An Act To Amend Certain Provisions of Law Governing the Department of Corrections
Maine Legislature, Session 125, LD 1754
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: MASON
Amends: 15 MRSA §224, 34-A MRSA §1216, 34-A MRSA §1403

Legislative Document 
No. 1754
S.P. 602 
In Senate, January 10, 2012
An Act To Amend Certain Provisions of Law Governing the 
Department of Corrections 
Submitted by the Department of Corrections pursuant to Joint Rule 204. 
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed. 
JOSEPH G. CARLETON, JR. 
Secretary of the Senate 
Presented by Senator MASON of Androscoggin. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  15 MRSA §224, sub-§2, as repealed and replaced by PL 1983, c. 843, 
§10, is amended to read: 
2.  Violations of probation and parole. Expenses incurred in connection with the 
extradition of persons charged with violating the terms and conditions of probation, shall 
must be shared equally between the district attorney of the county in which the person 
was convicted and the Department of Corrections, Division of Probation and Parole. 
Expenses incurred in connection with the extradition of persons charged with violating 
the terms and conditions of parole shall must be paid by the Department of Corrections, 
Division of Probation and Parole. 
Sec. 2.  34-A MRSA §1216, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2005, c. 487, §§2 to 4, is 
further amended to read: 
1.  Limited disclosure.  All orders of commitment, medical and administrative 
records, applications and reports, and facts contained in them, pertaining to any person 
receiving services from the department must be kept confidential and may not be 
disclosed by any person, except that public records must be disclosed in accordance with 
Title 1, section 408; criminal history record information may be disseminated in 
accordance with Title 16, chapter 3, subchapter 8; and documents other than those 
documents pertaining to information obtained by the department for the purpose of 
evaluating a client's ability to participate in a community-based program or from 
informants in a correctional or detention facility for the purpose of determining whether 
facility rules have been violated or pertaining to a victim's request for notice of release 
may, and must upon request, be disclosed: 
A.  To any person if the person receiving services, that person's legal guardian, if any, 
and, if that person is a minor, that person's parent or legal guardian give informed 
written consent to the disclosure of the documents referred to in this subsection after 
being given the opportunity to review the documents sought to be disclosed; 
B.  To any state agency if necessary to carry out the statutory functions of that 
agency; 
C.  If ordered by a court of record, subject to any limitation in the Maine Rules of 
Evidence, Rule 503; 
D.  To any criminal justice agency if necessary to carry out the administration of 
criminal justice or the administration of juvenile criminal justice or for criminal 
justice agency employment; 
E.  To persons engaged in research if: 
(1)  The research plan is first submitted to and approved by the commissioner; 
(2)  The disclosure is approved by the commissioner; and 
(3)  Neither original records nor identifying data are removed from the facility or 
office that prepared the records. 
The commissioner and the person doing the research shall preserve the anonymity of 
the person receiving services from the department and may not disseminate data that 
refer to that person by name or number or in any other way that might lead to the 
person's identification; 
F.  To persons who directly supervise or report on the health, behavior or progress of 
a juvenile, to the superintendent of a juvenile's school and the superintendent's 
designees and to agencies that are or might become responsible for the health or 
welfare of a juvenile if the information is relevant to and disseminated for the 
purpose of creating or maintaining an individualized plan for the juvenile's 
rehabilitation, including reintegration into the school; or 
G.  To any state agency engaged in statistical analysis for the purpose of improving 
the delivery of services to persons who are or might become mutual clients if: 
(1)  The plan for the statistical analysis is first submitted to and approved by the 
commissioner; and 
(2)  The disclosure is approved by the commissioner. 
The commissioner and the state agency requesting the information shall preserve the 
anonymity of the persons receiving services from the department and may not 
disseminate data that refer to any person by name or number or that in any other way 
might lead to a person's identification. 
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the department may release the names, dates 
of birth and social security numbers of juveniles persons receiving services from the 
department and, if applicable, eligibility numbers and the dates on which those juveniles 
persons received services to the Department of Health and Human Services any state or 
federal agency for the sole purpose of determining eligibility and billing for services and 
payments under federally funded programs administered by the Department of Health and 
Human Services and provided by or through the department agency.  The department 
may also release to the Department of Health and Human Services agency information 
required for and to be used solely for audit or research purposes, consistent with federal 
law, for those services provided by or through the department.  Department of Health and 
Human Services Agency personnel must shall treat this information as confidential in 
accordance with federal and state law and must shall return the records when their 
purpose has been served. 
Sec. 3.  34-A MRSA §1403, sub-§9, ¶A, as amended by PL 2011, c. 340, §2, is 
further amended to read: 
A.  The program may make services and goods available for use by correctional 
facilities or for purchase by other state, county or local governmental entities, private 
businesses in the State, community agencies, as defined in section 1206, subsection 1, 
or the public.  The program may also donate services or goods to other state, county 
or local governmental entities for the purpose of promoting prison industries or to 
public or private nonprofit organizations. 
SUMMARY 
This bill makes the following changes to the laws governing the Department of 
Corrections.  
1.  It eliminates a reference to the Division of Probation and Parole, which was 
eliminated as a separate division of the Department of Corrections by Public Law 1995, 
chapter 502, Part F. 
2.  It expands the current provision allowing the release by the Department of 
Corrections to the Department of Health and Human Services of certain information 
about juveniles to ensure eligibility and proper billing under federally funded programs 
and for audit purposes.  This bill provides that these same categories of information 
regarding juveniles and adults are releasable to other state and federal agencies, 
including, but not limited to, the Department of Labor, the United States Social Security 
Administration and federal and state revenue services, for the same and similar purposes. 
3.  It allows the donation of prison industries program goods and services to 
governmental entities and to nonprofits.