An Act Regarding Mental Health First Aid Training for Corrections Personnel
Maine Legislature, Session 128, LD 1322
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: TALBOT ROSS, VITELLI, COREY, GERRISH, MAREAN, RECKITT, TUELL, WARREN, JACKSON, ROSEN
Amends: 25 MRSA §2801-A, 25 MRSA §2804-D

Legislative Document
No. 1322
H.P. 916
House of Representatives, April 4, 2017
An Act Regarding Mental Health First Aid Training for Corrections 
Personnel
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative TALBOT ROSS of Portland.
Cosponsored by Senator VITELLI of Sagadahoc and
Representatives: COREY of Windham, GERRISH of Lebanon, MAREAN of Hollis, 
RECKITT of South Portland, TUELL of East Machias, WARREN of Hallowell, Senators: 
JACKSON of Aroostook, ROSEN of Hancock.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  25 MRSA §2801-A, sub-§5-A is enacted to read: 
5-A.  Mental health first aid training.  "Mental health first aid training" means 
training in how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and 
substance abuse provided by a trainer certified by a nationally recognized organization 
that provides evidence-based mental health first aid training. 
Sec. 2.  25 MRSA §2804-D, sub-§2 is enacted to read: 
2.  Mental health first aid component.  The basic training course under subsection 1 
must include 8 hours of mental health first aid training. 
Sec. 3.  Jails, prisons and correctional facilities to incrementally train all 
corrections personnel in mental health first aid.  Every jail, prison and state 
correctional facility shall train all corrections officers at the jail, prison or state 
correctional facility in mental health first aid pursuant to the procedures of this section.  
Each jail, prison and state correctional facility shall send 2 corrections officers to the 
Maine Criminal Justice Academy for mental health first aid training as defined in the 
Maine Revised Statutes, Title 25, section 2801-A, subsection 5-A.  After the first 2 
corrections officers receive mental health first aid training at the academy, the jail, prison 
or state correctional facility shall send 2 other corrections officers to the academy for 
training and repeat this process until all corrections officers at the jail, prison or state 
correctional facility have received mental health first aid training at the academy.  For 
purposes of this section, "corrections officer" has the same meaning as in Title 25, section 
2801-A, subsection 2. 
Sec. 4.  Report.  A jail, prison or state correctional facility under section 3 shall 
report to the Commissioner of Corrections after all corrections personnel at the facility 
have received mental health first aid training at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy 
under section 3.  When all jails, prisons and state correctional facilities in the State have 
reported to the commissioner, the commissioner shall report to the joint standing 
committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over criminal justice and public safety 
matters that the provisions of section 3 have been met. 
SUMMARY 
This bill requires that the Maine Criminal Justice Academy provide 8 hours of mental 
health first aid training as part of basic corrections training and that each jail, prison and 
correctional facility in the State send 2 corrections officers to the academy for training.  
After the first 2 corrections officers receive mental health first aid training at the 
academy, the jail, prison or state correctional facility is required to send 2 other 
corrections officers to the academy for training and to repeat this process until all 
corrections officers at the jail, prison or state correctional facility have received mental 
health first aid training at the academy.  This bill requires each jail, prison and 
correctional facility to report to the Commissioner of Corrections when all corrections 
officers have received mental health first aid training at the Maine Criminal Justice 
Academy and the commissioner to report to the joint standing committee of the 
Legislature having jurisdiction over criminal justice and public safety matters after 
receiving the report from all jails, prisons and correctional facilities.