More than 50 of Maine’s incarcerated workers will have their unemployment benefits returned following an agreement by the state.
The benefits were seized at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday, a federal court in Portland received a request to approve the settlement of a class-action lawsuit challenging the state's seizure that had been given out when the pandemic forced the inmates to leave their work-release jobs.
Fifty-three inmates received a total of $198,766.53 in unemployment benefits before their accounts were frozen. Six weeks after the benefits were given, they were removed by the state from prison accounts.
At the time, the attorney general said those benefits were legal.
The work-release program allows vetted inmates to leave for their jobs in the morning and return at night.
Read the full WMTW8 News article here.