An Act To Ensure Humane Treatment for Special Management Prisoners ()
Maine Legislature, Session 124, LD 1611
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: SCHATZ, BERRY, HINCK, LAJOIE, MITCHELL, PINGREE, PIOTTI, WAGNER, GERZOFSKY
Amends: 34-A MRSA §1406

MAINE STATE LEGISLATURE 
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-124th MAINE LEGISLATURE 
Legislative Document 
No. 1611 
H.P. 1139 ' 
House of Representatives, December 23,2009 
An Act To Ensure Humane Treatment for Special Management 
Prisoners 
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Approved for introduction by a majority of the Legislative Cbuncil pursuantto Joint Rule 
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203. 
Received by the Clerk of the House on December 21,2009. 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 SCHATZ of Blue Hill. 
Cosponsored by Senator MARRACHE o(r(ennebec and 
71/~d 1/1, mac;{~{ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Representatives: BERRY of Bowdoinham, HINCK of Portland, LAJOIE of Lewiston, 
MITCHELL of the Penobscot Nation, Speaker PINGREE of North Haven, PIOTTI of Unity, 
WAGNER of Lewiston, Senator: GERZOFSKY of Cumberland. 
PrinlC'd (111 n,;'l:ydcd PiJPcr 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 34-A MRSA §1406 is enacted to read: 
§1406. 
Minimum standards governing the humane treatment of special 
management prisoners 
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The commISSIOner shall ensure that special management prisoners are treated in 
accordance with the minimum standards for humane treatment established in this section. 
1. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the 
following terms have the following meanings. 
A. "Serious mental illness" means a substantial disorder of thought or mood that 
significantly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality or ability to 
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cope with the ordinary demands of life. "Serious mental illness" includes, but is not 
limited to, disorders that involve an individual's repeated attempt to self-harm, 
disorders that induce psychiaJ ic distress or other impairment to an individual 
confined in segregated housinl and any illness defined as an Axis I psychotic or 
mood disorder as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental 
Disorders, 4th edition, published by the American Psychiatric Association. 
B. "Speclal management prisoner" means a'prisoner housed in a special management 
unit. 
C. "Special management unit" means a high-security unit within a prison facility that 
houses a prisoner assigned by the commissioner to a high-risk management status, an 
administration segregation status or a disciplinary segregation status. 
2. Special management unit criteria for prisoners with serious mental illness. A 
prisoner determined to be suffering from a serious mental illness may not be confined in a 
special management unit. . Prisoners confined in a special management unit must be 
evaluated by a licensed mental health professional in private within 48 hours of 
placement and at least every 7 days thereafter. Such evaluations must be conducted in 
person, not through a cell door, and must assess the current mental status and condition of 
the prisoner and the current risk of suicide or other self-harming behavior and include a 
review of the prisoner's inpatient and outpatient treatment history. A prisoner determined 
to suffer from a serious mental illness at the time of an evaluation must be removed from 
the special management unit within 7 days. If the prisoner is subsequently transferred to a 
psychiatric or mental health unit or a hospital, the commissiOJier shall ensure that the 
prisoner is held in conditions that do not violate this section. 
3. Limitation on confinement; rights to a hearing. A prisoner may not remain 
confined in a special management unit for more than 45 consecutive calendar days unless 
it is determined by a hearing that. within the previous 45 days the prisoner has, while 
incarcerated, committed or attempted to commit a sexual assault, an escape from 
confinement or an act of violence. The hearing must be conducted by a panel of at least 3 
persons appointed by the commissioner, one of whom must be a clinician representing the 
mental health staff at the facility in which the prisoner is housed. At such hearings, the 
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department has the burden of proof.· The following provisions apply to a hearing 
conducted under this subsection: 
A. The commissioner shall provide written notice to the prisoner at least 72 hours 
before the hearing. 
That written notice must set forth the factual basis for the 
continued placement in the special management unit and must provide notice that the· 
prisoner has the right to appear in person at the hearing, the right to submit evidence 
in the prisoner's defense, the right to call relevant witnesses and the right to be 
-represented at the hearing by an attorney; 
B. The commissioner shall make an audiovisual recording of the hearing and shall 
maintain all records of the hearing, including the audiovisual record and all written 
records, until at least 120 days after the release of the prisoner from incarceration; 
C. The panel conducting the hearing shall issue a written decision within 5 days after 
the hearing and provide a copy of that decision to the prisoner, including the reasons· 
for the decision; 
D. If the panel authorizes the commissioner to continue holding the prisoner for 
longer than 45 days in the special management unit, the decision of the panel must 
include guidance to the prisoner as to what the prisoner must do to gain release from 
the special management unit and inform the prisoner that the panel must review its 
decision every 7 days to-determine if the prisoner should continue to be housed in the 
special management unit; and 
E. 
A prisoner may appeal a decision of the panel under paragraph C to the 
commissioner after notice of the decision is received by the prisoner. The 
commissioner shall respond in writing to an appeal within 7 days. A decision by the 
commissioner on an appeal or a failure by the commissioner to issue a decision 
within 7 days is a final agency action as defined in Title 5; section 8002, and the 
prisoner is entitled to judicial review of that decision under the provisions of Title 5, 
chapter 375, subchapter 7. 
4. 
Corporal punishment, physical restraints, chemical agents and forcible 
extraction. 
Corporal punishment of a prisoner in a special management unit is 
prohibited. A prisoner may not be subjected to the use of chemical agents or forcible 
extraction from the prisoner's cell unless an audiovisual record of that process is made 
and the procedure is conducted in the presence of appropriate medical staff. 
The 
audiovisual record of such procedures must be preserved until at least 120 days after the 
release of the prisoner from incarceration. Instruments of physical restraint, including but 
not limited to handcuffs, chains, leg shackles, restraint chairs and 4-point restraints, may 
not be used on a special management prisoner. 
5. Other disciplinary restrictions. A special management prisoner's access to food, 
medicar or sanitary facilities, mail or legal assistance may not be restricted for 
disciplinary reasons. 
6. Listing of special management prisoners. The cOrrimissioner shall maintain a 
current list of all special management prisoners that includes the date of confinement in 
the special management unit, the date of the last review, the reasons for placement in the 
special management unit and, in cases when the prisoner has been housed in that unit for 
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more than 60 days, a written statement of the criteria relied upon to support that extended. 
confinement. The commiSSIoner shall provide the board of visitors for eachcorrectional 
facility appointed under section3001-A with a copy of that list on a quarterly basis. 
7. Transfer to out-of-state facilities .. To the extent allowed under an interstate 
compact in effect at the time, the commissioner may not transfer a prisoner to an out-of-
state facility unless the administrator of that out-of-state facility has agreed in writing to 
adhere to the provisions of this section with respect to the treatment of that prisoner. If 
the commissioner determines that a prisoner transferred to an out-of-state. facility is not 
being treated in a manner· consistent with this section, the commissioner shall take all 
legal steps necessary to secure the return of that prisoner to a correctional facility in the 
State. 
8. Annual review. The board of visitors for each correctional facility appointed 
under section 3001-A shall annually conduct a comprehensive review' of the policies, 
standards and treatment of special management prisoners to determine the effectiveness 
of those policies and standards and the degree to which the treatment of special 
management prisoners complies with this section. The board shall include ,its findings 
under this subsection in the annual report to the joint standing committee of the 
Legislature having jurisdiction over criminal justice and public safety matters required by 
section 3001-A. 
Sec. 2. Review of current status of s]pecial management ]prisoners. The 
Commissioner of Corrections -shall review the status of all specjal management prisoners 
in the State within 45 days after the effective date of this Act to determine whether 
prisoners confined to special management units should remain in those units and to 
ensure that prisoners held in special management units more than' 45 days receive a 
hearing as provided in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 34-A, section 1406. 
The 
commissioner shall report the results of this evaluation to the joint standing committee of 
the Legislature having jurisdiction over criminal justice and public safety matters no later 
than January 15,2011. 
Sec. 3. Review of existing ]policies. The Commissioner of Corrections shall 
review all policies of the Department of Corrections in effect' on the effective date of this 
Act relating to special management prisoners and update those polic~es as necessary to 
conform to this Act. 
SUMMARY 
This bill establishes· mtntmum standards for the humane treatment of special' 
management prisoners' of the Department of Corrections. As defined in this bill, a 
"special management prisoner" is a prisoner assigned to one of several: hiigp,.risk 
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categories and confined in a secure special management unit. . 
The mtntmum standards established in this bill include limiting a pFts0ner'g, 
confinement to a special management unit to 45 days unless it is determined at a fueauurr,g 
that the prisoner has committed or attempted to commit a sexual assault, an escape; fir0m ' 
confinement or an act of violence within the previous 45 days. The bill also prohihits: the 
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confinement of prisoners with serious mental illness to ,a special management unit and 
requires that a special management prisoner determined to be suffering from serious 
mental illness be removed from the special management unit within 7 days. The bill also 
prohibits corporal punishment of special manag'einent prisoners and the use of chemical 
agents or instruments of physical restraint on special management prisoners. The bill also 
prohibits the Commissioner of Corrections, to the extent permitted by an interstate 
compact in effect at the time, from transferrfng a prisoner to an out-of-state facility unless 
the administrator of that out-of-state facility has agreed in writing to adhere to the 
provisions of this section with respect to the treatment of that prisoner, and requires the 
commissioner to return that prisoner to Maine ifthose standards are not met. 
The bill also requires the Commissioner of Corrections to maintain a current list of all 
special management prisoners and requires the board of visitors of each correctional 
facility to annually conduct a comprehensive review of the policies, standards and 
treatment of special management prisoners to determine the effectiveness of those 
policies and standards and the degree to which the treatment of special management 
prisoners complies with the law. The board is required to include its findings in its 
annual report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over 
criminal justice and public safety matters. 
The bill also requires the Commissioner of Corrections to review the status of all 
special management prisoners in' the State to determine whether prisoners confined to 
special management units should remain in those units and to ensure that prisoners held 
in special marlagement units more than 45 days receive a hearing under the provisions of 
this bill. 
The commissioner is also required to review all policies in effect on the 
effective date of this bill relating to special management prisoners and update those. 
policies as necessary to conform to the law.