![]() | |
Location | Warren, Maine |
---|---|
Status | Operational |
Security class | Close, Medium, & Special Management |
Capacity | 916 |
Population | 820 |
Opened | 2002 |
Managed by | Maine Department of Corrections |
Warden | Matthew Magnusson |
The Maine State Prison was erected in Thomaston, Maine in 1824 [1] and relocated to Warren in 2002. [2] This maximum-security prison has a capacity of 916 adult male inmates with an average daily population of 900.
The state legislature established the Maine State Prison in Thomaston in 1824. The original layout of the prison kept prisoners housed in covered subterranean granite cells, nine feet 8 inches deep. The top opening of each cell measured four feet six inches by eight feet nine inches. Inmates entered their cells through a two foot square opening in the cell's cover, secured with an iron grate. In the prison's early years, the majority of prisoners died of tuberculosis before completing their sentences. [3]
In 1923 the prison was destroyed by a fire in which many inmates died. The old prison was replaced by a facility with two cellblocks. The cells were modeled on the Auburn System. There were long narrow hallways with very small cells—7 ft × 6 ft (2.1 m × 1.8 m) each. The 1923 prison was very modern for the time and most things were performed by technology, like the locking and unlocking of doors.
The Maine State Prison had a farm several miles away where select prisoners worked. Most produce was used by the prison and not for sale. Other prisoners worked in carriage shops, harness shops, and in maintenance. In the summer of 1927 there were 197 white prisoners, three African American prisoners, and one prisoner of another race. The Maine state prison housed few females, who worked sewing and patching clothing. The women were relocated to the Women's Correctional Center in Skowhegan, Maine in 1935.
The old Maine State Prison in Thomaston was moved to a new, larger prison in Warren in February 2002 because of the growing prisoner population. Some residents in Thomaston objected to the relocation of the prison out of their town, because it was a part of their history and local economy. The prison was razed in the summer of 2002 and the site of the prison in Thomaston was converted into a field.
The Special Management Unit (SMU) is a restrictive housing unit that has two pods. One pod houses the ACU or Administrative Control Unit which houses residents who are threats to themselves or others, are escape risks, or violate institutional rules, such as fighting or having weapons or other contraband, or have seriously assaulted other residents or staff. Most residents in the ACU are on 21-hour lockdown. They receive two hours a day exercise in a recreation yard and most services, such as meals and medication, are brought to them in their cells. They also receive programming to allow them to earn their way back into general population. The ACU has a level system that is based on behavior and programming and allows the resident to earn privileges. The second pod houses the residents who are on DSeg time and are awaiting admission to the ACU or could not be housed in general population on DSeg time due to their violent behavior.
The Maine State prison uses the team management system. A team of staff for each housing unit meets periodically to talk about the needs of each prisoner, determine their custody level, and set goals for each prisoner to reach. Education programs are available to inmates including GED prep, typing, English, horticulture, science, and college prep math. College courses are also available for prisoners. Prisoners placed in the SMU have access to educational, mental health, and other programs in-cell.[ citation needed ] http://www.maine.gov/corrections/mmc#:~:text=This%20operating%20philosophy%2C%20known%20as,to%20rebuild%20and%20transform%20lives.
Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) is a supermax prison facility in Crescent City, California. The 275-acre (111 ha) prison takes its name from a shallow bay on the Pacific coast, about 2 mi (3.2 km) to the west.
Minnesota Correctional Facility – Oak Park Heights (MCF-OPH) is Minnesota's only Level Five maximum security prison. The facility is located near the cities of Bayport and Stillwater. The facility is designed and employed with trained security officers to handle not only Minnesota's high-risk inmates but other states' as well. They also have the largest contract to house federal inmates with serious, violent histories. The prison has never had an escape, and only one homicide.
The United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility, commonly known as ADX Florence or the Florence Supermax, is an American federal prison in Fremont County to the south of Florence, Colorado, operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. ADX Florence, constructed in 1994 and opened one year later, is classed as a supermax or "control unit" prison, that provides a higher, more controlled level of custody than a regular maximum security prison. ADX Florence forms part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Florence, which is situated on 49 acres of land and houses different facilities with varying degrees of security, including the adjacent United States Penitentiary, Florence High.
A super-maximum security (supermax) or administrative maximum (ADX) prison is a "control-unit" prison, or a unit within prisons, which represents the most secure level of custody in the prison systems of certain countries.
The Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) is a 502-inmate capacity supermax Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction prison in Youngstown, Ohio, United States.
The State Correctional Institution – Graterford, commonly referred to as SCI Graterford, known prior as Eastern Correctional Institution, Graterford Prison, Graterford Penitentiary, and the Graterford Prison Farm, was a Pennsylvania Department of Corrections prison located in Skippack Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, near Graterford. The prison, located on Graterford Road off of Pennsylvania Route 29, was about 31 miles (50 km) northwest of Philadelphia.
Pontiac Correctional Center, established in June 1871, is an Illinois Department of Corrections maximum security prison for adult males in Pontiac, Illinois. The prison also has a medium security unit that houses medium to minimum security inmates and is classified as Level 3. Until the 2011 abolition of the death penalty in Illinois, the prison housed male death row inmates, but had no execution chamber. Inmates were executed at the Tamms Correctional Center. Although the capacity of the prison is 2172, it has an average daily population of approximately 2000 inmates.
The Chesapeake Detention Facility (CDF), previously the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center (MCAC), is a maximum level II prison operated by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services in Baltimore.
The James T. Vaughn Correctional Center (JTVCC), formerly the Delaware Correctional Center (DCC), is a state prison for men in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, USA, near Smyrna. It is the Delaware Department of Correction's largest correctional facility.
Thomas Edward Silverstein was an American criminal who spent the last 42 years of his life in prison after being convicted of four separate murders while imprisoned for armed robbery, one of which was overturned. Silverstein spent the last 36 years of his life in solitary confinement for killing corrections officer Merle Clutts at the Marion Penitentiary in Illinois. Prison authorities described him as a brutal killer and a former leader of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang. Silverstein maintained that the dehumanizing conditions inside the prison system contributed to the three murders he committed. He was the longest-held prisoner in solitary confinement within the Bureau of Prisons at the time of his death. Correctional officers refused to talk to Silverstein out of respect for Clutts.
Menard Correctional Center, known prior to 1970 as Southern Illinois Penitentiary, is an Illinois state prison located in the town of Chester in Randolph County, Illinois. It houses maximum-security and high-medium-security adult males. The average daily population as of 2007 was 3,410.
The United States Penitentiary, Florence High is a high-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Colorado. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. USP Florence High is part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Florence, which is situated on 49 acres (20 ha) of land and houses different facilities with varying degrees of security. It is named "Florence High" in order to differentiate it from the United States Penitentiary, Florence ADMAX, the federal supermax prison located in the same complex.
The Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York is a temporarily closed United States federal administrative detention facility in the Civic Center of Lower Manhattan, New York City, located on Park Row behind the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse at Foley Square. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.
Upstate Correctional Facility is a maximum security state prison for men in Franklin County, New York, US. The prison, in the Town of Malone, was the first New York State prison built as a supermax.
The Kentucky State Penitentiary (KSP), also known as the "Castle on the Cumberland," is a maximum security and supermax prison with capacity for 856 prisoners located in Eddyville, Kentucky on Lake Barkley on the Cumberland River, about 4.8 kilometres (3 mi) from downtown Eddyville. It is managed by the Kentucky Department of Corrections. Completed in 1886, it is Kentucky's oldest prison facility and the only commonwealth-owned facility with supermax units. The penitentiary houses Kentucky's male death row inmates and the commonwealth's execution facility. As of 2015 it had approximately 350 staff members and an annual operating budget of $20 million. In most cases, inmates are not sent directly to the penitentiary after sentencing, but are sent there because of violent or disruptive behavior committed in other less secure correctional facilities in the commonwealth. This was Kentucky's second penitentiary: the first was made uninhabitable from a flood in 1937.
The Maine Department of Corrections is a government agency in the U.S. state of Maine that is responsible for the direction and general administrative supervision, guidance and planning of both adult and juvenile correctional facilities and programs within the state. The agency has its headquarters in Augusta. As of January 2016, the Maine DOC had 2,223 inmates in its custody.
The British Columbia Penitentiary was a federal maximum security prison located in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. The BC Penitentiary operated for 102 years, from 1878 until it was decommissioned in 1980. It was the first federal penal institution west of Manitoba. The Gatehouse was sold on September 8, 2021.
The 2013 California prisoner hunger strike started on July 8, 2013, involving over 29,000 inmates in protest of the state's use of solitary confinement practices and ended on September 5, 2013. The hunger strike was organized by inmates in long term solitary in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay State Prison in protest of inmates housed there that were in solitary confinement indefinitely for having ties to gangs. Another hunger strike that added to the movement started the week before in High Desert State Prison. The focus of the High Desert State Prison hunger strike was to demand cleaner facilities, better food and better access to the library.
The Trousdale Turner Correctional Center is a private prison for men, located in Hartsville, Trousdale County, Tennessee, owned and operated by CoreCivic under contract with the Tennessee Department of Correction.
The Prisoner Human Rights Movement was launched in 2011 by Pelican Bay State Prison inmates in response to large numbers of inmates being moved from general prison populations to solitary-confinement units after allegations of gang affiliation or political organizing. Its goal is to improve living conditions for inmates in California.