A bill requiring municipal candidates and PACs in Maine’s three largest cities to disclose their campaign finance reports to the public passed the Maine House and Maine Senate this month but is facing concern over its opaque $1 million fiscal note for “software upgrades.” The proposal, LD 1658, sponsored by Rep. Grayson Lookner (D-Portland), is…
Joseph Jackson stood on a small tarp roughly the dimensions of a solitary confinement cell. He explained to supporters gathered at the Maine State House that in an isolation cell there are no bars, just a solid door with a narrow vertical window. You can barely hear the outside world, the light never turns off,…
Advocates, families and formerly incarcerated Mainers testified to lawmakers on Wednesday in favor of a bill that would ban solitary confinement in Maine’s prison and jails. They said that prolonged isolation deliberately used as punishment can cause permanent damage to anyone who experiences it, and it is especially dangerous for people with serious mental illness.…
As the 2022 legislative session gets underway, advocates and lawmakers are pushing a slate of bills to reform Maine’s punitive drug laws and address other aspects of the state’s often harsh criminal legal system. The bills come after a 2021 legislative session in which significant progress was made on those issues. The Democratic-led Maine Legislature…
A nearly successful legislative campaign to close Maine’s last youth prison this year was spearheaded by those who have been imprisoned there. Lawmakers at the front of the effort say the ground was loosened for them by a multi-year campaign by formerly incarcerated young people to change hearts and minds around juvenile incarceration. While reports…
With over 90,000 fatal overdoses across the United States last year, almost nothing is more urgent than putting an end to this carnage. However, as endless as the conversation often is about what needs to be done, I believe that it is just as important, if not more so, to talk about who it is…
The Maine People’s Alliance (of which Beacon is a project) released this week its annual legislative scorecard, rating state policymakers for their votes on legislation ranging from tax fairness measures, to expanding access to health care and housing, to racial equity among others. “With a Democratic governor and Democratic majorities in both chambers, our state…
Advocates are once again putting pressure on Gov. Janet Mills to halt new detentions at Maine’s last child prison and work with youth and community members to release a plan to close the facility, citing the need for urgent action after a recent report stated that staff at Long Creek Youth Development Center used dangerous…
A bill to close Maine’s last youth prison, Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland, has passed the Maine Legislature and is on its way to the desk of Gov. Janet Mills. The Maine Senate voted 19-15 on Monday, with Democrats Bill Diamond of Cumberland County, Louis Luchini of Hancock and Susan Deschambault of…
Members of the Maine Legislature’s Taxation Committee heard public testimony Thursday on multiple bills that would add an upper income tax bracket, which proponents said would help the state address long unmet needs and make the tax code “more fair.” Maine’s personal income tax code currently taxes all individuals who make $52,600 or more at…