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A Maine man whose yearslong plight in the Maine State Prison’s isolation unit was chronicled in a 2021 Bangor Daily News investigation has settled a lawsuit against the state for $250,000.
The settlement resolves a federal case brought by Zachary Swain, who accused the state prison officials of violating his constitutional rights by subjecting him to an “endless cycle of punishment” instead of treating his mental health issues.
The payment does not constitute an admission of guilt by the defendants named in the case, a group of state and prison officials who oversaw his treatment and denied the allegations in court.
Swain’s story shocked advocates when the BDN published a detailed account of his time behind bars. It became the centerpiece of a legislative debate around the state’s use of solitary confinement. State corrections officials argued that Maine had abandoned the controversial practice by the time Swain entered the maximum security penitentiary for a stabbing just shy of his 20th birthday. Swain believed his treatment there was proof it still happened.
Swain spent more than half of his six-year sentence in the prison’s segregation wing, spending 20 to 23 hours a day in his cells because prison officials didn’t trust him around others. His misbehavior only worsened, making it harder for him to earn his way back to general population.
During those spells, Swain repeatedly tried to harm or kill himself, nearly doing so the summer before his release when he swallowed metal wire and punctured his colon.
Swain had a lengthy history of mental illness, behavioral health struggles and suicide attempts before he was incarcerated. At the state prison, he begged unsuccessfully to be transferred to the intensive mental health unit. The unit was a key tool in the prison’s effort to dramatically reduce the use of solitary confinement in the years before Swain arrived there, which earned Maine a national reputation as a reform leader on the issue.
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Swain sued the state less than a year after his February 2022 release, arguing his treatment violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment and for violating his rights as a person with disabilities.
The terms of the settlement, which was finalized in February, prohibit the parties from publicizing or commenting on the matter. The BDN obtained the terms in a public records request.
“All I can share is that the matter was settled to the satisfaction of both parties,” said Danna Hayes, a spokesperson for Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey’s office.
Swain has avoided further legal trouble since returning to the community and completed his four-year probation period earlier this winter, said his lawyer, Alexis Chardon of Portland. In a brief phone interview, Swain, who just turned 30, described his two-year-old son as the best thing to ever happen to him.
“He feels that he has proven that a person can go from solitary to success and hopes this will show a path for others in the system to get out of the vicious cycle,” Chardon said.
