Analysis Area 1: (A) Assess behavioral health (BH) challenges, especially opioid addiction, and their impacts on people in the criminal justice system, including assessing the availability, funding, and oversight of treatment resources; (B) Analyze jail and prison-based programming and treatment, including that related to diversion and reentry.
Background: Behavioral health challenges, especially related to the use of opioids, are particularly pressing in Maine. Between 2012 and 2017, Maine’s drug overdose deaths increased 156 percent, driven by a 278-percent increase in the rate of opioid-related overdose deaths. In 2017, Maine’s drug overdose death rate was the ninth highest in the nation, with many deaths linked to the opioid crisis in the state. Data released in April 2019 indicates that overdose deaths declined slightly in 2018, but the overall rate remains high, and state leaders are determined to address this critical challenge.
Update: In October, CSG Justice Center staff met with Maine state leaders to learn about the state’s response to the opioid crisis and plans for improving the available treatment resources for people with behavioral health conditions. CSG Justice Center staff spoke with the Director of Opioid Response—a newly created, cabinet-level position reporting directly to the Governor) about the ongoing Justice Reinvestment work and opportunities to leverage both federal and state resources to improve outcomes for people in the criminal justice system. They challenges with tracking funding and resources dedicated to opioid response in the state and in determining how best to allocate those resources and track outcomes. Leadership from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), discussed recent efforts to better understand the BH treatment landscape in the state and channel resources to the areas and population in highest need of treatment services. A DHHS-funded “map and match” study (using licensure and treatment capacity information from DHHS and other sources) conducted by The Pew Charitable Trusts was released in early October. CSG Justice Center staff spoke with the Pew staff that authored the study to better understand the array of available BH treatment services in Maine and potential impacts for people with BH conditions in the criminal justice system. Finally, CSG Justice Center staff toured the Maine Correctional Center (MCC) and Southern Maine Women’s Reentry Center (SMWRC) to learn more about treatment and programming provided in prison facilities in Maine, including medication-assisted treatment (MAT).
Analysis Area 2: (A) Determine primary drivers of prison population growth in Maine, including revocation policy and practice, recidivism monitoring, and time-earning status; (B) evaluate probation policy and practice in Maine so that probation can be maximized as a tool for recidivism reduction, and recovery outcomes can be improved for people on supervision.
Background: Between 2015 and 2018, the state’s average daily prison population increased 15 percent, reaching an all-time high of 2,468 people in July 2018. During this period, the female prison population increased 30 percent, far outpacing the growth of the male prison population, which increased 13 percent. This growth has created capacity pressures for DOC, which is operating near capacity and is facing associated challenges (e.g., a lack of programming space in the state’s primary female prison facility due to crowding), especially for the female population. Each year from 2015 to 2018, more than 42 percent of admissions to prison were the result of a probation revocation. Additional case-level data analysis is needed to better understand the dynamics of supervision revocations (including the nature of violations, violation responses and sanctioning by supervision officers, and judicial responses to violation behavior), but many leaders and stakeholders attribute revocations, at least in part, to a lack of necessary community-based programming for mental illnesses, substance addictions, and cognitive behavioral interventions. For people released from prison in 2014, the three-year return-to-custody rate for those released to probation supervision—37.7 percent—was more than 15 percentage points higher than for those who were released without a subsequent term on probation—22 percent.
Update: In October, CSG Justice Center staff conducted an intensive, on-site assessment of probation policy and practice in Maine. The assessment included meetings with regional correctional managers (comparable to district supervisors in other states), probation officers, probation officer assistants, and people on probation in two areas, each with different challenges: Calais—a large, rural area in far Eastern Maine—and Lewiston—an urban area in southern Maine. CSG Justice Center staff spoke with DOC probation staff regarding their challenges, successes, needs, agency policy, and various practices in each region to better understand system strengths and areas of opportunity, as well as more localized challenges in the different areas of the state. CSG Justice Center staff also spoke with Justice (Superior Court Justice, Kennebec County) and Judge (District Judge, Portland) to learn more about how and why judges sentence people to probation and handle violation behavior that may result in a revocation.
Analysis Area 3: Study how Maine’s criminal justice system affects people differentially by race, ethnicity, and gender.
Background: As of 2014, the incarceration rate for black people in Maine was nearly six times the incarceration rate for white people. In 2018, black people made up an estimated 1.6 percent of the state’s population but accounted for 11 percent of the prison population. In the same year, Native Americans accounted for an estimated 0.7 percent of Maine’s population but made up 3 percent of the state’s prison population. State leaders are keenly interested in the intersectionality of race and gender dynamics at each key decision point in the criminal justice system, and CSG Justice Center staff are seeking relevant data from state and local agencies in Maine.
Update: Analysis of case-level arrest and criminal case filing data by CSG Justice Center staff showed significant disproportionality at various points in Maine’s criminal justice system. While black people make up about 1 percent of Maine’s population, they accounted for 5 percent of all arrests in 2018. Disproportionality was even more pronounced in arrests for higher-level (more severe) offenses, with black people making up 16 percent of all Class A arrests in 2018. Looking at drug offenses, black people accounted for 21 percent of the Class A drug arrests and 15 percent of Class B drug arrests in 2018. Disproportionality carried over into case filings and sentencing, where 8 percent of felony case filings were against black people. 12 percent of all sentences to prison in Maine were for black defendants. Nine percent of people sentenced to prison in Maine in FY2019 had legal addresses outside of Maine, approximately half of whom were black. In arrest data, more than 15 percent of records (mostly for lower-level, misdemeanor offenses) are missing race and sex information. More information is available in court records, where only 4 percent were missing race information, and around 1 percent were missing gender information.
Analysis Area 4: Analyze how Maine’s criminal justice system serves victims of crime.
Background: Maine has low rates and amounts of victim compensation, despite increases in violent crime. Half of homicides in Maine arise from intimate partner relationships, and the state needs more access to better-run programs to prevent abusive behavior that often escalates to even more serious crimes.
Update: In October, CSG Justice Center staff met with Director of the Maine Victim Compensation Program (Office of the Attorney General) to continue learning about successes and challenges for the state’s compensation program, including covered services, funding mechanisms, how and when victims utilize the program, views of the program from other criminal justice system stakeholders in Maine, etc. Discussions also continued with the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence and Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault, both of which remain supportive of the intensive analysis being conducted through JRI in Maine.
Analysis Area 5: Assess pretrial decision-making systems, including the availability and use of diversion programs; analyze indigent defense policy and practice.
Background: Maine’s pretrial release system relies upon non-judicial, non-attorney bail commissioners who collect fees from the people whose bail they are setting. This system has been criticized in recent years as uninformed and outdated. Maine’s indigent defense system relies entirely on private attorneys and has been criticized for placing the case-related interests of indigent defendants in conflict with the financial interests of the attorneys appointed to represent them. Maine leaders are interested in data- and policy-related assessments of these areas of the criminal justice system through JRI.
Update: In October, CSG Justice Center staff conducted intensive analysis of arrest and criminal case filing data that shed light on some critical pretrial dynamics in Maine, including arrests for violation(s) of conditions of release (VCR) of people released on bail pending trial. VCRs were the primary or secondary charge in more than 20 percent of all arrests in Maine in 2018, making it the second most common reason for misdemeanor arrest among men and the third most common reason for arrest among women. VCR dynamics are of particular interest to many Maine leaders and stakeholders, including those serving on the Chief Justice’s Pretrial Justice Task Force, policy recommendations from which are due in November. CSG Justice Center staff also spoke with superior court and district court judges about pretrial issues, including Maine’s bail practices and challenges associated with money bail for people of lower economic status.
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o 10/1: Meeting with House Co-Chair (Commission to Improve the Sentencing, Supervision, Incarceration, and Management of Prisoners) and Senate Co-chair (Commission to Improve the Sentencing, Supervision, Incarceration, and Management of Prisoners) to review the draft of the presentation for the October 3 commission meeting, and finalize the agenda for the meeting, and discuss meeting mechanics.
o 10/2: Meeting with Commissioner (Maine DOC), Deputy Commissioner (Maine DOC), and Director of Strategic Initiatives (Maine DOC) to provide an update on the JRI project; review the presentation for the October 3 commission meeting; and discuss meeting protocols, printing of various materials, presentation release and dissemination, and more.
o 10/2: Meeting with Director of the Maine Victim Compensation Program (Office of the Attorney General) to continue learning about successes and challenges for the state’s compensation program, including covered services, funding mechanisms, how and when victims utilize the program, views of the program from other criminal justice system stakeholders in Maine, etc.
o 10/3: First meeting of the Maine Commission to Improve the Sentencing, Supervision, Incarceration and Management or Prisoners, the 20-member body acting as Maine’s Justice Reinvestment working group. Sixteen of 20 appointed members attended the meeting.
o 10/4: Meeting with Legislative Advocate ( Maine Municipal Association) and County Administrator (Kennebec County) to provide an update on the JRI project in Maine and recap the presentation delivered to the commission on October 3. Future engagements with city managers, county commissioners, and police chiefs are planned as part of JRI in Maine.
o 10/7: Meeting with Director of Women’s Services (Maine Department of Corrections) to continue discussions on women’s services in DOC. Following the meeting, they took CSG Justice Center staff on a tour of the women’s housing units and programming areas at the Maine Correctional Center and Southern Maine Women’s Reentry Center in Windham, Maine. CSG Justice Center staff spoke with staff and people incarcerated in both facilities to learn about current policy and practice in the facilities as well as challenges, needs, and opportunities for improvement.
o 10/8: Meeting with Director of Opioid Response to provide an update on the JRI project and discuss opportunities to leverage both federal and state resources that can improve outcomes for people in the criminal justice system. They highlighted challenges with tracking funding and resources dedicated to opioid response in the state and in determining how best to allocate those resources and track outcomes.
o 10/8: Meeting with DOC staff at the Region 3 Probation Office in Calais, Maine to learn about the implementation of agency policy in a rural area. CSG Justice Center staff spoke with the regional correctional manager, who oversees seven officers, two probation officers, and one probation officer assistant.
o 10/8: Meeting with Chief Executive Officer (Calais Regional Hospital) to learn about the hospital’s challenges involving people in the criminal justice system, the array of available medical and behavioral health services in the area, and the impact of Maine’s recent expansion of Medicaid.
o 10/9: Meeting with Judge (Chief Judge, Penobscot Nation Tribal Court) to provide an update on the JRI project in Maine and learn about the criminal justice challenges for tribal nations in Maine.
o 10/9: Meeting with DOC staff at the Region 2 Probation Office in Lewiston, Maine to learn about the implementation of agency policy in an urban area. CSG Justice Center staff spoke with the regional correctional manager, two probation officers (one that carries a drug court caseload and one that carries a sex offender caseload), and one person currently on probation supervision.
• 10/10: Call with Judge (District Judge, Portland) to discuss current pretrial and sentencing practices among district judges and seek input on the JRI process in Maine. Judge asked for specific information on VCR trends that will be integrated into the November 12 presentation to the commission.
• 10/11: Call with staff from The Pew Charitable Trusts regarding the “map and match” work recently completed for Maine DHHS.
• 10/16: Call with Justice (Superior Court Justice, Kennebec County) to discuss the JRI process in Maine, his experience in the state, guidance on recent policy changes and their impact on the judicial process in Maine, and his hopes for areas of analysis in JRI.
• 10/16: Call with Representative (House Co-Chair, Commission to Improve the Sentencing, Supervision, Incarceration, and Management of Prisoners) to discuss questions and concerns related to the operation of Justice Reinvestment in Maine, including plans for engaging with various state leaders and stakeholders and staffing of the commission.
• 10/22: Call with DHHS Commissioner and DHHS Director of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services to discuss recent efforts to better understand the BH treatment landscape in the state and channel resources to the areas and population in highest need of treatment services. Follow-up discussions with other DHHS staff and leadership are planned for November.
• 10/22: Call with Representative (House Co-Chair, Commission to Improve the Sentencing, Supervision, Incarceration, and Management of Prisoners) to provide an update on Justice Reinvestment in Maine.
• 10/29: Call with Director (Corrections Service Center, DOC) to learn about DOC budgeting practices and trends, including budget projections and pass-through funding provided to county jails in Maine.
• 10/31: Call with Representative (District 93, and member of the Commission to Improve the Sentencing, Supervision, Incarceration, and Management of Prisoners) to discuss the JRI project, including recent analyses, recent legislative actions affecting the criminal justice system in Maine, etc.
• 10/31: Call with Senior Advisor (Office of Governor) to provide a brief update on the JRI process and confirm a meeting with the Governor in early November.
This month the CSG Justice Center research team focused on analysis of computerized criminal history and administrative office of the courts data with the hopes of learning more about arrest patterns, court filing and sentencing trends, and sentence lengths.
New Insights Gleaned:
As seen in federal reporting and “Crime in Maine” reports, arrests are down over the last decade. A closer look at arrests shows that in 2018, violations of conditions of release accounted for 20 percent of all arrests, either as the primary or a secondary offense. Drug trafficking accounts for a large proportion of Class A and Class B arrests. When analyzing arrests by race, black people account for 5 percent of all arrests but only make up 1 percent of the state population. The disproportional representation in arrest numbers increases with the severity of the offense; black people account for 16 percent of Class A arrests. Arrest trends for women showed a decrease in misdemeanor arrests between 2008 and 2018, but there was an increase in felony arrests. In 2018, women were most often arrested for felony larceny, felony drug possession, or felony drug trafficking.
Analysis of the courts data showed that the average number of charges for felony cases is twice as high as the average number of charges for misdemeanor cases. More than 3,000 cases received a deferred disposition in 2018 and half of those ended in case dismissal—a successful outcome. The number of sentences for felony cases declined 10 percent between 2016 and 2019, yet the number of sentences to prison increased 2 percent. More than 80 percent of felony sentences involve some form of incarceration—be it jail or prison. Probation, without an accompanying term of incarceration, is not often used in felony cases. In 2019, women more often got a sentence of probation than men. For those women sentenced to prison, a larger proportion were sentenced for a drug or property offense than men.
• 10/2: Cleaned data from the Administrative Office of the Courts.
• 10/4: Analyzed arrests by offense levels, grouping murder, Class A, Class B, and Class C offenses into felonies and Class D and Class E offenses into misdemeanors. As expected, a large proportion of arrests are for misdemeanor offenses.
• 10/23: Analyzed arrests by race, examining each offense level for disproportionalities.
• 10/24: Analyzed arrests for violations of conditions of release. Learned that about 20 percent of arrests have a violation of condition of release as either the primary or secondary offense.
• 10/26: Analyzed arrests for domestic violence. Examined how many cases were disposed as domestic violence cases according to the computerized criminal history records.
• 10/27: Analyzed cases disposed between FY2016 and FY2019, looking at the number of cases offered deferred disposition and the number of cases dismissed.
• 10/28: Analyzed overall sentencing trends between FY2016 and FY2019. Found that the number of sentences decreased during this time. Analyzed sentences by race, offense level, and gender.
• 10/29: Analyzed the sentences imposed for felony drug offenses. Many felony drug offenses receive a sentence that includes some type of incarceration, be it prison or jail.
• 10/31: Further examined the number of cases sentenced to probation without any period of incarceration. Compared to other states, Maine has a relatively low proportion of felony cases sentenced to probation supervision.
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