Gov. Mills & Sen. Jackson Passed a Law Protecting Corrections Officers After LePage Repeatedly Blocked It

In 2012, AFSCME Council 93 member Phil Newth, a corrections officer at Maine State Prison, took to the airwaves to oppose the LePage administration’s mistreatment of public employees. Governor LePage made deep cuts to public employee pensions the year before in order to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. Newth and his union brothers and sisters spoke out passionately against politicians scapegoating public employees while giving tax breaks to the rich. 

Newth recalled the chilling sound of the steel clanging as the prison doors shut the first time he walked into the old Maine State Prison in Thomaston back in 1997. He discussed the toll the work takes on corrections employees, both physically and mentally, and how they have a much lower than average life expectancy because of the intense stress of the job. It was in this stressful environment that Phil had a serious health emergency that could have easily claimed his life as a young man in 2005.

“Seven years ago when I was 32 years old I had a heart attack,” said Newth in a 2012 radio ad. “As it stands right now I had to work 30 years. At that point I can draw a retirement. I don’t have this sweet deal when I retire. I’m not even going to earn what I earn now. It’s going to be half of that.” 

Then in 2015, Newth suffered a second heart attack just hours after he received a commendation from the Corrections Commissioner for his service. He was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston where he underwent life-saving open heart surgery. Two months later he was forced to return to work at the prison out of financial necessity. 

As AFSCME Legislative Director Jim Durkin told a legislative committee in 2017, if a law was in place to allow corrections officers to qualify for workers’ compensation for heart disease and hypertension caused by work-induced stress, Newth would have had more time to recover. But instead, he had to quickly return to work because he needed to support his family. 

“One may ask why he would do that. The answer is simple,” Durkin wrote in testimony. “Phil has three kids and a wife to support and at the time, he was in danger of losing his house because he had exhausted all vacation and sick time, including 81 hours of time donated from his fellow officers. In fact, as he was recovering from his open heart surgery, Phil had to go to court for foreclosure proceedings. ” 

Fortunately for Newth, the Maine Legislature was able to pass a well-deserved $2 per hour wage increase over Governor LePage’s veto. As a result of the raise, the Newth family had just enough money to save their home from foreclosure.

“At the time of the foreclosure hearing, Phil didn’t have that money in his paycheck yet,” said Durkin. "But the promise of it coming helped convince the court to give him just a little more time to catch up on his mortgage payments. Needless to say, this increase made a big difference in Phil’s life. In fact, it made a big difference for all corrections officers and their families.” 

Unfortunately, the LePage administration repeatedly blocked the bill to support corrections officers and their families in the event of a work-related heart attack. However, Senate President Troy Jackson brought the bill back and this year Governor Janet Mills signed the measure, which creates a “rebuttable presumption” that any heart disease or hypertension suffered by a state corrections officer is a line-of-duty injury and renders the officer eligible for either short-term or permanent disability pay. 

According to Durkin, Maine is one of only seven states in the country that provides this protection for corrections officers, despite the fact that these men and women suffer from some of the highest rates of occupation-related heart disease and hypertension. 

“These protections are well-deserved and long overdue, Durkin said. "We filed this legislation in multiple sessions over the past ten years but always faced staunch opposition from the LePage Administration. Senate President Jackson made this a priority in the current session and Governor Mills happily signed the bill into law."