NCJ Number
75860
Journal
Corrections Magazine Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1981) Pages: 17-23
Date Published
1981
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Reasons why an extensive, rapidly growing inmate industry program in the Maine maximum security prison was abruptly terminated are explored.
Abstract
Inmate capitalism at the Maine State Prison predates World War II. The program remained small until 1976 when a new warden established an inmate-controlled committee to direct this industry and removed or relaxed many constraints on inmate-owned business. Several powerful inmate-businessmen acquired control over large segments of the industry, hiring large numbers of their fellow inmates as salaried workers and, in some cases, earning salaries themselves of over $30,000. An evaluation team from the American Institute of Criminal Justice described the conditions at the prison as violating nearly every accepted correctional management principle. Inmates had free access to knives and other tools useful as weapons, which were sold in the commissary. Some prison staff may have been involved with inmates in some corrupt practices. A complete lockdown was instituted by the State corrections department; the warden resigned; and the program was restructured, scaled down, and brought under prison administration control. Photographs are included.