intended to put reasonable restraints on the use and
abuse of segregation within Maine’s prisons.  Under the time-worn idiom of circling the
wagons, the Department pulled out all the stops in opposing the bill, succeeding in
reducing it down to a resolve to study itself.  A highly respected Captain at Maine State
Prison broke down sobbing at the hearing, accusing the sponsors of the bill of insulting
the good people in Corrections, insisting that he had never maced anyone.  That theme
was picked up by the Hon. Rep. Richard Sykes of Harrison, who was heard on the House
floor to accuse supporters of the bill of insulting those good people at the prisons who
“…put their lives on the line every day,” a debatable premise.
Not only did the Department call on scores of employees to testify against the bill,
they corralled numerous others to wear protest stickers and lobby in the halls of the State
House, an uncomfortable picture of the activities of our state employees.  On the day the
House was first expected to debate the bill, employees reportedly were ordered that they
were to put on the stickers and report to the 2nd floor of the Capital building, presumably
taking the treasured “Comp Time” to avoid the lobbying restrictions imposed on
government employees.
Yet, 3 people have died within the past year either within segregation or barely
out of segregation.  First, Sheldon Weinstein – Jewish, brilliant, wheelchair bound and a
dropout from Boston University Medical School – died of a ruptured spleen On April 24,
2009, within about 2 hours after I requested that he be given toilet paper.  His death is
reported to have been the result of an assault received 4 days earlier.  Then Victor
Valdez, segregated under suspicious circumstances, was rushed from segregation to the
Infirmary at Maine State Prison and was reported to have died there.  Now comes the
case of George Magee at the Androscoggin County Jail, who hanged himself over the
weekend in a segregation cell at Receiving in full view of security.  He was placed there
under observation for refusing his medicine.  Yet, he is reported to have hanged himself
with pieces of ripped bed sheets.
What is going on here?  If you are not safe in segregation, where can you be safe
within a prison?
 Two of these prisoners – Weinstein and Magee – were convicted sex offenders. 
Weinstein had confessed to molesting a family member, and Magee had violated the
terms of his probation by living with a woman with minor children.
Let me share with you what I believe in going on here.
As a Chaplain, I became instrumental in breaking up a loosely-held gang in the
Medium Custody Unit at Maine State Prison that called itself the “Rat and Skinner
Patrol.”  “Skinner” is the pejorative term for a sex offender, commonly beaten within the
prison, while “Rat” is the term for a beaten prisoner who informs on who beat him (or a
Chaplain who tells what is going on there).  Traditionally, beaten “Skinners” were placed
in segregation for interminable periods of time, while the perpetrators, if caught, were put
into the “hole” for 5-10 days. 
During the last legislative session, Maine Department of Corrections successfully
lobbied to place the 15 County Jails (or Corrections Institutions) under its limited
jurisdiction in order to institute uniform compliance with accepted corrections standards.
This jurisdiction was placed under the authority of the distinguished Board of
Corrections, itself under the intense scrutiny and able assistance of the Department.  One
is reminded of the Dutch legend of Hans Brinker, who put his finger in a dike to prevent
a flood, only to place himself in grave peril. 
The Department of Corrections has a favorite phrase to deflect criticism:  “We are
operating within nationally accepted standards.”  In talking with my brother in Rhode
Island, however, a psychologist with a counseling practice to sex offenders in the Rhode
Island and Massachusetts prison systems, he had not known of one case of a sex offender
beating over the past 20 or more years of his practice.  Yet, the bias against sex offenders
within the guard culture in the prison and jail system in Maine is notorious.  Accepted
practice in Maine for all too many guards is to look the other way or even to tacitly
promote abuse of certain prisoners under their protection.
That is the systemic cultural miasma that the Department is desperately trying to
fix before it gets out of control.  I have news for these good people.  It may already be out
of control.  Transparency and accountability are the two accepted standards that will
repair the damage, albeit not for Sheldon Weinstein, Victor Valdez and George Magee or
those who professed to have loved them.