Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday that he plans to immediately close a Baltimore jail that had become a “black eye” for the state due to its deplorable conditions and widespread corruption that allowed inmates to run a criminal enterprise inside.
“This facility is done. We will not be using it again,” Mr. Hogan said at a press conference held outside the Baltimore City Detention Center.
The 156-year-old men’s detention center houses hundreds of inmates awaiting trial or serving short sentences, and the governor said those individuals would be transferred shortly to other area facilities. He declined to say exactly where or when the approximately 750 male inmates would be moved, citing security reasons.
“There is plenty of capacity elsewhere in the system to meet this need,” Mr. Hogan said.
The closure of the jail, which the state took over from the city in 1991, will save Maryland between $10 million and $15 million annually, Mr. Hogan said.
The decision to close the jail comes after a federal investigation in 2013 uncovered widespread corruption at the detention facility, including a drug-smuggling ring run by inmates.
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The federal investigation led to convictions of 40 people involved in the ring, including jail guards who carried on sexual relationships with inmates and helped smuggle drugs into the facility. The inmate at the center of the investigation — Tavon White, leader of the Black Guerrilla Family drug gang — had impregnated four corrections officers at the jail.
Mr. Hogan, a Republican who took office in January, said the widespread corruption was a “black eye” for the state and criticized his predecessor, Democrat Martin O’Malley, for failing to take immediate action to close the jail following the revelations.
In addition to the corruption uncovered at the jail, Mr. Hogan said the poor conditions at the old facility contributed to safety concerns there.
“Frankly, the Baltimore City Detention Center is a disgrace and its conditions are horrendous,” he said, describing blind corners that create hazards for corrections officers, and flooding and sewage issues that contribute to substandard living conditions for inmates.
The men’s center that will be shuttered is part of a larger correctional complex that sits on 27 acres near downtown Baltimore. The complex includes a women’s facility and pre-trial buildings that will not be affected by the closure.
Officials have talked about tearing down and replacing the facility since 2004, but Mr. Hogan said Thursday that he hadn’t decided on any further actions.
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In 2014, the Maryland General Assembly endorsed a plan that recommended spending $533 million over 10 years to rebuild the Baltimore City Detention Center. Mr. Hogan said he did not consult the plan in making his decision.
Stephen Moyer, the state’s secretary of public safety and correctional services, said none of the corrections employees who work at the facility would lose their jobs. Instead, they will be transferred to other city facilities.
The move to close the jail was welcomed by corrections officials.
“That facility was built in 1859, so we are hopeful that moving to newer, more updated facilities will improve safety,” said Jeff Pittman, a spokesman for the Maryland branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
It was also a relief for prison advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union, which last month called on a federal judge to reopen a lawsuit against the state of Maryland over what the agencies described as substandard conditions.
“We are relieved that Baltimore detainees will no longer be forced to live in the Men’s Detention Center, a building that should have been condemned decades ago,” said David Fathi, director of the ACLU’s National Prison Project. “This critical step, though, will have no impact on the dangerous physical conditions and shockingly deficient medical and mental health care in the jail facilities that will remain open.”
The announcement also comes a day after analysis by The Pew Charitable Trusts detailed declines in prison admissions in the state. Maryland’s prison admissions fell 19 percent over the last decade, and the state’s prison population dropped by 5 percent to 21,326 inmates total.
The Baltimore facility would be the second prison facility shuttered in the state in a decade. In 2007, Mr. O’Malley closed the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup and the 842 inmates housed in the 129-year-old maximum-security prison were shuttled quietly to other state-run and out of state facilities.
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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