Call to Action: Parole in Maine
This is a CALL TO ACTION. We need you to contact your legislator. Write letters to the editors. Write an op ed for your local paper.
PAROLE was ended in Maine amidst the tough on crime movement of the late 1970s and early 80s. In the interim -
We have had a 400% increase in the number of people incarcerated in Maine...(even though arrests and crime rates have been decreasing for years)
An increase in length of sentence of 20%.
Our prisons hold an increasing percentage of elderly and infirm inmates whose cost of care is 2 to 5 times more than the average inmate at the same time as the likelihood of committing another crime declines precipitously with age.
Parole serves as an incentive for rehabilitation.
95% of inmates will be returning to their communities. It is in all of our best interests that rehabilitation be the guiding principle for release, as it is with parole.
Keeping people incarcerated who have successfully completed rehabilitation serves no purpose and costs our state budget immense amounts of money.
This year the cost of incarcerating the average resident at Maine State Prison will be $73,000. The elderly and infirm will likely cost $146,000 to $365,000 annually.
A returning citizen becomes an asset to their community, instead of a liability.
You can use this information to write a letter in favor of parole, or better yet make it more personal. If you know someone inside who deserves to be released because they have shown that they will be an asset to our communities, tell your story. I am attaching a letter from an inmate that might be a good source of information as well.(I have deleted his last name as I was not able to contact him to ask his permission to share this letter.) Everyone is capable of change. Positive change should be rewarded.