Maine bill would make permanent the option to move violent incompetent defendants from Riverview to prison unit
Rep. Sue Salisbury is sponsoring the measure to make the transfer authority permanent. Maine courts issued 130 orders of incompetence between October 18, 2021 and December 15, 2023, and just four defendants were sent to the prison's unit, which is meant for people showing planned, predatory aggression.
Riverview's clinical director testified the authority lets the hospital provide safer care to other defendants found incompetent, while defense attorney Jeremy Pratt argued the statute's language is vague and threatens the rights of people who have not been convicted.
The bill continues a debate that began in 2016 about whether a forensic hospital or a prison unit is the right place for the most dangerous defendants awaiting restoration.
Source: Maine wants to keep housing some criminal defendants with mental illness in prison — Sun Journal, by John Terhune
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