Inmate protest sparks new prison lockdown

WARREN – One hundred inmates at the new Maine State Prison will remain confined to their cells for 23 hours a day in the wake of a protest staged over a directive on clothing.

A weekend standoff between inmates and prison staff required a tactical response team to be called in, along with prison staff from three other facilities in the state. One prisoner was injured in a scuffle. No staff members were injured, though prisoners reportedly threatened guards.

State Corrections Commissioner Martin Magnusson said the conflict between prisoners and staff began about 1 p.m. Friday.

“It’s been building for a while,” he said. “There’s a group of inmates that’s been looking for a confrontation.”

Beginning a couple of months before the state closed the old prison in Thomaston, a new policy required inmates to wear state-issued dungarees and denim shirts during most of their activities, Magnusson said. Up until that time, Maine was one of three states that allowed prisoners to wear their own clothing.

But clothing often became a source of problems, the commissioner said, as some prisoners would steal items like leather coats, or sell them. And the uniform clothing is easier to wash.

Under the new rules, prisoners must wear the dungarees and shirts – which all look alike – when they eat meals, work within the prison, and visit with people from outside.

During recreation, the inmates are permitted to wear prison-issued sweat pants and sweat shirts, Magnusson said.

On Friday, a group of about 100 inmates prepared to attend lunch wearing sweats, he said, as part of an organized protest, after a smaller group had lunch wearing the sweats. Magnusson said prison staff saw the move as defiance of authority, and so acted.

“I think they were testing the system and chose this issue,” he said. “I think a lot of them believed we’d do nothing.” The message the warden and staff want to send, Magnusson said is, “We’re going to run this place, not them.”

During a standoff with the group of 100 prisoners wearing sweats, inmates shouted threats at staff, and four inmates refused to return to their cells. They were taken to the segregation unit.

Another inmate had to be subdued and suffered an injury to his chin that required four stitches, Magnusson said.

“It was pretty quick that we were able to get control,” he said.

Shortly after 1 p.m., the whole prison was under a lockdown. The prison’s tactical response team was brought in, and in short order, Maine State Police officers mustered at the barracks in Thomaston in case they were needed at the prison in Warren.

Over the course of the weekend, extra staff was summoned from the Downeast, Windham and Charleston correctional facilities, and staff from the Probation and Parole Department were called in.

By 2:30 p.m., just 100 prisoners were under the lockdown conditions, which is much more labor-intensive for staff, because inmates must be let out five at a time for recreation and showers.

Magnusson said the standoff is probably related to the move, which has effectively merged the Maine Correctional Institute – known as the Supermax – with the old Maine State Prison. He believes that some among the two populations are jockeying for position and power.

Magnusson also suspects that some older inmates may have put the younger ones up to the protest.

The prisoners who defied the directive and subsequent orders can be punished, or moved. Videotapes are being reviewed to see whether criminal charges will be assessed against some. Magnusson stressed that the majority of prisoners in the 600-inmate facility have been cooperative.

Individual hearings must be held before prisoners can return to normal status, he said.

The commissioner said the warden and prison staff are willing to listen to inmate concerns, and they did recently when inmates complained about a bright light in cells at the new facility which kept some awake.

“This time, they crossed the line,” Magnusson said.