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'via Blog this'NOTE TO READERS
The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram is publishing the entire video of the June 10, 2012, incident involving inmate Paul Schlosser so readers can get a complete picture of what happened. The video, which was shot by a prison employee, runs 2 hours and 10 minutes. Viewers should be aware that both the full video and the 17-minute excerpt (which depicts the most crucial moments) contain explicit language, violence and disturbing images. View the videos.
The video and related documents recount how Capt. Shawn Welch, an official at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, used pepper spray on an inmate who was bound in a restraint chair, then left him in distress for more than 20 minutes. A story about the incident appeared in this week's Maine Sunday Telegram.
Scott Burnheimer, superintendent of the medium- and minimum-security prison, fired Welch over the incident, but that decision was overruled by Corrections Commissioner Joseph Ponte, who gave Welch a 30-day suspension, according to the documents and interviews.
The newspaper story and video posted on the paper's website led the chairmen of the Legislature's Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee to seek a review of the incident.
The committee plans to review the incident in the context of the department's experience with use of force and its policies for investigations, said Rep. Mark Dion, D-Portland.
It asked the Corrections Department Wednesday to provide data on the prisons' use of force and investigations, and plans to have the department's leadership discuss that data and the incident with legislators on March 27.
The Department of Corrections has assigned an investigator to determine how the information got out.
"Your possession of that indicates a breach of security on our part and we absolutely do need to look into that," said Associate Commissioner Jody Breton. "We certainly will be tightening up security -- where (information) is stored, who has access."
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