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LANCE TAPLEY

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Maine prison guards outnumbered

Mistreatment of Maine prison guards lands heavily on inmates
Critics of the state Department of Corrections say the hostage-taking last June at the Maine State Prison dramatically illustrates that the concrete, high-tech lockup in Warren is showing cracks from stress on the prison guards.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | November 05, 2008

Baldacci raids the cookie jar

The governor’s secret Dirigo Health bailout
Under the American system of government, the legislative branch is supposed to decide how your tax money is spent, but . . .

By: LANCE TAPLEY | October 15, 2008

The mentally ill, criminalized

Common nonsense
She is afraid he will continue to be kept in the Supermax, which will make him worse, she says.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | September 11, 2008

A threat, but not to security

Deane Brown battles on
Maine prisoner Deane Brown, 44, is no longer in solitary confinement, though he remains far from Maine.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | September 03, 2008

Maine: state of deception

How a budget surplus emerged from a back room
Surprise! When the 2008 fiscal year ended, on June 30, the state had a General Fund surplus of $56 million, so the shortfall in reality was considerably smaller than predicted — $134 million.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | August 27, 2008

Time for a clean sweep?

A former guard calls for prison reform
In early 2007, Rhonda Dawson, a thoughtful, candid, 45-year-old African-American guard at the Maine State Prison in Warren, quit her job after four years because, she says, of racist taunting from her fellow correctional officers.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | July 23, 2008

Torture for the hostage-taker?

Prison watch
Will Michael Chasse, the inmate who allegedly held two people hostage on June 30 at the Maine State Prison, now be tortured by Governor John Baldacci’s administration?

By: LANCE TAPLEY | July 09, 2008

Imprisoned facts

Will the truth escape from a break in the prison wall?
Although I had already written a lot about abuse in the prison, this May 21 interview with Dorney, a 28-year-old Portland man serving 20 years for assault, was what I had been waiting for.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | May 28, 2008

Taking from the poor

Democratic lawmakers show their Republican values
What values do Maine’s Democrats hold?

By: LANCE TAPLEY | May 07, 2008

Judge orders injections for Maine prisoner

Maryland exile
A Maryland court has ordered Maine prisoner Deane Brown to be forcibly injected with insulin, if necessary.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | April 23, 2008

Promoting human rights at home

The enemy within
“We have a holier-than-thou” attitude in the United States about human-rights violations abroad, said Bart Carhart, a student organizer of the new Amnesty International chapter at the University of Southern Maine.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | April 02, 2008

State sued over inmate’s death

Silencing alarms
As severely mentally ill Maine State Prison inmate Ryan Rideout prepared to hang himself from a sprinkler in his cell on the night of October 5, 2006, other inmates frantically pressed panic buttons in their cells.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | March 05, 2008

A “good” tax break in the making

Historic rehab
Legislative leadership supports it, and so does Governor John Baldacci. Last year, the Taxation Committee gave it a unanimous “ought to pass” report. It looks golden.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | February 20, 2008

Tax break heaven

The rich get richer, the middle class picks up the tab, and the state goes broke. Here’s why.
As the economy sours, state taxes are bringing in less than expected.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | February 20, 2008

Corporate welfare state

A little change in the tax law with big consequences
In 2006, state lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to give away millions of tax dollars a year for decades to some of Maine’s biggest corporations.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | February 20, 2008

Wave of reform

There is now a chance to fix Maine’s broken corrections system, but only if the public speaks up
A wave of change is moving swiftly toward Maine’s jails and prisons. It could bring major reform — or a bureaucratic jumble.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | February 06, 2008

Three prison-reform events

Getting organized
Three events centered on Martin Luther King Day will kick off a prison-reform movement in Maine.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | January 16, 2008

The loud business drumbeat

Who really cares about the poor, the sick, the elderly, or the mentally ill? Keep searching.
The majority legislative Dems do not share Baldacci’s enthusiasm for these cuts, but they seem resigned to them.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | January 30, 2008

Everyone’s a neocon now

Looking back on state politics — and forward
In the eight years I’ve covered the State House for the Portland Phoenix, I’ve been struck by the depressingly constant themes.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | December 21, 2007

An unprecedented crime

Mass torture in America. And how to stop it
I have a true ghost story to tell: the story of 35,000 ghosts in America, the largely invisible inmates of our solitary-confinement “supermax” prisons.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | November 14, 2007

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