The governor of the State of Maryland, Larry Hogan, has said that he has ordered the immediate closure of the Baltimore City Men’s Detention Center, which has been long described by human rights activists as unfit to house inmates.
In Baltimore, Governor Hogan spoke his mind unreservedly at a news conference about the facility on July 30, calling it a “disaster of a facility” which has seen rampant corruption. He then further added that the facility “is an embarrassment to our state.”
He said the city will be moving the 1,092 male inmates to other facilities to be able to completely get rid of the old dilapidated building, which is located east of downtown Baltimore.
The facility is said to currently be the only city prison in the United States that is run by a State Government.
According to Hogan, gang violence has been very rampant in the facility. It is also widely known that employees have been helping inmates to carry out a variety of crimes in return for material benefits. This has thereby entrenched corruption and has wasted the resources the State uses to run the prison.
“Inmates were literally running this prison. The practice of continuously dumping hard-earned taxpayer’s money into this disastrous facility will not continue under my watch,” Hogan said plainly.
In the recent past, the Baltimore Sun reported that federal and state authorities announced in 2013 that the facility was being run by the Black Guerilla Family gang. Dozens of both inmates and corrections officers involved in the orchestrated corruption were indicted and charged.
Additionally, inmates in the facility were not getting the medical attention they needed due to inadequate conditions. Some frequently had their medications interrupted when they were transferred from one part of the facility to another.
Hogan also criticized the state assembly in Annapolis and former governor, Martin O’Malley for not taking action to close down the facility. Reportedly, in 2013 a state legislative committee proposed a ten year plan to replace the facilities. The first phase of this plan was the construction of a new youth detention facility; however, although these plans were recently approved, nothing has happened since the proposals were announced.
Baltimore Deputy District Public Defender, Natalie Finegar also confirmed that flooding and mold issues recently forced her and her colleagues to close one of their offices in the facility. She said they now operate out of just one office in the detention center’s pre-trial facilities.
“That building has a lot of substantial infrastructure problems that I’ve been able to witness in terms of persistent flooding and frequent heat and lack of air conditioning issues. It’s just really run down and rather disgusting,” she told ThinkProgress in an interview.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who has been fighting in court to force the closure of the facility, said the statement from Hogan is refreshing. ACLU then further added that another three detention facilities in the city also need to be shut down.
“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. 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,” David Fathi, director of the ACLU’s National Prison Project, said in a statement.
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Dont be fooled ,. has nothing to do with the way people are being treated there. Someone is going to by the land of the old dilapidated building, which is located east of downtown Baltimore.