An Act To Amend Provisions Relating to the Department of Corrections To Clarify Certain Enforcement Powers
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 0355
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: GERZOFSKY, LONG, DUTREMBLE, HASKELL, PLUMMER, DION, MARKS, PEASE, TYLER, WILSON
Amends: 15 MRSA §709, 15 MRSA §710, 15 MRSA §712, 34-A MRSA §1001, 34-A MRSA §3011, 34-A MRSA §3035, 34-A MRSA §3040-A

Legislative Document 
No. 355 
S.P. 135 
In Senate, February 12, 2013 
An Act To Amend Provisions Relating to the Department of 
Corrections To Clarify Certain Enforcement Powers 
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. 
DAREK M. GRANT 
Secretary of the Senate 
Presented by Senator GERZOFSKY of Cumberland. 
Cosponsored by Representative LONG of Sherman and 
Senators: DUTREMBLE of York, HASKELL of Cumberland, PLUMMER of Cumberland, 
Representatives: DION of Portland, MARKS of Pittston, PEASE of Morrill, TYLER of 
Windham, WILSON of Augusta. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  15 MRSA §709, sub-§4-A, as amended by PL 2011, c. 507, §2, is 
repealed and the following enacted in its place: 
4-A.  Investigative officer.  "Investigative officer" has the same meaning as in Title 
34-A, section 1001, subsection 10-A. 
Sec. 2.  15 MRSA §710, sub-§1, as amended by PL 1987, c. 680, §2, is further 
amended to read: 
1.  Interception, oral communications prohibited. Any person, other than an 
employee of a communication common carrier as defined in this chapter, a law 
enforcement officer or, an investigative officer as defined in this chapter or another 
employee of the Department of Corrections authorized to exercise law enforcement 
powers as described in Title 34-A, section 3011, carrying out practices otherwise 
permitted by this chapter, who intentionally or knowingly intercepts, attempts to intercept 
or procures any other person to intercept or attempt to intercept, any wire or oral 
communication is guilty of a Class C crime. 
Sec. 3.  15 MRSA §710, sub-§5, as amended by PL 1987, c. 680, §3, is further 
amended to read: 
5.  Possession of interception devices prohibited. A person, other than an employee 
of a communication common carrier as defined in this chapter, a law enforcement officer 
or, an investigative officer as defined in this chapter or another employee of the 
Department of Corrections authorized to exercise law enforcement powers as described in 
Title 34-A, section 3011, carrying out practices otherwise permitted by this chapter, who 
has in his that person's possession any device, contrivance, machine or apparatus 
designed or commonly used for intercepting wire or oral communications defined in this 
chapter, is guilty of a Class C crime. 
Sec. 4.  15 MRSA §712, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2011, c. 507, §4, is further 
amended to read: 
2.  Investigative officers.  It is not a violation of this chapter for an investigative 
officer, as defined in this chapter, or for an another employee of the Department of 
Corrections acting at the direction of an investigative officer authorized to exercise law 
enforcement powers as described in Title 34-A, section 3011, to intercept, disclose or use 
that communication in the normal course of employment while engaged in any activity 
that is related to the administration of criminal justice or the administration of juvenile 
criminal justice, if: 
A.  Either the sender or receiver of that communication is a person residing in an 
adult or juvenile correctional facility administered by the Department of Corrections; 
and 
B.  Notice of the possibility of interception is provided in a way sufficient to make 
the parties to the communication aware of the possibility of interception, which 
includes: 
(1)  Providing the resident with a written notification statement; 
(2)  Posting written notification next to every telephone at the facility that is 
subject to monitoring; and 
(3) Informing the recipient of a telephone call from the resident by playing a 
recorded warning before the recipient accepts the call. 
This subsection does not authorize any interference with the attorney-client privilege. 
Sec. 5.  34-A MRSA §1001, sub-§10-A, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 102, §1, is 
amended to read: 
10-A.  Investigative officer.  "Investigative officer" means an employee of the 
department designated by the commissioner as having the authority to conduct 
investigations of offenses crimes or juvenile crimes relating to the security or orderly 
management of a facility administered by the department and engage in any other activity 
that is related to the administration of criminal justice or the administration of juvenile 
criminal justice and who is certified by the Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal 
Justice Academy as a full-time law enforcement officer. 
Sec. 6.  34-A MRSA §3011, as amended by PL 2009, c. 142, §16, is further 
amended to read: 
§3011.  Investigative officers and other law enforcement officers 
1.  Exercise of law enforcement powers.  Investigative officers and other employees 
of the department who are certified by the Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal 
Justice Academy as law enforcement officers may exercise the powers of other law 
enforcement officers with respect to offenses relating to the security or orderly 
management of a facility or community program administered by the department and 
engage in any other activity that is related to the administration of criminal justice or the 
administration of juvenile criminal justice, if authorized to exercise these powers by the 
commissioner.  Investigative officers These employees may issue administrative 
subpoenas with respect to offenses relating to the security or orderly management of a 
facility administered by the department, if authorized to exercise these powers by the 
commissioner and by the Attorney General or the Attorney General's designee.   These 
powers are in addition to any powers the officers employees may otherwise have as 
employees of the department.  Internal investigations of employees of the department 
must be conducted pursuant to any applicable collective bargaining agreement. 
2.  Working agreement.  The commissioner shall negotiate a working agreement 
with the Department of the Attorney General concerning procedures and respective 
responsibilities for the exercise of law enforcement powers by investigative officers and 
other employees pursuant to subsection 1. 
Sec. 7.  34-A MRSA §3035, sub-§1, ¶D, as amended by PL 1991, c. 314, §40, is 
further amended to read: 
D.  Transportation to work release job sites must be arranged by the commissioner 
approved by the chief administrative officer. 
(1)  Clients participating in the work release program must may be assessed an 
equitable share of the cost of the transportation. 
(2)  Funds received from clients for work release transportation must be placed in 
the General Fund. 
Sec. 8.  34-A MRSA §3040-A, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2005, c. 506, §8, is 
further amended to read: 
1.  Payment. Except as provided in subsection 4, if any client under the control in the 
custody of the department dies, leaving on deposit in the department's general client 
account and telephone call account an amount not exceeding $1,000, and no personal 
representative of the client's estate is appointed, the chief administrative officer may pay 
the balance of the deposits in the accounts client's general client account and telephone 
call account, up to a maximum of $1,000, to the surviving spouse or next of kin in 
accordance with the Probate Code, Title 18-A, sections 2-101 to 2-114, to the funeral 
director having any bill outstanding for the burial of the decedent or to any other 
preferred creditor or creditors who may appear to be entitled thereto, and shall deliver 
personal property in the chief administrative officer's custody to the surviving spouse or 
next of kin in accordance with the Probate Code, Title 18-A, sections 2-101 to 2-114. 
SUMMARY 
The bill allows employees of the Department of Corrections who are certified by the 
Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy as law enforcement officers to 
exercise the same law enforcement powers as investigative officers. This change allows 
department employees who have completed the academy's part-time law enforcement 
officer training to exercise those powers when authorized by the Commissioner of 
Corrections. The bill amends the laws governing the interception of prisoner wire and 
oral communications to reflect these changes. 
The bill requires transportation to work release job sites to be approved by a 
correctional facility's chief administrative officer instead of arranged exclusively by the 
commissioner as in current law. 
The bill permits a correctional facility to use the first $1,000 in any deceased 
prisoner's facility-administered accounts to pay the funeral director and specified others. 
Current law allows the facility to make such payments only for those prisoners with no 
more than $1,000 in their accounts.