Maine Lawmakers Consider Funding For Prison LePage Shuttered

AUGUSTA, Maine - The Maine Senate is supporting another year of funding for a minimum-security prison that Republican Gov. Paul LePage shuttered without legislative approval.
 
The Senate endorsed a bill Tuesday to provide $5.5 million in funding to Downeast Correctional Facility. The bill faces further votes.
 
A bill to provide such funding immediately lacked sufficient support in the House last week.
 
LePage said Monday he'll comply with a court order by adding a "minimal'' number of staffers and inmates to the facility.
 
But a lawyer for laid-off prison workers calls the governor's plans too vague and said he expects to take legal action.
 
Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy ruled LePage lacked authority to shutter the prison, but she stopped short of ordering all of the inmates to be returned.