An Act To Amend the Laws Relating to the Department of Corrections
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 1953
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: PLUMMER, McCORMICK, GERZOFSKY, HASKELL
Amends: 15 MRSA §891, 15 MRSA §3314, 34-A MRSA §3036-A, 34-A MRSA §3046, 34-A MRSA §3046-A, 34-A MRSA §3805, 34-A MRSA §4104, 34-A MRSA §7003, 34-A MRSA §700, 34-A MRSA §7006, 34-A MRSA §7007, 34-A MRSA §7008

Legislative Document 
No. 1953 
H.P.1391 
House of Representatives, December 20,2007 
An Act To Amend the Laws Relating to the Department of 
Corrections 
Submitted by the Department of Corrections pursuant to Joint Rule 204. 
Received by the Clerk of the House on December 18,2007. Referred to the Committee on 
Criminal Justice and Public Safety pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to 
Joint Rule 401. 
Presented by Representative PLUMMER of Windham. 
IY/~frl.~ 
Mll...LICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Cosponsored by Senator McCORMICK of Kennebec and 
Representatives: GERZOFSKY of Brunswick, HASKELL of Portland. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 15 MRSA §891, first ~, as amended by PL 2007, c. 277, § I, is further 
amended to read: 
When a person has been admitted to bail or juvenile conditions of release or is 
committed by a judge, or is indicted or held upon a complaint and warrant for an assault 
or ethef ~ Class D or E crime, as defined by Title 17-A, section 4-A, or is the subject of a 
juvenile petition alleging commission of a crime that, if the juvenile charged were an 
adult, would be an assault or ethef ~ Class D or E crime, as defined by Title 17-A, section 
4-A, for which the party injured has a remedy by civil action, except aggravated assaults, 
assaults upon or resistance of ala' .... enfereement an officer as defined by Title 17 A in the 
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execution of a law eAfereement the officer's duty, as defined by Title 17-A, section 751-
A or 752-A, assaults of those officers, crimes involving family or household members as 
defined in Title 19-A, chapter 101 and molesting lobster gear pursuant to Title 12, chapter 
619, if the injured party appears before the judge or court and in writing acknowledges 
satisfaction for the injury, the court, on payment of all costs, may stay further proceedings 
and discharge the defendant. The judge may exonerate the bail and release the obligors, 
supersede the commitment by written order and exonerate the bail of the witnesses. 
Sec. 2. 15 MRSA §3314, sub-§7, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 196, §5, is amended 
to read: 
7. Enforcement of a dispositional order or order to appear. After notice and 
hearing and in accordance with the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 66, the court 
may exercise its inherent contempt power by way of a plenary contempt proceeding 
involving-punitive sanctions, accompanied or unaccompanied by remedial sanctions, to 
enforce the disposition ordered following an adjudication for a juvenile crime or to 
enforce any order requiring the appearance of a juvenile before the court. 
Any 
confinement imposed as a punitive or remedial sanction upon a person who has not 
attained 18 years of age may not exceed 30 days and must be served in a facility 
approved or operated by the Department of Corrections exclusively for juveniles. Any 
confinement imposed as a punitive or remedial sanction upon a person who has attained 
years of age, if to be served in a facility approved or operated by the Department of 
Corrections exclusively for juveniles, may not exceed 30 days. To enforce the disposition 
ordered following an adjudication for a juvenile crime defined in section 3103, subsection 
1, paragraph B or C upon a person who has not attained 18 years of age, the court shall, at 
the time of the disposition, provide written notice to the juvenile of the court's authority to 
enforce the dispositional order through an exercise of its inherent contempt power and 
that a contempt order could include an order of confinement for up to 30 days as a 
punitive sanction and for up to 30 days as a remedial sanction. Nothing Except as 
explicity set out in this subsection, nothing in this subsection affects the court's ability to 
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exercise its contempt powers for persons who have attained 18 years of age. 
Sec. 3. 34-A MRSA §3036-A, sub-§3, ~A, as enacted by PL 1991, c. 845, §4, is 
amended to read: 
I 
A. 
The prisoner must be involved in a program of work or education that is 
approved by the commissioner together with any treatment program that the 
commissioner might require. The commissioner may waive the requirement of 
involvement in a program of work or education for a prisoner who is involved in an 
approved full-time treatment program. 
Sec. 4. 34-A MRSA §3046, as amended by PL 2001, c. 386, §14, is repealed. 
Sec. 5. 34-A MRSA §3046-A is enacted to read: 
§3046-A. Funeral and deathbed visits 
1. Family member. At the discretion of and under conditions prescribed by the 
commissioner, a client confined in a correctional or detention facility may attend the 
funeral of the client's spouse or domestic partner or the client's parent, child, sibling, 
grandparent or grandchild, whether the relationship is natural, adoptive, foster or through 
marriage, and may be permitted deathbed visits to any of those persons if the funeral or 
visit is held within the State. 
2. Another person. At the discretion of and under conditions prescribed by the 
commissioner, a client confined in a correctional or detention facility may attend the 
funeral of or be permitted a deathbed visit to another person if the funeral or visit is held 
within the State. The commissioner may not delegate this authority. 
3. Certification of terminal illness. Before a deathbed visit is permitted under this 
section, terminal illness must be certified to the commissioner by the attending physician. 
4. Costs. The client, if able, shall pay the cost of transportation under this section 
and the per diem compensation of the accompanying officers if the officers are required 
by the commissioner. 
Sec. 6. 34-A MRSA §3805, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2005, c. 507, §22, is 
further amended to read: 
2. Limitations. A person may not be detained or confined in or committed to the 
facility if that person is more appropriately a subject for intensive temflorary out-of-home 
treatment services or for in-home treatment services provided by or through the 
Department of Health and Human Services as agreed upon by the commissioner and the 
Commissioner of Health and Human Services or their designees. 
Sec. 7. 34-A MRSA §4104, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2005, c. 507, §26, is 
further amended to read: 
2. Limitations. A person may not be detained or confined in or committed to the 
facility if that person is more appropriately a subject for intensive temflorary out-of-home 
treatment services or for in-home treatment services provided by or through the 
Department of Health and Human Services as agreed upon by the commissioner and the 
Commissioner of Health and Human Services or their designees. 
Sec. 8. 34-A MRSA §7003, as enacted by PL 1983, c. 459, §6, is repealed. 
Sec. 9. 34-A MRSA §700S, as enacted by PL 1983, c. 459, §6, is repealed. 
Sec. 10. 34-A MRSA §7006, as enacted by PL 1983, c. 459, §6, is repealed. 
Sec. 11. 34-A MRSA §7007, as enacted by PL 1983, c. 459, §6, is repealed. 
Sec. 12. 34-A MRSA §7008, as enacted by PL 1983, c. 459, §6, is repealed. 
SUMMARY 
This bill makes several changes to laws relating to the Department of Corrections. 
It permits waiver of the work or education requirement for .a prisoner who is 
participating in a full-time treatment program while on supervised community 
confinement. 
It simplifies the funeral and deathbed visit provision, it adds "domestic partner" to the 
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list of persons to whom a prisoner may make deathbed visits or whose funerals a prisoner 
may attend and it permits the Commissioner of Corrections to allow attendance at a 
funeral of or a deathbed visit to a person other than one specifically listed. 
It adds assaults on corrections officers and other staff of an institution in which the 
person is being held in custody as categories of assault that may not be resolved by 
accord and satisfaction. 
It makes it clear that if a person who has attained 18 years of age is to serve time in 
confinement in a juvenile facility as a punitive or remedial sanction for contempt under 
the Maine Juvenile Code, that time is limited to 30 days for each type of sanction, just as 
it is for a person who has not attained 18 years of age. This clarifies that there is a time 
limit if a court does not exercise its option under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 15, 
section 3205, subsection 2 for a person who has attained 18 years of age but not 21 years 
of age for ordering time in confinement for contempt to be served at a county jail. The 
30-day time limit is the one consistently used throughout the Maine Juvenile Code for 
short-term incarceration in ajuvenile facility. 
It also .prohibits the incarceration in a juvenile facility of a person who is more 
appropriately a subject of intensive out-of-home treatment services provided by the 
Department of Health and Human Services, whether those services are temporary or not. 
Finally, it repeals a number of provisions related to juvenile services that are either 
outdated or repeat provisions found elsewhere.