Analysis Area 1: (A) Assess behavioral health (BH) challenges, especially opioid addiction, and their impacts on people in the criminal justice system, including assessing the availability, funding, and oversight of treatment resources; (B) Analyze jail and prison-based programming and treatment, including that related to diversion and reentry.
Update: On March 17, 2020, the Maine legislature ordered the immediate adjournment of the legislative session due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All bills not directly related to the governor’s omnibus budget or support for COVID-19 were not heard. In July 2020, joint standing legislative committees resumed meeting virtually and in limited, physically distant ways and held work sessions and public hearings on bills that were “paused” due to the COVID-19 shutdown in March 2020. The Maine State Legislature re-opened in 2020 and convened its first regular session on December 2, 2020, which will adjourn on June 16, 2021.
Analysis Area 2: (A) Determine primary drivers of prison population growth in Maine, including revocation policy and practice, recidivism monitoring, and time-earning status; (B) evaluate probation policy and practice in Maine so that probation can be maximized as a tool for recidivism reduction and recovery outcomes can be improved for people on supervision.
Update: In January, MDOC staff continued to produce a once-daily public report of the impact of new policies and practices in line with public health mandates for the safety of people in prison and the staff who work at state prison facilities and county jails. This information is available on the MDOC website. Between January 4, 2020, and December 30, 2020, according to MDOC’s most recent daily update, the institutional correctional population in state prisons has decreased 19 percent (from 2,175 to 1,766 people), and the county jail population has decreased 14 percent (from 1,649 to 1,419 people). MDOC has posted the criteria for releasing individuals on their public website as well.
Analysis Area 3: Study how Maine’s criminal justice system affects people differentially by race, ethnicity, and gender.
Update: In January, Maine’s legislative leaders continued to discuss better and more reliable collection of demographics across Maine’s criminal justice and behavioral health systems to guide policymaking.
Analysis Area 4: Analyze how Maine’s criminal justice system serves victims of crime.
Update: In January, CSG Justice Center staff continued to monitor opportunities to work with stakeholders to ensure that victims’ issues remain a focus of the Justice Reinvestment process.
Analysis Area 5: Assess pretrial decision-making systems, including the availability and use of diversion programs; analyze indigent defense policy and practice.
Update: In January, Maine leadership continued to make necessary changes to the pretrial process in response to public health mandates. Beginning June 1, 2020, all courts in Maine resumed normal operating hours, and the Maine Supreme Court is operating under a published and publicly available phased re-opening plan. Video proceedings are still the preferred method for all court proceedings.
New Policy Insights:
In January, Maine leaders continued to focus on the health and safety of Mainers in the short and long term. As in many other states, Maine has made policy and practice decisions prioritizing the health and well-being of people in the criminal justice system that impact the system and people in significant ways. Maine has released individuals from jails and prisons, has vacated all warrants for unpaid court fines and fees. The new legislative session convened on December 2, 2020, and 1,700 pieces of legislation were filed by the filing deadline of December 18, 2020. Many of those pieces of legislation address issues of police oversight, transparency, and accountability.
In July 2020, CSG Justice Center staff discussed further engagement with the Justice Reinvestment process in Maine with legislative and executive branch leadership. In response to email inquiries about continued engagement, the criminal justice policy staff in the office of Governor Janet Mills and the commissioners of the Departments of Corrections, Public Safety, and Health and Human Services, indicated that Maine does not have any further requests for engagement at this time. There was no change to this stance from Maine leaders in January.
With the release of the Maine Final Report, Phase 1 activity reports will discontinue. CSG Justice Center staff will continue to monitor relationships and policy considerations in Maine and alert the Bureau of Justice Assistance and The Pew Charitable Trusts should new developments prove promising for further legislative engagement.
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This month, research staff focused on checking and updating data points included in the Maine final report. Research staff clarified data points related to the number of opioid overdose deaths versus total drug overdose deaths and figures relating to the estimated cost or savings of implementing proposed policies.
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