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Portland, Maine
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Alan Bennett

UNE, Maine Monitor to host panel discussion on Maine’s addiction in Maine’s jails Aug. 27

Barbed wire fencing
The event will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 27, at the UNE North, located at 1075 Forest Ave.
Register on Eventbrite

The University of New England School of Arts and Humanities this week is again partnering with The Maine Monitor to host a conversation about timely news topics, this time exploring addiction treatment in Maine’s county jails.

The panel discussion, “Monitor Talks: Treating Addiction in Maine’s Jails,” will feature an expert panel discussion on how county jails are providing addiction treatment, exploring the types of treatment being used and the growing medical costs jails are facing as a result. 

The event will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 27, at the UNE North building at 1075 Forest Ave. on UNE’s Portland Campus for the Health Sciences. The discussion, co-hosted by UNE's Community News Initiative within the School of Arts and Humanities, is free and open to all via Zoom. Registration is required

Panelists include: 

  • Maj. Ryan Close, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office
  • LeeAnna Lavoie, M.P.H, consultant with MaineHealth Community Health
  • Alane O’Connor, D.N.P., director of MaineHealth Medical Center Perinatal Addiction Medicine and Correctional Addiction Medicine
  • Alison Prior, Programming and Re-entry Coordinator at Franklin County Detention Center

Monitor reporter Emily Bader, who explored issues of addiction in jails across the state in a four-part series supported by the Pulitzer Center, will serve as moderator.

Since 2024, The Monitor has sent reporters to UNE journalism classes to offer workshops, employed student Community News Fellows as journalism interns, and hosted other undergraduate interns. 

UNE Professor Michael J. Cripps, Ph.D., director of the School of Arts and Humanities and co-director of the Community News Initiative, said the conversation will be particularly relevant for UNE’s health professions students — students who may find themselves working with these vulnerable populations as future healthcare providers — in examining incarceration and addiction treatment through an interdisciplinary lens.

“The disciplines of history, literature, and philosophy have long concerned themselves with matters of health, justice, and storytelling, making this week's Monitor Talks theme as relevant to the humanities as it is to those in the health sciences, criminal justice, and journalism,” said Cripps. “The School of Arts and Humanities is excited to continue its yearslong relationship with The Maine Monitor, which brings programming to the UNE campus and opens opportunities to our students interested in careers in journalism.”

The Maine Monitor regularly hosts live journalism events — panels moderated by Monitor reporters — to engage the public in conversations around important issues of the day. 

Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm, The Maine Monitor’s executive director, said the event will offer Mainers an important opportunity to better understand the evolving role of county jails in responding to the state’s opioid crisis.

“This is a vital topic and will be a consequential panel discussion,” Schweitzer-Bluhm said. “Every Mainer should understand how this came about and the opportunities and challenges that come with our county jails playing this role and we are delighted to partner with UNE to bring this discussion to the public.” 

This is the second “Monitor Talks” panel held at UNE in partnership between the School of Arts and Humanities and the Maine Monitor, which is a nonpartisan, independent publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting dedicated to investigative journalism on topics affecting Maine’s people.

In June, both parties hosted “Examining Maine’s Primary Election and the Role of Ranked-Choice Voting,” featuring a cross-section of perspectives on the electoral process, the role of ranked-choice voting, and its impact on the recent primaries, hosted by Monitor elections and government reporter Matt Junker. 

In fall 2024, the University also hosted the Monitor and documentary filmmaker Rick Goldsmith for an interview and screening of Goldsmith’s film, “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink, on its Biddeford Campus. 

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study-abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible online offerings. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. We are the state’s top provider of health professionals and home to Maine’s only medical and dental colleges, physician assistant program, and pharmacy school, in addition to a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care programs and nationally recognized programs in the marine sciences, the natural and social sciences, business, the humanities, and the arts.