Deane Brown

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'No-touch torture' in New Jersey

Deane Brown, a Maine inmate shipped out of state because of his criticism of the Maine State Prison, is now being held in New Jersey in "one of the most repressive" prison units in the country, often reserved for "political" or activist prisoners like
Maine Whistleblower Watch
By LANCE TAPLEY | January 28, 2011

Seeking humane treatment

Some Maine people are taking moral responsibility for the way supermax inmates are treated.
State and national efforts well under way
By LANCE TAPLEY | February 19, 2010

Screams from solitary

The 132-man supermax unit within the 925-man Maine State Prison is an expensive, taxpayer-funded torture chamber that for 18 years has sucked in mostly nonviolent, mostly mentally ill prisoners and ground them up by means of mind-destroying solitary conf
‘By dehumanizing prisoners, we dehumanize ourselves.’
By LANCE TAPLEY | February 19, 2010

Injustice everywhere

Thank you for the timely interview with Harvey Silverglate.
Letters to the Portland Editor, October 9, 2009
By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS | October 09, 2009

Prison ‘troublemaker’ confronts racism, medical abuse

Vacillating between grit and despair — between aggressive lawsuits and suicide attempts — Deane Brown, the prisoner who in 2005 blew the whistle on the torture of mentally ill inmates at the Maine State Prison’s solitary-confinement “Supermax” unit, is s
Exiled
By LANCE TAPLEY | September 11, 2009

Three years and counting

For the past three years, Portland Phoenix contributing writer Lance Tapley has been the only reporter in Maine to pay attention to the appalling conditions suffered by inmates in the Maine State Prison
The Portland Phoenix' s prison scoops keep piling up
By PORTLAND PHOENIX STAFF | November 05, 2008

A threat, but not to security

Maine prisoner Deane Brown, 44, is no longer in solitary confinement, though he remains far from Maine.
Deane Brown battles on
By LANCE TAPLEY | September 03, 2008

Judge orders injections for Maine prisoner

A Maryland court has ordered Maine prisoner Deane Brown to be forcibly injected with insulin, if necessary.
Maryland exile
By LANCE TAPLEY | April 23, 2008

Are the prisons overcrowded?

I am asking the whole Legislative Committee to physically go and inspect the prison to ascertain how much bed space is there.
Letters to the Portland editor: February 15, 2008
By LETTERS TO THE PORTLAND EDITOR | February 13, 2008

Exiled Maine prisoners report abuse, danger

Maine corrections officials and Governor John Baldacci refuse to comment on them or the state’s responsibility for their care.
Prison watch
By LANCE TAPLEY | September 26, 2007

Group seeks to hold Maine to UN standard

Next week Portland-based prison activists will be knocking on Munjoy Hill doors.
Outlawing torture
By JEFF INGLIS | August 29, 2007

The 10th Annual Muzzle Awards

Mitt Romney will say or do anything if he thinks it will help him become president.
Silencing free speech
By DAN KENNEDY | July 10, 2007

Maine prison bosses violate court orders

In the activist climate of an earlier era, a Maine legal-aid group brought and won three prisoner-rights lawsuits against state corrections officials.
Department of Corrections ignores federal rulings going back to the 1970s
By LANCE TAPLEY | June 27, 2007

Press behind bars

As a reporter, I can attest that the rules the state agreed to in the 1970s on news-media access to prisoners have been violated by the Corrections Department in its recent practices.

By LANCE TAPLEY | June 27, 2007

Inmate sues prison officials in federal court

Did the Maine Department of Corrections violate the First Amendment’s free-speech guarantee by keeping inmate and human-rights activist Deane Brown from contact with the news media?
First amendment watch
By LANCE TAPLEY | May 18, 2007

Letters to the Portland editor: May 4, 2007

God bless the First Amendment.
Go, Lance, go!
By LETTERS TO THE PORTLAND EDITOR | May 02, 2007

An insult to justice

Portland Phoenix freelancer Lance Tapley was given the Maine State Bar Association's Excellence in Legal Journalism Award last week at the association's annual meeting.
Truth to power
By LANCE TAPLEY | January 31, 2007

Deane Brown defense team enlarging

A lawyer for prison-abuse whistleblower Deane Brown has announced plans to train a research team to aid in a planned federal civil-rights suit to force the state to bring Brown back to Maine from a Maryland prison and collect monetary compensation for
Prison reform
By LANCE TAPLEY | January 10, 2007

Letters to the Portland editor: December 29, 2006

Cheers to Lance Tapley for his quality reporting on the Maine State Prison and the apparent political persecution of Deane Brown (see “ Lockdown ,” December 15).
Prison is not the answer
By DAN CHARD | December 27, 2006

Lockdown

If you were a reporter and you received a letter like the one excerpted below, what would you make of it? Lance Tapley discusses reporting the prisons
What do prison officials have to hide?
By LANCE TAPLEY | December 14, 2006

Stonewalling is normal

I could cite many examples of the difficulty in reporting to the Maine public what goes on behind the cement and bureaucratic walls of the public’s prison system — especially, in reporting brutal practices. I will give just a few.
Reporting the prison system
By LANCE TAPLEY | December 13, 2006

Baldacci’s ‘political prisoner’

John Baldacci’s administration on November 13 sent the Maine State Prison’s chief human-rights advocate, inmate Deane Brown, to a dangerous prison more than 500 miles away, in Baltimore. Brown’s lawyer and his best friend believe this decision was in ret
A life at risk
By LANCE TAPLEY | November 21, 2006

Hunger strike at Maine's Supermax Prison

Inmates at the Maine State Prison’s solitary-confinement Supermax unit in Warren have been on a hunger strike since Saturday night. Death in the Supermax. By Lance Tapley
Suicide attempts reported
By LANCE TAPLEY | October 18, 2006

Pressure rising

Four months ago, a Phoenix investigative series revealed abuses of inmates at the “Supermax,” a 100-bed, solitary-confinement, maximum-security facility inside the Maine State Prison in Warren; since our articles were published, several important dev
Supermax torture revisited
By LANCE TAPLEY | March 23, 2006

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