Effort to restore parole in Maine ends with House rejection

AUGUSTA — The Maine House of Representatives has effectively blocked an effort to restore parole in Maine.

The bill failed in the House Monday after virtually no debate and without a roll call vote.

It had been narrowly rejected in May by a divided legislative committee after hours of impassioned testimony. Supporters argued for giving people in prison an opportunity to better themselves and reenter society, while opponents argued that crime victims or their surviving family members would be put through emotional pain by having to appear at repeated parole hearings and by not knowing when offenders might be released.

Rep. Grayson Lookner, D-Portland, was the only House member to speak about the bill before it was rejected. “I believe in redemption. I believe in second chances and I know there are residents of the Maine state prison who don’t need to be there,” he said.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Anne Beebe-Center, D-Rockland, sought to restore parole as an option for prisoners for the first time since 1976, when Maine became the first state in the nation to end early release.

The Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee voted 6-5 against the bill, L.D. 178.

The measure also faced opposition from Gov. Janet Mills, who has argued that Maine’s legal system already allows for early reentry into society by giving judges discretion to suspend portions of sentences. The state also has a program that allows people who have served at least two-thirds of their sentence to participate in a supervised community confinement program when they have less than 30 months remaining.