Stories about Maine State Prison
Maine State Prison records show nine staffers disciplined for ethnic slurs
WARREN, Maine — Eight officers at the Maine State Prison were reprimanded earlier this year for making derogatory ethnic slurs against another employee, according to disciplinary records released by the Maine Department of Corrections. A ninth officer — a supervisor — also was suspended for not taking action regarding the ...
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Corrections commissioner describes how Maine State Prison is striving to reduce violence
WARREN, Maine — Inmate gangs that extort and intimidate other prisoners exist in every facility across the country, but Maine Department of Corrections Commissioner Joseph Ponte said steps have been taken to control such violence at the Maine State Prison. And more changes are on the horizon. Ponte agreed to ...
Dismissed Maine State Prison warden remains on state payroll
WARREN, Maine — Patricia Barnhart, who was fired as warden of the Maine State Prison three weeks ago, remains on the state payroll. Jody Breton, associate commissioner of the Maine Department of Corrections, confirmed Tuesday that Barnhart remained on the state payroll. She declined to comment further on the personnel ...
Lawmaker says firing of Maine State Prison warden was over management issues
WARREN, Maine — The firing of Maine State Prison Warden Patricia Barnhart on Thursday appeared to be over management issues and involved nothing improper on her part, according to the Senate chairman of the legislative committee that oversees the corrections system. Despite numerous sources confirming her dismissal Friday, administrators with ...
Hospice program provides care, comfort for Maine’s aging prison population
WARREN, Maine — Santanu Basu has been a resident of Maine State Prison for a long time already, and has a lot more time to go before he’s released. If he’s ever released, that is. So Basu, a convicted murderer, has resolved to do good during the remaining decades of ...
Convicted murderer dies at Maine State Prison
WARREN, Maine — A Maine State Prison inmate who was serving a life sentence for murder died Thursday morning due to ongoing health problems, the Maine Department of Corrections announced. The prisoner was 64-year-old Charles Page, the department’s spokeswoman, Judy Plummer, said in a news release issued late Thursday afternoon. ...
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Less restriction equals less violence at Maine State Prison
WARREN, Maine — A change implemented last year in the way the Maine State Prison deals with violent and disruptive inmates is paying off, both financially and behaviorally, Department of Corrections officials say. In 2011, the state prison in Warren, following a nationwide trend as well as the recommendations of ...
Prisoner’s death inspires new opera
BELFAST, Maine — When Maine State Prison inmate Victor Valdez died in custody in November 2009, it sparked an outcry among prisoner and human rights advocates. They believed the frail, sickly 52-year-old prisoner from the Dominican Republic may have been badly beaten by guards before his death. The fact that ...
Three Maine State Prison inmates earn bachelor’s degrees
WARREN, Maine — Shaun Libby, 32, of Standish was a teenager when he killed a man while trying to rob a gas station. He has grown up a lot since then. On Wednesday, Libby and eight other men received degrees from a Maine State Prison college program. It has been ...
State hopes to avoid future problems raised by prison land sale deal
AUGUSTA, Maine — Hoping to avoid another questionable sale of state-owned land, lawmakers on Tuesday asked the state’s Department of Administrative and Financial Services to draft legislation that would make the process for marketing and selling state land uniform across state agencies. The discussion of how the state sells land ...
$30,000 worth of heroin found in Maine State Prison Showroom
THOMASTON, Maine — Police have figured out one way drugs are getting into the Maine State Prison. On Monday, police and a prison staffer reportedly found $30,000 worth of heroin inside the Maine State Prison Showroom bathroom apparently waiting to be smuggled into the prison. A woman dropped off the ...
State buys back land from warden, lost $2,000 on the deal
THOMASTON, Maine — At a net cost of $2,000, the state has bought back about 5 acres of coastal property sold in a controversial deal to the Maine State Prison warden. On Sept. 21, the state Attorney General’s Office bought back for $177,000 three parcels of land from Maine State ...
Inmates file lawsuits in alleged padlock assaults
WARREN, Maine — Two Maine State Prison inmates, one of whom is a convicted murderer, have filed federal lawsuits against prison officials after allegedly being beaten by other prisoners armed with prison-issued padlocks. The two separate suits were filed Aug. 30 in U.S. District Court in Bangor by inmates Keith ...
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K-9 Corrections program helps inmates, dogs learn to get along
WARREN, Maine — They’re in there for the same reason. Both the men and the dogs broke society’s rules. Now the Maine State Prison brings misbehaving dogs together with inmates to help each other. A rehabilitation program for both humans and dogs, K-9 Corrections takes puppies from the Humane Society ...
Maine finance chief says his office missed details in sale of land to state employee
AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine’s finance commissioner took sole responsibility Tuesday for the controversial sale of land in Thomaston to a state employee and vowed to create policies to ensure there is more accountability and transparency in similar future sales. Sawin Millett and other state officials fielded tough questions during a Tuesday ...
Inmate charged with manslaughter in 2009 death of another prisoner
WARREN, Maine — A Maine State Prison inmate has been indicted on a manslaughter charge in connection with the death of another inmate at the prison two years ago. John Thibeault, 32, formerly of Brewer and Orono, was indicted by the Knox County grand jury on Thursday. The indictment, which ...
Maine State Prison completes three-day lockdown to find contraband
WARREN, Maine — A three-day lockdown at the Maine State Prison ended Thursday evening. The prison had been in a lockdown since Tuesday as officials searched the facility cell by cell to find drugs, DVDs and other contraband. This was a routine search that was not spurred by any recent ...
Music teacher resentenced to 27 years behind bars
ELLSWORTH, Maine — Though his 28-year sentence for molesting his music students was vacated by the state’s highest court, a former Blue Hill man has been resentenced to serve 27 years behind bars. Theodore S. Stanislaw, 52, was convicted and sentenced in January 2010 of unlawful sexual contact, unlawful sexual ...
Police reviewing inmate death at Maine State Prison in Warren
BELFAST, Maine — State police are reviewing the death of a convicted murderer incarcerated at the Maine State Prison in Warren. Robert Ingerson, 65, died at approximately 11:30 p.m. Friday after being transported to Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport. Ingerson had served 45 years of a life sentence for ...
Sale of state property to prison warden ‘raises red flags’
By GLENN ADAMS, The Associated Press on July 01, 2011, at 10:34 a.m.
AUGUSTA, Maine — Legislative oversight committees will review the state’s sale of property near the former state prison in Thomaston to the current prison warden for $175,000 — a figure well below its $458,000 town-assessed value. The property was sold June 9 to Warden Patricia Barnhart and Sheehan Gallagher through ...
Call put out for ground search volunteers in effort to find missing Glenburn teen
More than 500 help with ground search for missing Glenburn teen
Three indicted in Houlton meth bust, endangering welfare of child
One winning ticket sold in Florida in historic $590.5 million Powerball drawing
Jeffrey Nugent says his brother Ted Nugent is wrong on background checks
Funding isn’t everything: Education reform takes innovation, cooperation
Maine protects a woman’s right to choose
Strengthening the schools Maine already has
Emma Libby, 15, overcomes ruling to win Sport-4 race at Speedway 95
Marcus Davis wins mixed martial arts main event at NEF VII
For those who are too fat for Abercrombie and Fitch
Market Basket in Biddeford starts hiring 300 workers
Promise of land brought Theriault family to ‘Acadie’ in 1630s
How do I teach my kids it’s not OK to be bullied, even by family?
Custom guitar played by two members of the Beatles sells for $408,000 at auction
