State Sen. Susan Deschambault
AUGUSTA — State Sen. Susan Deschambault, D-Biddeford, has been appointed by Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, to serve as chair of the Commission to Improve the Sentencing, Management and Incarceration of Prisoners.
The commission will review the status of prisoners in Maine and draft policy recommendations to address recidivism, the increasing prison population and the revolving door of juvenile offenders who later get sent to jail as adults.
“It is deeply important to me, as a former social worker with the Department of Corrections, to devise solutions to reduce the rate of imprisonment in Maine while keeping all Mainers safe,” Deschambault said.
Membership of the committee includes legislators; the Attorney General; the Commissioner of Corrections; the Commissioner of Health and Human Services; the Director of Adult Community Corrections; and nine representatives appointed by the Governor, including representatives from the criminal law industry and relevant nonprofits, as well as a member from a federally recognized tribe in the State and a member of the public; and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court or her designee.
The commission will submit a report to the Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety by Dec. 4.
Deschambault also chairs the Maine Senate’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.
She is in her third term as a state senator after serving a partial term in 2016 when the senator holding the seat resigned. She also has served on Biddeford City Council, the Biddeford Police Commission, was chair of the Biddeford Planning Board; is a member of the Maine Criminal Justice Commission and a number of other boards and commissions.
Prior to serving in the Legislature, Deschambault had a distinguished career in law enforcement. She spent more than 40 years in the Maine Department of Corrections as a social worker and eventually became Biddeford’s first female police commissioner.
She represents District 32 as a state senator which includes her hometown of Biddeford, as well as the communities of Alfred, Arundel, Dayton, Kennebunkport, and Lyman.
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