Before dawn on February 9, 2018, Governor Paul LePage's administration emptied the Downeast Correctional Facility in Machiasport, a minimum-security prison in Maine's Washington County, moving its 63 prisoners elsewhere and sending layoff notices to 39 workers. A Maine judge ruled the next month that his administration lacked the authority to close the prison on its own.
LePage then ran the prison with a skeleton crew and on July 2, 2018 vetoed the bill to fund it for another year. Washington County employers that relied on its work-release crews lost them overnight, and the pre-release center that opened on the site in April 2022 has 15 staff and room for 48 men.
What It Cost: Washington County Jobs, Employers and Work Release After Paul LePage Closed the Downeast Prison
- Dozens of Washington County prison workers lost their jobs. The Machiasport prison had 46 employees and cost Maine about $5 million a year to run; LePage's administration sent 39 of its workers layoff notices on the morning it was emptied. Washington County is in Maine's 2nd District, and the center that replaced the prison in 2022 employs 15 people.
- Local employers woke up to find their workers gone. Many of the 63 prisoners were working for local businesses through the prison's work-release program, and those employers found the next morning that their workers had been taken away in the night. "If you go to work and [one-third] of your employees are gone, what are you supposed to do?" asked Carol Gee, human resources manager at Lobster Trap. Washington County blueberry growers, lobster pounds and wreath makers lost a source of workers for jobs that are hard to fill, local officials said.
- The center that replaced the prison holds about a third as many men. The prison's work-release program let prisoners learn job skills and save money for life after release, the Portland Press Herald reported. Washington County had no replacement until April 2022, when a pre-release center opened on the old prison grounds with room for 48 men, about a third of the old prison's capacity of up to 148.
Paul LePage's Closure of the Downeast Correctional Facility, the Court Ruling and His Veto
- LePage Had the Downeast Prison Emptied Before Dawn Without the Legislature's Approval. Governor Paul LePage's administration shut the Downeast Correctional Facility in Machiasport at 4:30 in the morning on February 9, 2018, moving its 63 prisoners to another prison and putting its workers on leave ahead of layoffs, even though lawmakers had kept funding the prison. Many of the 63 prisoners worked for Washington County employers through the prison's work-release program and were taken away overnight, and LePage's administration issued layoff notices to 39 prison workers, Maine Public reported.
- A Judge Ruled LePage Lacked the Power to Close the Prison, and He Reopened It With a Skeleton Crew. In March 2018 Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy sided with the state attorney general, the prison workers' unions and Washington County's commissioners, ruling that LePage's administration lacked the authority to close the Downeast Correctional Facility on its own and ordering it kept open until its funding ran out on June 30. Paul LePage's administration complied by recalling just nine employees, and in early June it moved the last seven prisoners out and laid off the remaining workers.
- LePage Vetoed the 2018 Bill to Keep the Downeast Prison Open. On July 2, 2018, Paul LePage vetoed LD 1704, "An Act To Fund the Downeast Correctional Facility," a bill from Republican Representative Will Tuell to fund the prison for another year, calling the prison "an antiquated and unnecessary facility" in his veto letter. On July 9, 2018 the House voted 91 to 53 to override, short of two-thirds, and the bill died. The veto closed the prison a second time in less than six months, and the site had no prison again until a much smaller pre-release center opened there in 2022.
- LePage Called the Downeast Prison the Most Expensive in Maine; His Own Corrections Figures Showed Otherwise. In a WVOM radio interview the week of his veto, Paul LePage said the Downeast Correctional Facility "is the most expensive prison in the system," at more than $47,000 per prisoner a year, the Portland Press Herald reported on July 8, 2018; in March he had claimed it cost more per prisoner to run than Maine's prison in Warren, WGME reported. The Maine Department of Corrections' own figures showed the Downeast prison had not cost more than $47,000 per prisoner in any year since 2010, and that in 2017 it cost $41,582 per prisoner, less than the $46,162 at the Maine State Prison.
Frequently Asked Questions About Paul LePage on Downeast correctional facility
What is Paul LePage's record on the Downeast Correctional Facility?
Paul LePage, as Maine governor, had the Machiasport prison emptied before dawn in February 2018 without legislative approval, kept it nearly empty after a judge ruled he could not close it on his own, and vetoed its funding for another year in July 2018. His administration's layoff notices went to 39 workers in Washington County, and local employers lost the prisoners who worked for them through work release.
Did a court rule against Paul LePage over closing the Downeast prison?
Yes. Ruling in March 2018 on a suit brought by Maine's attorney general, unions and the Washington County Commission, Justice Michaela Murphy of Maine Superior Court found that Paul LePage's administration did not have the power to shut the Machiasport prison without the Legislature. Washington County Commissioner Chris Gardner said the ruling put the decision back with the people of Maine through the Legislature.
What did Paul LePage say about people who wanted to keep the Downeast prison open?
Paul LePage called supporters of the Downeast Correctional Facility "crybabies" in March 2018, WGME reported, while workers and Washington County lawmakers were fighting to keep the prison open after the court ruling. Republican Senator Joyce Maker of Calais said Department of Corrections records showed he was wrong about the prison's cost.
Last updated: 2026-10-26