AUGUSTA
Republican Gov. Paul LePage said Monday he’ll comply with a court order by adding a “minimal” number of staffers and inmates to a state prison he shuttered without legislative approval.
LePage said that the Maine Department of Corrections plans to take such steps by the week’s end. The governor said he met Monday with Department of Corrections Commissioner Joseph Fitpatrick, who will continue planning to close the facility when its funding expires in June.
But a lawyer for laid-off prison workers called the governor’s plans too vague. Attorney David Webbert said he expects to be back in court soon to demand the governor fully comply with the court order.
“The word minimal suggests he’s not really re-opening it,” Webbert said. “It appears to me he’s flouting the court order.”
Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy ruled last week that LePage didn’t have authority to shutter the prison, but she stopped short of ordering all of the inmates to be returned.
The judge left it up to the Department of Corrections to determine staffing and the number of inmates.
“Operating the facility in a minimal capacity allows the department to comply with the court order, to meet the needs of the department, to continue saving money for Maine taxpayers and to keep it operating through June,” reads a press release issued by the governor’s office Monday.
Webbert said the governor has no excuse not to reopen the prison, whose funding runs out in June.
“That whole problem was created because he illegally closed the facility,” Webbert said. “You don’t usually break the law and use that as an excuse to keep breaking the law.”
The House voted 83-53 Thursday to extend funding for a year but failed to reach a two-thirds threshold for emergency legislation.
The minimum-security prison has long been on the state’s chopping block as supporters argue the facility provides jobs and free prison labor to the surrounding rural community. The prison with a capacity of about 150 beds has an annual state budget of about $5 million.
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