An Act To Correct Various Statutes Related to the Department of Corrections
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 1727
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: COREY
Amends: 15 MRSA §3203-A, 17-A MRSA §1326-F, 34-A MRSA §3035, 34-A MRSA §3036-A

Legislative Document
No. 1727
H.P. 1229
House of Representatives, May 14, 2019
An Act To Correct Various Statutes Related to 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.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative COREY of Windham.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  15 MRSA §3203-A, sub-§7, ¶A, as amended by PL 2013, c. 28, §3, is 
further amended to read:
A.  A juvenile may be detained in a jail or other secure detention facility intended for 
use or primarily used for the detention of adults for which the Department of 
Corrections has established standards pursuant to Title 34-A, section 1208 only when 
the serving facility:
(1)  Contains an area where juveniles are under direct staff observation at all 
times, in a separate section for juveniles that complies with mandatory sight and 
sound separation standards established by the Department of Corrections 
pursuant to Title 34-A, section 1208;
(2)  Provides for no regular contact between the juveniles with the adult detainees 
or inmates; and
(3)  Has an adequate staff to provide direct observation and supervise the 
juvenile's activities at all times during emergency detention.
Juveniles detained in adult-serving facilities may be placed only in the separate 
juvenile sections that comply with mandatory separation standards established by the 
Department of Corrections pursuant to Title 34-A, section 1208, unless the juvenile is 
held in an adult section of a facility under section 3205, subsection 2 or is bound over 
as an adult and held in an adult section of a facility pursuant to section 3101, 
subsection 4, paragraph E-2.
Sec. 2.  15 MRSA §3203-A, sub-§7, ¶B, as amended by PL 1991, c. 493, §11, is 
further amended to read:
B.  A juvenile may be held in custody or detention in any detention facility approved 
or operated by the Department of Corrections exclusively for juveniles; any facility 
operated by the Department of Corrections for both adults and juveniles as long as 
the housing units for adults are fully separated from the housing units for juveniles 
and the Department of Corrections maintains at all times full compliance with 
mandatory sight and sound separation standards established by federal law; or a 
temporary holding resource that provides secure supervision approved by the 
Department of Corrections, pending the juvenile's release or hearing in the Juvenile 
Court.
Sec. 3.  17-A MRSA §1326-F, as amended by PL 2011, c. 464, §25, is further 
amended to read:
§1326-F.  Former Department of Corrections clients owing restitution
An offender is responsible for paying any restitution outstanding at the time the term 
of commitment to the Department of Corrections or period of probation is completed.  An 
offender who has complied with the time and method of payment of monetary 
compensation determined by the Department of Corrections during the period of 
probation or determined by the court at the time of sentencing shall continue to make 
payments to the Department of Corrections in accordance with that payment schedule 
unless modified by the court pursuant to section 1328-A or 1329.  An offender who has 
not complied with the time and method of payment of monetary compensation 
determined by the Department of Corrections during the period of probation or 
determined by the court at the time of sentencing must be returned to the court for further 
disposition pursuant to section 1329.  An offender who is unconditionally released and 
discharged from institutional confinement with the Department of Corrections upon the 
expiration of the sentence must, upon application of the office of the attorney for the 
State, be returned to the court for specification by the court of the time and method of 
payment of monetary compensation, which may be ordered paid to the office of the 
attorney for the State who prosecuted the case or to the clerk of the court.  Prior to the 
offender's release and discharge, the Department of Corrections shall provide the office of 
the attorney for the State who prosecuted the case written notice as to the amount of 
restitution outstanding.  An income withholding order issued pursuant to section 1326-B 
remains effective and enforceable until the restitution is paid in full, even after an 
offender is no longer in the custody or under the supervision of the Department of 
Corrections.
Sec. 4.  34-A MRSA §3035, first ¶, as amended by PL 1991, c. 314, §40, is 
further amended to read:
The commissioner may adopt, implement and establish rules for rehabilitative 
programs, including work release, restitution and furlough, as authorized by Title 17-A, 
chapter 54, within the facilities under the commissioner's control.
Sec. 5.  34-A MRSA §3036-A, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2007, c. 240, Pt. ZZZ, 
§2, is further amended to read:
2.  Participation.  The commissioner may transfer any prisoner committed to the 
department to be transferred from a correctional facility to supervised community 
confinement subject to the following restrictions.
A.  A transfer to supervised community confinement may only be granted subject to 
rules adopted by the commissioner.
B.  A prisoner may not be transferred to supervised community confinement until the 
prisoner has served at least 2/3 of the term of imprisonment imposed or, in the case of 
a split sentence, at least 2/3 of the unsuspended portion, after consideration of any 
deductions that the prisoner has received and retained under Title 17-A, section 1253 
if the term of imprisonment or, in the case of a split sentence, the unsuspended 
portion is more than 5 years.  A prisoner may not be transferred to supervised 
community confinement until the prisoner has served at least 1/2 of the term of 
imprisonment imposed or, in the case of a split sentence, at least 1/2 of the 
unsuspended portion after consideration of any deductions that the prisoner has 
received and retained under Title 17-A, section 1253 if the term of imprisonment or, 
in the case of a split sentence, the unsuspended portion is 5 years or less.
C.  Except as provided in paragraph C-1, a prisoner may not be transferred to 
supervised community confinement unless the prisoner has no more than 18 months 
remaining on the term of imprisonment or, in the case of a split sentence, on the 
unsuspended portion, after consideration of any deductions that the prisoner has 
received and retained under Title 17-A, section 1253.
C-1.  If the commissioner determines that the average statewide probation case load 
is no more than 90 probationers to one probation officer, then a prisoner may be 
transferred to supervised community confinement if that prisoner has no more than 2 
years remaining on the term of imprisonment or, in the case of a split sentence, on the 
unsuspended portion, after consideration of any deductions that the prisoner has 
received and retained under Title 17-A, section 1253.
D.  A prisoner may not be transferred to supervised community confinement if the 
prisoner has a security classification level higher than minimum.
SUMMARY
This bill makes corrections to various statutory provisions related to the Department 
of Corrections.
Sections 1 and 2 amend the part of the Maine Juvenile Code having to do with 
authorized places of detention for juveniles that, due to an oversight, was not amended 
when the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 34-A was amended to allow adults to be housed 
at the Mountain View Correctional Facility.
Section 3 amends a statutory provision having to do with the collection of restitution 
from former Department of Corrections clients to recognize that the time and method of 
payment of restitution are, in some cases, determined by the sentencing court and not the 
department.
Section 4 removes an inapposite reference from a statutory provision authorizing 
rules for work release, furlough and other rehabilitative programs.
Section 5 corrects a grammatical error in a statutory provision relating to supervised 
community confinement.