BACKGROUND. Brown's fearless coverage of Maine state prison corruption and prisoner abuse issues on WRFR Community Radio in Rockland, Maine in 2005 and 2006 gained quite a following both inside the prison and out, even inducing a disgruntled guard to expose a highly corrupted institutionalized system of nepotism and favoritism run by Maine state prison administrators that mistreats both inmates and blue collar prison workers. Brown's revelations, including his vivid descriptions of a six month stint in solitary confinement in the unhealthy & abusive confines of the Maine Supermax attracted the attention of investigative journalist Lance Tapley whose scathing expose' in the Portland Phoenix of the prison's violations of court orders and consent decrees and of the poor phsyical and psychological conditions in the Maine Supermax, ignited a statewide furor that resulted in a sharp drop last year in the institution's application of torture & pain techniques to inmates.

UPDATE: Deane's lawyer Lynne Williams interviewed 8/18/07 (15 minute mp3) about Deane's federal lawsuit challenging his censoring and exile.

Listen to Deane Brown's Reports on MP3 and his and our letters to prison officials. And their replies.

Letters from Exile June 17, 2007 *** January 18, 2007
Letter to Exiled Deane Brown March 12, 2007
* Prelude to Exile: Warden blocks Deane from calling his own radio show! October '06

Left: View from cell door food slot, deep in the Maine Supermax "Hole."
Note illegally chained cell doors: in case of fire, all cell doors open automatically. Except these!

Life & Death in The Hole. Read Brown's handwritten blog written during a six month stint in solitary confinement read on air on the Weekend Roundtable and published online.

Tapley has received two journalism awards for his series to date: the Maine State Bar Association’s Excellence in Legal Journalism Award and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies First place award for In-depth news reporting.

Deane Brown has been less fortunate. MaineState Prison warden Jeffrey Merrill first blocked his telephone access to WRFR, then blocked his phone access to his outside personal friends when they recorded phone interviews with him at their home telephone #s. Outright denials and impossibly coercive conditions were set up for Tapley and other print reporters to visit Brown or other inmates at the prison.

Finally, Merrill warned Brown of 'serious consequences' if he continued to postal mail written correspondence to WRFR. When Brown continued by mailing his correspondence to the radio station as hard copy, he was abruptly labeled a security risk and taken 525 miles south to a high security prison in Baltimore Maryland. Exiled, he is forbidden any telephone use whatsoever, has very uneven mail delivery, and is too distant from Rockland for any but occasional visits. Brown has now filed this lawsuit challenging his exile in US District Court in Portland Maine (PDF File) WRFR continues to run his news correspondence when it arrives.

Other Voices: Gregory Garnes, another inmate at the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center, writes WRFR to inform Mainers of the conditions there. ... More Maine Inmates ** Disclaimer

News:
6/27/07 Maine prison bosses violate court orders. Portland Phoenix. Detailed description of how Maine Department of Corrections ignores federal rulings protecting human rights of prisoners going back to the 1970s. Links to '70s cases! Brown sues Magnusson, Starbird, et al in federal court. Portland Phoenix May 15, 2007
4/25/07Prisoners as Commodities. Portland Phoenix.
1/10/07 Deane Brown defense team enlarging. by Lance Tapley
12/14/06 Lockdown: What do prison officials have to hide?
12/13/06 Stonewalling is normal. Reporting on the prison system
11/17/06. "Baldacci’s ‘political prisoner’" Investigative reporter Lance Tapley reveals that the DOC exiled Brown to Maryland prison in retaliation for his human rights activism.

Call to investigate Maine prison warden and associates.

* Corruption Revealed! Former MSP official outlines what's wrong (and right) with how Maine state prison is run.
Who's mis-spending the inmates money?

Earlier stories Click Here.

Six months in Maine Supermax: a harrowing handwritten blog of life in hell.*** Letters from other MSP inmates
* * Maine Prisoners Forum * Maine State Prison media coverage (Google)* Maine Adult Correctional Education Association About Supermax prisons. * The Prison inside the Prison. (A report by the American Friends Service Committee. 490k pdf file)