The Maine Department of Corrections (MDOC) and Center for Justice and Human Dignity (CJHD) host a conversation between MDOC Commissioner Randall Liberty and CJHD Executive Director Christopher Poulos on the Maine Model of Corrections, including the progress Maine has made in the areas outlined below and the transformative power of the Pathfinder Reentry-Focused Outdoor program, which brings currently incarcerated people and correctional officers into nature.
Over a seven-year period 2017-2024, MDOC accomplished a significant reduction in the following categories:
Assaults Resident on Resident: 77 Percent Reduction
Assaults on Staff: 88 Percent Reduction
Resident Self Injurious Behavior: 98 Percent Reduction
Suicidal Behavior: 65 Percent Reduction
Restrictive housing: 84 Percent Reduction (Over ten year period)
(Less than 1% of Residents now in Restrictive Housing)
Commissioner Liberty’s father was incarcerated when he was a child and he later supervised him as an Officer, while he was incarcerated. Christopher Poulos is both formerly incarcerated and has experience working in correctional leadership. Both bring multiple lenses, including lived experience, to the field which has fostered an empathetic and effective approach to corrections including focusing on the health and wellness of staff, incarcerated people, their families, and our communities.
CJHD is a non-governmental organization focused on improving conditions for incarcerated people and correctional staff and improving reentry policies, practices, and outcomes. CJHD has now partnered with MDOC on the Pathfinders program.
Moderated by Bernie Warner, Secretary of Corrections, Washington (retired), United States
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Randall Liberty
Commissioner, Maine Department of Corrections, United States
Commissioner Randall Liberty was hired by the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office in 1989 as a Deputy Sheriff. Over twenty-six years, he served as a Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, Major, Chief Deputy and as the elected Sheriff for nine years. He served as the President of the Maine Sheriffs Association, as the Chairman of the Maine Drug Enforcement Advisory Board and on the Board of Visitors at the University of Maine.
In addition to his active-duty service as a Military Policeman in Korea, Commissioner Liberty performed an additional twenty-one years in the Army National Guard and Army Reserves. During this time, he served as a Mountain Infantryman in Italy, as a Drill Sergeant, and as an Instructor at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point and as the Command Sergeant Major of a Military Transition Team, imbedded with 772 Iraqi Infantryman.
Liberty is a three time State of Maine Law Enforcement Officer of the year. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and earned a Masters in Management and Leadership from Liberty University and a B.S. in Public Administration from the University of Maine. Liberty formerly served as the Warden of the Maine State Prison.
Liberty was appointed as the Commissioner of Corrections for the State of Maine in 2019. Liberty has led efforts to expand universal access to medication for substance use disorder, internet access and expanded educational opportunities for the residents in his care. Liberty has successfully enhanced nutritional offerings through organic gardening and scratch cooking in his facilities.
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Christopher Poulos
Executive Director, Center for Justice and Human Dignity, United States
Christopher Poulos is an attorney and the executive director of the Center for Justice and Human Dignity (CJHD) and previously served as the Director of Person-Centered Services at the Washington State Department of Corrections and executive director of the Washington Statewide Reentry Council. The mission of the Center for Justice and Human Dignity is safely expanding alternatives to incarceration while improving conditions for both incarcerated people and correctional staff. Poulos’s recent focuses include expanding safe and innovative alternatives to incarceration and studying and improving U.S. and international conditions of confinement and correctional culture. He also recently launched a project in Maine and Washington state bringing incarcerated youth, adults, and correctional staff out into nature.
Poulos has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law and Criminal Justice. During law school, he served at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and The Sentencing Project. He graduated cum laude from the University of Maine School of Law and represented youth facing criminal charges as a student attorney in the Juvenile Justice Clinic.
Prior to law school, Poulos overcame many obstacles, including tragic family losses, addiction, homelessness, and a federal incarceration. He is now and long-term recovery and dedicates his life to helping others overcome or avoid similar challenges. His work and personal story have been featured on The Today Show and in The Guardian, The New York Times, Washington Post, NBC News, The Hill, Crosscut, and The Harvard Law and Policy Review.
