for a corrections ombudsman

The Maine Department of Corrections has gained national attention for its programming, such as allowing people to engage in remote work and obtain degrees while in prison. Deputy Commissioner Anthony Cantillo recounted some of this work to lawmakers at a recent meeting as he urged them to reject a proposal for independent oversight of the department. 

“It’s difficult for me to reconcile,” Democratic Rep. Nina Milliken of Blue Hill responded during that Jan. 14 meeting, “knowing that you’re doing so well and then not wanting to have someone to affirm that.” 

The lack of independent oversight of the Department of Corrections is the basis for a bill before the Maine Legislature. Initially a proposal to establish an ombudsman role, the significantly amended version of LD 1962 passed out of committee would require the vacancies in the current oversight bodies, the boards of visitors, to be filled and ensure that legislators can access correctional facilities. The corrections department remains opposed. 

“I remain very much committed to encouraging the Legislature to create an Office of Corrections Ombudsman,” the bill sponsor, Assistant Senate Majority leader Jill Duson (D-Cumberland), told Maine Morning Star. Duson said if reelected she’ll introduce the proposal again next year. “It’s trying to find a system solution versus doing 100 Band-Aids,” she added.

Milliken, who drafted the amended bill, said she also remains adamant that creating an ombudsman role is needed. But after committee pushback, she found colleagues on both sides of the aisle more amenable to a narrowed version that attempts to shore up the currently available tools for inspection. 

“What I’ve put in is a Band-Aid to get us through to next year,” Milliken said. 

Issues 

Luca Mellon, an advocate for incarcerated people’s rights who is supportive of the bill, said the need for greater oversight is two-fold: to address current issues being raised within prisons and the tools that are not allowing those issues to be publicly addressed and resolved. 

The Maine Department of Corrections governs its own grievance process for inmates, with rulings made by a designated officer. If an incarcerated person doesn’t agree with the department’s ruling, they can challenge the decision under Maine Rule of Civil Procedure 80(C), which governs judicial review of final agency actions.

But these remedies are costly and require knowledge of a system many incarcerated people lack. 

“If a grievance is dismissed, it’s the end of the matter unless you have the funds at the time and the know-how and the support in order to move forward,” explained Leo Hylton, who is incarcerated in Maine State Prison. “The vast majority are lacking in one of those areas, or in most cases, all of those areas.”

In 2024, there were at least 18 actions filed in state or federal court against the Department of Corrections or its facilities, including 80(C) petitions, according to director of government affairs Jill O’Brien. In 2025, there were at least 12. 

The fact that an ombudsman would be “someone who is not from this ecosystem” would also mean they wouldn’t be subject to internal pressures, which Hylton and others believe is a current issue with disciplinary and grievance procedures.

State, counties not following all requirements for boards overseeing jails and prisons

Per department policy, grievances can be dismissed for a number of reasons, including writing outside the designated lines on the form.

“When procedural technicalities are used to silence valid complaints, incarcerated people are left without any meaningful avenue for redress,” President of the Maine State Prison chapter of the NAACP Foster Bates wrote in testimony submitted in support of the original bill. 

When incarcerated people have exhausted grievance and appeal options, many contact the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition for help. 

“​​We listen. We bring their requests to the DOC’s attention,” Assistant Director Jan Collins said in testimony. “But, that is the extent of what we can do. Sometimes it helps. Often it does not.” 

In one recent example, during the last election, there was a breakdown in the absentee ballot dissemination process in Maine State Prison, threatening the constitutional rights of incarcerated voters and resulting in the state having to overnight ballots the day before the election. Maine is one of two states where people retain the right to vote in prison. 

The corrections department confirmed the delay but did not respond to questions about the cause, how widespread it was, or how the department plans to prevent such an issue from occurring again.

Lani Graham, the state’s former chief public health officer, described the current process for resolving complaints as “he said, she said.”

“The Legislature at present has to decide if they want to agree with the department or agree with the residents, or ignore both,” Graham told Maine Morning Star, “because there’s no independent data and no independent view of what is going on.” 

Boards of visitors

The current system of oversight rests on boards of visitors, panels assigned to each correctional facility tasked with inspecting and reviewing their management. 

But three of the five boards are underfilled. The DOC puts forth recommendations and Gov. Janet Mills makes the appointments, but for years she has left many positions vacant. 

“The process of filling those vacancies is continuing, following the resignation of members,” her spokesperson Ben Goodman said in a written statement. 

Under the bill as amended, if a vacancy arises, the governor has to notify the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee within five days, and then the governor would have 90 days to fill that seat. If she doesn’t, the presiding officers — the president of the Maine Senate and speaker of the House of Representatives — are tasked with filling the vacancy. 

Many of those vacant positions are representatives of specific affinity groups, such as mental health professionals and formerly incarcerated people, which a 2023 update to Maine statute required. 

As a result of that change, almost every member of the board for the state’s largest prison, Maine State Prison, resigned in protest and six of the seven seats remain vacant. 

“The effectiveness of the board of visitors has been a matter of question over time,” Duson said. “But we can’t have that conversation if we don’t even make the appointments.”

Boards have gone periods without meeting and have failed to submit annual reports to the Legislature. Boards are also tasked with visiting prison facilities and interacting with incarcerated people, however Milliken said she knows of few that do so. 

Meanwhile, county sheriffs appoint members to serve on each jail’s boards of visitors, which also have vacancies. 

Last year, after objections from sheriffs, Rep. Robert Nutting (R-Oakland) proposed rolling back the requirements for specific groups to be represented on jail boards as well as eliminating the criminal justice committee’s oversight authority over them, making the boards responsive only to sheriffs. That proposal was shot down, however an amended version passed requiring the sheriffs of each county to issue a report to the committee on the status of any vacancies and the difficulties of meeting membership requirements. 

Those reports were due Dec. 3, 2025, but had yet to be received when the committee’s analysts reviewed the status of all reports earlier this month.  

Other avenues for accountability 

The amended draft of LD 1962 would also explicitly require the Department of Corrections to make sure legislators can fully access their facilities and the people incarcerated within them, with exceptions for emergency situations, such as riots and hostage situations. Currently, legislator access is the same as anyone else. 

Legislators act as a constitutionally mandated oversight body of all government agencies, however the fundamental nature of corrections facilities makes that work uniquely challenging.

Duson, who formerly served as the state’s long-term care ombudsman, said like those facilities, corrections facilities “have a population that is completely isolated from the public, for the most part. Their life and food and meds and everything is completely in the hands of a government agency.”  

But unlike care facilities or other places legislators oversee such as schools, which are in nearly every district and relatively easy to visit, prisons have higher security protocols and are often in more remote areas. 

Milliken is one of few legislators who regularly visit the state’s prisons. It takes her two hours to get to Maine State Prison in Warren from her house, or three hours if she’s visiting Maine Correctional Center in Windham, all travel that is on her own dime. 

On three recent occasions, she said she was turned away from Maine State Prison after being approved for a scheduled visit. During the Jan. 28 meeting when the criminal justice committee voted on the bill, O’Brien, representing the corrections department, said she believed it was due to staffing concerns. 

“It’s not just emergencies that dictate when it’s safe for a legislator to come in,” O’Brien told the committee. “If staffing is so low that we can’t protect residents and the legislators from disturbances or incidents, the wardens need the authority to be able to say, ‘Not today.’”

Committee chair Rep. Tavis Hasenfus (D-Readfield)  suggested another amendment for this section of the bill that would instead direct the corrections department to draft its own proposal, which would still require legislative review and approval. 

Either way, Duson said a policy would provide needed clarity. 

“No one’s looking to force access in an adversarial way. Folks are looking to have a standard of access in a posture where they can provide oversight,” Duson said. “If it’s unclear if folks are going to be admitted, then it makes it more adversarial.”