The Maine Department of Corrections (DOC) has denied access to the Supervised Community Confinement Program (SCCP) for Mark Cardilli, a veteran serving a seven year prison sentence following a manslaughter conviction that he maintains was self-defense, according to documents and Cardilli’s family.
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“He’s at the time where he can apply for SCCP, and they don’t want him out. We don’t know why. Why don’t they want my son out? Everybody else is getting out,” said Cardilli’s mother, Sue Cardilli, told The Maine Wire.
The program allows prisoners who meet certain conditions, such as good behavior while in prison, to serve out the end of their sentence outside of the detention facility. The application requires an inmate to provide a detailed overview of how they will serve their sentence in the community, including their work and housing plans.
DOC Director of Classifications Chadwick Curtis denied Cardilli’s application for the community confinement program in January, citing “extreme negative community sentiment.” Curtis did not elaborate on the sentiment and refused to do so despite requests from Cardilli’s lawyers.
Curtis’s concerns about community sentiments likely come in response to racial agitators who staged Black Lives Matter (BLM) style protests across Portland and claimed that the shooting was a race-based hate crime because Cardilli is white and the victim was black.
The victim, Isahak Muse, 22, was a Somali Muslim who was dating Cardilli’s then-minor sister, who was just 17 at the time of the shooting in March 2019.
Chelsey Cardilli, his sister, further fueled racial tensions when she testified in court that her brother had made racist and Islamophobic remarks, reporting at the time indicates.
Last year, however, she appeared to admit to perjury when she contacted the Portland Press Herald and stated that she had lied during her testimony, saying that the allegations she had made about her brother’s racist remarks were false.
According to court documents, Muse was visiting Cardilli’s sister at the time of the shooting, despite Chelsey Cardilli’s bail conditions preventing Muse from seeing her.
Cardilli’s parents agreed to let Muse, who had been drinking throughout the day, stay until 1 a.m., testimony indicates. Then Muse begged to stay longer, but Cardilli’s father refused. As Cardilli and his father were escorting the inebriated Muse to the door, Sue Cardilli shouted that her daughter had struck her.
According to court documents, Muse then shoved Cardilli and his father into the fridge and a table and forced his way back into the house. Muse, who was not armed, began attacking Cardilli and resisting attempts to remove him from the house.
Cardilli eventually went to his apartment above the home’s garage and retrieved his firearm. He aimed the firearm at Muse, who still refused to leave. Muse attacked the armed Cardilli, punching him repeatedly in the face. Eventually, Cardilli fired three shots at Muse, killing him.
Cardilli argued that his decision to shoot Muse was legitimate self-defense because Muse was assaulting him, and he feared that the attack would cause him to drop his firearm and that Muse would then use the weapon against him or his family.
The court did not accept Cardilli’s self-defense argument but ultimately convicted him of manslaughter rather than murder. Between the shooting and his sentencing, Cardilli was free on bail for approximately seven months. He was eventually sentenced to 11 years in prison, with all but seven years suspended.
In 2023, Cardilli appealed his case, claiming that he had inadequate representation. That appeal was for a period successful and led to Cardilli’s case being vacated, sparking protests from BLM activists.
He remained in the community from August 2023 to May 2024. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court decided in April 2024 to overturn the appeal and reinstate the conviction.
With his appeal ultimately ending in failure, Cardilli applied for the SCCP program.
Cardilli’s plan promised that he would attend therapy, work under the supervision of a retired police officer, volunteer his time, pursue a bachelor’s degree, and fully comply with all conditions set by probation.
Nevertheless, Curtis denied Cardilli’s application in January, with a perfunctory note citing “extremely negative community sentiments and concerns with the overall plan,” without providing any details.
Victim sentiment is considered in the SCCP process, but, as Curtis admitted in a subsequent email to Cardilli’s lawyer provided to The Maine Wire, it is not sufficient for an SCCP denial.
“With respect to negative community sentiment, while that cannot, in and of itself, be the sole reason for denial of SCCP, per policy ‘legitimate safety concerns expressed by a victim or others’ may be the basis of a denial,” said Curtis.
The initial denial did not cite safety concerns, and Curtis, along with the rest of the DOC, has repeatedly refused to explain how Cardilli poses a safety risk or how his plan was faulty.
The Maine Wire reached out to the DOC, asking for more information on the failure of Cardilli’s application, but the department did not immediately respond.
The Attorney General’s Office told Cardilli’s lawyers that they could provide no information on either the reported safety concerns or the unexplained deficiencies with the plan.
According to Sue Cardilli, all further efforts by her, her son, or her son’s lawyers to receive a more detailed explanation of the denial have failed, with DOC officials claiming that the allegations of safety issues are confidential.
Sue Cardilli told The Maine Wire that prison staff have been ordered not to speak to Cardilli about his application because officials are allegedly concerned that he is “manipulating” the staff to take his side on the SCCP issue.
Cardilli appealed the decision, arguing that he had been told that his plan had no problems during the application process, and complaining that he had been given no opportunity to address concerns with the plan or alleged safety issues.
“I respectfully question why community sentiment is being so heavily relied upon when the policy emphasizes the likelihood of my success on SCCP as the primary criterion. If specific safety concerns were raised, I was entitled to an opportunity to address them through plan modifications or additional conditions rather than being denied outright. This procedural step was not provided, leaving me unable to address or resolve the concerns that led to the denial,” wrote Cardilli in his appeal.
“If there were concerns with my plan, I was told I would receive recommendations on how to modify it to meet the criteria for approval, yet I received no such guidance or explanation. I respectfully question why I was denied on this basis when I was not given the opportunity to address or resolve these unspecified concerns. Contrary to the denial, I was informed that my plan was good as it was. No such concerns or objections were communicated to me,” he added.
Cardilli also argued that any safety concerns should have been dispelled by his impeccable behavior while he was out on bail and during the months when his conviction was temporarily vacated.
“I lived in the community for eight months without incident, working, volunteering, and reintegrating as expected. This was an isolated incident, and my conduct while incarcerated and on bail reflects this,” said Cardilli.
“I have made every effort to comply with SCCP eligibility requirements and demonstrated my readiness for reentry into the community. Despite fulfilling these criteria, the decision to deny my plan appears to have been based on reasons that are not supported by policy,” he added.
DOC Deputy Commissioner Anthony Cantillo rejected the appeal less than a week after it was submitted.
Cantillo dismissed Cardilli’s arguments that he was a model citizen while briefly out of prison in 2024, claiming that he was probably only doing well because of the support he had while in prison, and suggesting that he request a transfer to a different facility in lieu of the SCCP program.
“You make reference that you were doing well in the community just prior to returning to MDOC custody in 2024. I suspect that was due to the support that you received during your stay with the MDOC prior to 2023 in supporting your needs and goals,” said Cantillo.
Cardilli submitted another SCCP application in April, but he has not yet received any information on the status of that application. If his application is not approved, his earliest possible release date is in July 2026.
While Cardilli remains in prison, potentially due in part to outrage against him from BLM protesters, other dangerous criminals have enjoyed the benefits of the SCCP program.
Brandon Brown, 39, was allowed in 2021 to live out the rest of his 17-year sentence on the program, despite being convicted of a 2008 Class A attempted murder and elevated aggravated assault charges, after he shot a Marine veteran and left him partially paralyzed.
Another former SCCP participant, Wendy Smith, 47, was previously convicted of Class A drug trafficking.
The DOC does not say which of its current prisoners are out as part of the program, though they do list all the 5,977 prisoners currently living in the community, which includes SCCP participants along with prisoners out under other conditions, such as probation.
The list includes a range of criminals, including repeat offenders, drug traffickers, and those whose crimes involved violence such as kidnappers, domestic abusers, robbers, killers, and child sexual abusers.
