Gov. Larry Hogan calls the Baltimore City Detention Center a disgrace.
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Mr. Hogan, a Republican who took office in January, said the widespread corruption was a black eye for the state, and he criticized his predecessor, Democrat Martin O’Malley, for failing to take immediate action to close the jail following the revelations.
In 2013, a sweeping federal indictment exposed a drug- and cellphone-smuggling ring involving dozens of gang members and corrections officers.
The 156-year-old jail houses hundreds of inmates awaiting trial or serving short sentences and the governor said those individuals would be transferred shortly to other area facilities.
Officials said one gang member, Tavon White, made $20,000 a week selling drugs in the facility, as well as got two female guards pregnant. The jail’s inmates will be transferred to other facilities, he said. In addition to the corruption uncovered at the jail, Mr. Hogan said poor conditions at the old facility contributed to safety concerns there. “The fact is that this is a pre-trial facility where individuals being held here have not yet been convicted of a crime, but still they are forced to live in substandard, frankly appalling, circumstances”.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is refusing to reverse its denial of disaster aid to help Maryland and Baltimore recover millions of dollars in costs stemming from rioting in the city in April. Seven inmates have died in the past 2-1/2 years, possibly due to lack of medical care, the motion said.
The groups allege that inmates suffering from HIV and diabetes have been denied life-sustaining prescription medication.
The agencies also said the state failed to cure systemic problems since taking control 25 years ago, despite entering into a 2007 agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. He declined to say exactly where or when the inmates would be moved for security reasons. He added, “We think we can do it [move the prisoners] in a couple weeks”.
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After the indictments, a state legislative panel backed a plan to raze the jail and rebuild it. In May, the state Board of Public Works approved a $30 million plan for a new, 60-bed youth jail.
