Federal civil rights lawyers are investigating conditions at the Baltimore City Detention Center, citing allegations that the nearly 150-year-old jail is violating the rights of inmates and subjecting prisoners to a "life-threatening" environment.
In an Oct. 16 letter, Bill Lann Lee, head of the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights division, informed Gov. Parris N. Glendening of the probe, state officials said.
Lee cited concerns that inmates lacked adequate medical and mental health care, were housed in dangerous conditions and that juveniles were "subjected to excessive use of isolation."
"The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether there exists any violations of the federal constitutional rights of the inmates housed at this facility," he wrote.
Justice Department officials would not say what prompted the investigation, citing policy that prohibits comment on an open case. Since 1980, the agency has investigated more than 300 prisons, nursing homes and other institutions. Punitive actions stemming from these investigations range from negotiated corrective agreements to lawsuits.
The inquiry appears to have been motivated by a scathing report on treatment of juveniles in the jail issued last year by the advocacy group Human Rights Watch.
Jonathan M. Smith, executive director of Baltimore's Public Justice Center, a nonprofit legal services group, said he and members of Human Rights Watch met with federal justice officials about six months ago to discuss concerns about detention center conditions.
"Some of the indicators of a troubled institution aren't there, but there are some serious problems and they have to be corrected," Smith said. He cited broken windows and the "general decay" of the jail, saying that "it may be that it can't be corrected in that building."
State officials vigorously defended jail conditions yesterday.
LaMont W. Flanagan, state commissioner of pretrial detention and services, which oversees the city jail, said the eight buildings that make up the facility are "old" and "dilapidated" but insisted they are "sanitary" and "well-maintained."
"We are not the Hyatt of jails, but we are the Motel 6," he said.
State officials said they have made many improvements to the jail, including $71 million worth of renovations to upgrade the facility's infrastructure since taking it over from the city in 1991.
The detention center, which last year held an average 2,300 inmates who were awaiting trial, has a public school for pretrial juvenile detainees, Flanagan said. Those juveniles have been charged as adults, accused mainly of violent crimes.
Inmate violence in the jail has fallen 74 percent during the past five years, from 1,108 assaults in 1996 to 281 last year. Flanagan credited the reduction to heightened security in the jail, including frequent searches of inmates and the installation of electronic surveillance equipment.
Smith said he was concerned when he toured the jail last spring that pieces of metal seemed to be easily removed from fixtures - such as lights and bedsprings - and that the items could be fashioned into weapons.
Flanagan rebuffed the justice department's concerns about the extensive use of isolation for juveniles. He said solitary confinement is reserved for inmates who attack others or disrupt the jail.
Every inmate has a hearing before being sent to isolation, where they are locked in their cells 23 hours a day. The sentences are reviewed every 30 days, he said.
"We make no apologies for discipline," Flanagan said.
The commissioner allowed a reporter and photographer inside the jail yesterday. Though jail officials monitored the tour, they allowed extensive access.
There were 117 juveniles detained in the jail, eight of them in solitary confinement.
The solitary confinement unit is made up of small cement cells with red and yellow painted bars that line a long, narrow corridor. Inside the cells, the inmates lie on beds, sleeping or reading.
One 16-year-old who had been in solitary confinement for nine months stated matter-of-factly that he was awaiting trial on two charges of attempted murder and one charge of murder.
He ended up in segregation after jail officials found a 5-inch homemade knife in his cell, and he was involved in a stabbing. Since he has been in solitary confinement, officials said he has gathered numerous infractions that have lengthened his stay.
Asked what he thought of the unit, he responded: "I don't want to be back here. Ain't no freedom."
