An Act to Establish the Corrections Ombudsman
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 1962
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: DUSON, BEEBE-CENTER, MILLIKEN
Amends: 34-A MRSA §1220

Legislative Document
No. 1962
S.P. 769
In Senate, May 13, 2025
An Act to Establish the Corrections Ombudsman
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator DUSON of Cumberland.
Cosponsored by Senator BEEBE-CENTER of Knox, Representative MILLIKEN of Blue Hill 
and
Senators: BENNETT of Oxford, TALBOT ROSS of Cumberland, Representative: 
HASENFUS of Readfield.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  34-A MRSA §1220 is enacted to read:
§1220.  Office of the Corrections Ombudsman
1.  Definitions.  As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the 
following terms have the following meanings.
A.  "Covered facility" means a correctional facility operated by the department and 
does not include a county jail.
B.  "Incarcerated person" means a person incarcerated in a covered facility. 
C.  "Office" means the Office of the Corrections Ombudsman established in subsection 
2.
D.  "Ombudsman" means the Corrections Ombudsman as described in subsection 3.
E.  "Staff" means employees and contractors of the department.
2.  Office established.  The Office of the Corrections Ombudsman is established within 
the department to support a humane and transparent corrections system for incarcerated 
persons and staff. The office shall open opportunities for persons affected by incarceration 
to raise issues and resolve conflicts, recommend positive changes and report individual and 
systemic concerns.  The office is responsible for: 
A.  Receiving, investigating and resolving complaints and suggestions from 
incarcerated persons and from staff;
B.  Providing information to the Governor, the department and its staff, the Legislature, 
incarcerated persons and their families and the public;
C.  Promoting public awareness and understanding of the problems and challenges of 
incarceration;
D.  Identifying systemic issues and responses upon which the department, the Governor 
and the Legislature may act; and 
E.  Ensuring compliance with relevant statutes, rules, regulations and policies 
concerning covered facilities, services, staff and treatment of incarcerated persons.
3.  Corrections Ombudsman.  The Corrections Ombudsman serves as the head of the 
office. 
A.  The ombudsman must be appointed by the Governor subject to review by the joint 
standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over corrections matters and 
to confirmation by the Legislature in the unclassified service not later than October 1, 
2026 and may be removed by the Governor only for specified just cause, such as 
neglect of duty, misconduct or inability to perform the duties as outlined in this section.  
Any vacancy must be filled by similar appointment.  
B.  The ombudsman must be selected from persons without regard to political 
affiliation and must be a highly competent professional of integrity and objectivity 
qualified to analyze questions of law, administration and public policy. 
C.  A person is disqualified from being appointed as ombudsman if the person or an 
immediate family member of the person:
(1)  Is or has been employed by the department within the last 5 years;
(2)  Owns or controls, directly or indirectly, any interest in a business entity or 
other organization receiving funds from the department within the last 5 years;
(3)  Uses or receives any amount of tangible goods, services or funds from the 
department; or
(4)  Is required to register as a lobbyist because of the person's activities for 
compensation on behalf of a profession related to the operation of the department 
or the office.
D.  The ombudsman holds the office for a term of 3 years and continues to hold the 
office until reappointed or the appointment of a successor. 
E.  The ombudsman is accountable to the Governor and has the authority to investigate 
decisions, acts and other matters of the department to promote the highest attainable 
standards of competence, efficiency and justice in the administration of corrections.
4.  Ethics and standards of practice.  The ombudsman and employees of the office 
shall act in accordance with the International Ombuds Association's or a successor 
organization's published code of ethics and standards of practice.
5.  Organization of the office.  The ombudsman may select, appoint and compensate 
out of available funds assistants and employees as considered necessary to discharge 
responsibilities. The ombudsman and employees of the office are members of the Maine 
Public Employees Retirement System.
The ombudsman may appoint assistants in the unclassified service.
The ombudsman may delegate to employees of the office any of the ombudsman's authority 
or duties except the duty of formally making recommendations to the department or making 
reports to the Office of the Governor or to the Legislature.
The ombudsman may apply for and receive grants from public and private entities for 
purposes of carrying out the ombudsman's powers and duties under this section. 
There is established within the General Fund a Corrections Ombudsman account, which is 
a separate, nonlapsing account. Expenditures for the purposes of the office to carry out the 
activities in this section may equal an amount between 0.13% and 0.16% of the 
department's annual appropriation. 
The ombudsman may apply for and accept grants, gifts and bequests of funds from other 
states and federal and interstate agencies for the purpose of carrying out the ombudsman's 
responsibilities. Any funds received under this subsection must, upon deposit in the 
General Fund, be credited to the Corrections Ombudsman account and may be used by the 
ombudsman in the performance of the ombudsman's duties.
6.  Powers and duties of ombudsman.  The following are the powers and duties of 
the ombudsman.
A.  The ombudsman shall, with the full cooperation of the department, devise and 
prescribe the methods by which confidential complaints are to be made, reviewed and 
acted upon, except that the ombudsman may not levy a complaint fee and access to 
complaint mechanisms must be readily and widely available to staff, incarcerated 
persons and members of the public.
(1)  The ombudsman may receive a complaint or a suggestion from staff, an 
incarcerated person, a volunteer, a friend or family advocate, a representative of an 
incarcerated person, a representative of staff, a member of the Legislature or a 
member of the judicial branch or others regarding issues that may adversely affect 
the health, safety, welfare or rights of incarcerated persons or staff.
(2)  The ombudsman shall establish procedures for receiving and processing 
complaints, conducting investigations, holding hearings and reporting the findings 
resulting from the investigations.
(3)  The ombudsman may exercise powers without regard to the finality of any 
action of the department, but the ombudsman may require a complainant to pursue 
other remedies or channels of complaint open to the complainant before accepting 
or investigating the complaint.
(4)  After completing the investigation of a complaint, the ombudsman shall inform 
the complainant, the department and an affected official or employee of the action 
taken.
(5)  A letter to the ombudsman from a person in a covered facility must be 
forwarded immediately and unopened to the office. A reply from the ombudsman 
to the person must be promptly delivered unopened to the person after its receipt 
by the covered facility.
(6)  A complainant may not be punished nor may the general condition of the 
complainant's treatment or employment conditions be unfavorably altered as a 
result of the complainant's having made a complaint to the ombudsman.
(7)  The ombudsman need not conduct an investigation of a complaint brought 
before the ombudsman. A person is not entitled, as a right, to be heard by the 
ombudsman.
B.  The ombudsman may determine the scope and manner of any investigations to be 
made.
C.  Neither the ombudsman nor any office employee may be compelled to testify or to 
produce evidence in any judicial or administrative proceeding with respect to any 
matter involving the exercise of the ombudsman's official capacity.
D.  The ombudsman may investigate, upon a complaint or upon personal initiative, any 
action of the department.  In all events, the ombudsman shall make good faith efforts 
to provide an opportunity to the department to investigate and to respond to such 
concerns prior to making such matters public.
E.  The ombudsman may request and be given access to information in the possession 
of the department that the ombudsman considers necessary for the discharge of the 
ombudsman's responsibilities.
F.  The ombudsman may examine the records and documents of the department.
G.  Upon request and without notice, the ombudsman or an office employee may enter 
and inspect, at any time, premises within the control of the department. If the 
ombudsman or any employee of the office acting at the written request of the 
ombudsman is denied access to any premises under the control of the department, the 
commissioner, or the commissioner's designee, within 24 hours after the denial, shall 
give the ombudsman a written statement of the reason for the denial of access. 
H.  The ombudsman may subpoena any person to appear, give testimony or produce 
documentary or other evidence that the ombudsman considers relevant to a matter 
under inquiry and may petition the appropriate state court to seek enforcement with the 
subpoena.  A witness at a hearing or before an investigation possesses the same 
privileges reserved to a witness in the courts or under the laws of this State.
I.  The ombudsman may bring an action in an appropriate state court to provide for the 
operation of the powers provided in this section.
J.  To follow up on a complaint, the ombudsman may be present at hearings related to 
parole, supervised release, probation revocation hearings or staff disciplinary hearings.
K.  The ombudsman may undertake, participate in or cooperate with persons and 
agencies in such conferences, inquiries, meetings or studies as might lead to 
improvements in the functioning of the department.
L.  The ombudsman may take all possible actions, including, but not limited to, 
conducting programs of public education, undertaking legislative advocacy and 
making proposals for systemic reform and formal legal action to secure and ensure the 
rights of incarcerated persons. The ombudsman shall exhaust all other means to reach 
a resolution before initiating litigation.
The provisions of this subsection and subsection 8 may not be construed to compel access 
to any record protected by the attorney-client privilege or attorney-work product doctrine 
or any record related to a pending internal investigation, external criminal investigation or 
emergency procedures. For purposes of this subsection, "emergency procedures" are 
procedures the department uses to manage control of tools, keys and armories and 
concerning department emergency plans, emergency response units, facility security levels 
and standards and radio communications.
7.  Limitations on ombudsman authority.  The ombudsman may not investigate:
A.  Any complaints relating to the underlying criminal conviction of an incarcerated 
person; or
B.  A complaint from staff that relates to the employment or contractual relationship of 
the staff member with the department, unless the complaint is related to health, safety, 
welfare, working conditions, gross mismanagement of a covered facility or 
rehabilitation of incarcerated persons.
8. Access to physical and electronic information, records and documents; 
authorization to interview; inspection of premises; informal hearings; appearance; 
evidence.  The following provisions govern the ombudsman's access to information and 
facilities.
A.  Upon request and without the requirement of any release, the ombudsman must be 
given access to and physical or electronic copies of all information, records and 
documents in the possession of the department that the ombudsman considers 
necessary in an investigation, including, but not limited to, medical health records of 
incarcerated persons, mental health records of incarcerated persons and mortality and 
morbidity records of incarcerated persons. Upon request, the ombudsman may 
interview any of the following individuals as the ombudsman considers necessary in 
an investigation:
(1)  An individual employed by or retained under contract by the department; or
(2)  An individual employed by or retained under contract by a private contractor 
that operates in a covered facility.
B.  The ombudsman must be granted entry into a covered facility or the department's 
command center during emergency situations including, but not limited to, covered 
facility disturbances, riots and hostage incidents, and must be provided with updates 
regarding the status of the emergency situation as well as the department's efforts to 
address the situation. The office employee granted entry for an emergency situation 
under this paragraph is present for observation and to report on the emergency 
situation.
C.  The ombudsman may hold informal hearings and may request that any person 
appear before the ombudsman, or at a hearing, and give testimony or produce 
documentary or other evidence that the ombudsman considers relevant to a matter 
under investigation.
9.  Confidentiality.  The following provisions govern confidentiality.
A.  All oral and written communications, and records relating to such communications, 
between an incarcerated person or an employee of the department and the ombudsman, 
including, but not limited to, the identity of a complainant, the details of the 
communications and the ombudsman's findings, are confidential and may not be 
disclosed without the consent of the concerned person, except that the ombudsman may 
disclose without the consent of the person general findings or policy recommendations 
based on the communications, as long as no personally identifying information is 
disclosed. The ombudsman shall disclose sufficient information to the commissioner 
or the commissioner's designee as is necessary to respond to the ombudsman's inquiries 
or to carry out recommendations, but such information may not be further disclosed 
outside of the department.
B.  The office shall establish confidentiality rules and procedures for all information 
maintained by the office to ensure that staff or incarcerated persons are not aware of 
the identity of a complainant before, during and after an investigation to the greatest 
extent practicable. The office may disclose personally identifying information for the 
sole purpose of carrying out an investigation.  Rules adopted pursuant to this paragraph 
are routine technical rules as described in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.
10.  Ban on retaliation.  The department and its staff may not discharge, retaliate 
against or in any manner discriminate against any person because the person has filed a 
complaint or instituted or caused to be instituted a proceeding under or related to this 
section.
A.  Any alleged discharge, retaliation against or discrimination against a complainant 
may be considered by the office as an appropriate subject of an investigation.
B.  Any staff member who believes the staff member has been retaliated against or 
otherwise discriminated against by any person in violation of this subsection may, 
within 30 days after the violation occurs, file a complaint.
11.  Actions against ombudsman.  A proceeding or civil action except removal from 
office may not be commenced against the ombudsman for an act or omission taken under 
this section unless the act or omission is malicious or is grossly negligent.
12.  Reporting and public communication.  The following provisions govern 
reporting and public communication.
A.  If the ombudsman believes, based on an investigation conducted by the 
ombudsman, that there has been or continues to be a significant health, safety, welfare, 
working conditions or rehabilitation issue, the ombudsman shall report the finding to 
the Governor, Attorney General and the appropriate joint standing committees of the 
Legislature.
B.  The ombudsman may publish conclusions and suggestions from time to time. 
Before announcing a conclusion or recommendation that expressly or implicitly 
criticizes the department or any person, the ombudsman shall consult with the 
department or person. When publishing an opinion adverse to the department or any 
person, the ombudsman shall include in the publication any statement of reasonable 
length made to the ombudsman by that agency or person in defense or mitigation of 
the action at issue. 
C.  In addition to whatever reports the ombudsman may make on an ad hoc basis, the 
ombudsman shall  publish a public annual report by January 31st of each calendar year. 
The annual report must include:
(1)  The budget and expenditures of the ombudsman;
(2)  The number of complaints received and resolved by the ombudsman;
(3)  A description of significant systemic or individual investigations or outcomes 
achieved by the ombudsman during the prior year;
(4)  Any outstanding or unresolved concerns or recommendations of the 
ombudsman; 
(5)  Input and comments from stakeholders regarding the ombudsman's activities 
during the prior year; 
(6)  A characterization of conditions of confinement;
(7)  A summary of any incarcerated person or staff deaths;
(8)  A summary of legal costs incurred by the department to pursue, defend or settle 
legal actions; and
(9)  A summary of grievances received by the department for each covered facility 
and their subject matter and resolution. 
D.  The ombudsman shall publish on a publicly accessible website operated by the 
office an ongoing report of the office's activities and services, information for the 
public and the annual reports under paragraph C.
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the Office of the Corrections Ombudsman.  The office is 
responsible for:
1.  Receiving, investigating and resolving complaints and suggestions from certain 
incarcerated persons and from staff of the Department of Corrections;
2.  Providing information to the Governor, the department and its staff, the Legislature, 
certain incarcerated persons and their families and the public;
3.  Promoting public awareness and understanding of the problems and challenges of 
incarceration;
4.  Identifying systemic issues and responses upon which the department, the Governor 
and the Legislature may act; and
5.  Ensuring compliance with relevant statutes, rules, regulations and policies 
concerning correctional facilities, services, staff and treatment of certain incarcerated 
persons.