Correctional Officers

A cabal of corrupt corrections officers and members of the Black Guerrilla Family gang enjoyed nearly free rein inside the Baltimore City Detention Center, federal authorities allege, smuggling drugs and cellphones into the jail and having sexual relationships that left four guards pregnant. An indictment unsealed Tuesday names 25 people - including 13 women working as corrections officers - who face racketeering and drug charges. Twenty of the accused also face money-laundering charges.

I have followed national news reports of 13 correctional officer involved in partnership activities with inmates as well as four female correctional officers getting pregnant by inmates ("Alleged gang leader in poor jail conditions, his lawyer says," May 15). No one can deny that this is alarming and disgraceful! Unions will say it is the result of under-staffing and more money is the answer. Money and more staff is not the answer. It is leadership! Gov. Martin O'Malley demonstrated his lack leadership skills and lack of common sense when he endorsed the union's bill of rights which gives correctional officers an automatic appeal before three correctional officers.

They begin with toothbrushes and soda cans and with parts of office desks and strips of metal from milk crates. The results are uniquely crafted and sometimes ingenious works -- but ones that are also tools of pain and death.The artisans are prisoners. And they call their handiwork shanks -- homemade knives used for self-defense, power and control behind prison walls."In this little city," says LaMont W. Flanagan, who oversees the Baltimore City Detention Center, "you have the powerful and the powerless.

UPDATE: O'Malley's spokeswoman, Raquel Guillory, said late Wednesday that the governor had a meeting with the mayor and discussed "the history of the case and the formation of the task force. " O'Malley thanked Rawlings-Blake for the city's participation on the Maryland Prison Task Force, which "made the case with state and federal partners," Guillory said. She added that the governor asked for the city's "continued  participation as we work to expand this beach-head and follow this case as far and high as it goes.

State corrections secretary Gary D. Maynard ordered polygraph tests Friday of top administrators and "integrity reviews" of every employee at the Baltimore City Detention Center in an effort to root out corruption at the jail. Maynard has moved his office to the facility from Towson to oversee a review of leadership, staff and operations amid allegations that the Black Guerrilla Family gang developed broad power inside the jail, a spokesman said. More than two dozen inmates and correctional officers in the city jail are charged in a scheme that officials say involved the smuggling of drugs and other contraband, including cellphones, into the facility.

UPDATE: O'Malley's spokeswoman, Raquel Guillory, said late Wednesday that the governor had a meeting with the mayor and discussed "the history of the case and the formation of the task force. " O'Malley thanked Rawlings-Blake for the city's participation on the Maryland Prison Task Force, which "made the case with state and federal partners," Guillory said. She added that the governor asked for the city's "continued  participation as we work to expand this beach-head and follow this case as far and high as it goes.

In a career that's spanned more than four decades in four states, Gary D. Maynard has dealt with inmate sex scandals, prison riots, suicides and shrinking public safety budgets. Last week, the Maryland corrections secretary faced a bank of TV cameras and the latest crisis in his long career. This one would make national news and prompt an outcry from across the state: Gang members allegedly built a wide-ranging criminal enterprise in the Baltimore City Detention Center, dealing drugs and impregnating correctional officers.

A brief in yesterday's editions incorrectly reported the charge for which an escaper from correctional officers had been imprisoned. The escaper, Donald Watson, had been convicted of possession of drugs with intent to distribute them.The Sun regrets the error.

Gov. Martin O'Malley on Tuesday called last week's indictments of 25 inmates and correctional officers at the Baltimore City Detention Center "a very positive development" in the state's fight to dismantle violent gangs in state prisons. A day after returning from a weeklong trade mission to Israel, the governor told a State House news conference that he is standing firmly behind Secretary of Public Safety and Correctional Services Gary D. Maynard in the wake of a federal probe that found widespread corruption and smuggling at the city jail.

As critics of Martin O'Malley sensed a new political vulnerability, the governor insisted Tuesday that last week's indictment of inmates and correctional officers at the Baltimore City Detention Center was "a positive achievement" in Maryland's fight against violent gangs. A day after returning from a weeklong trade mission to Israel, O'Malley said that the state instigated and acted as a full partner in the federal investigation that found widespread corruption and smuggling at the city jail.

As critics of Martin O'Malley sensed a new political vulnerability, the governor insisted Tuesday that last week's indictment of inmates and correctional officers at the Baltimore City Detention Center was "a positive achievement" in Maryland's fight against violent gangs. A day after returning from a weeklong trade mission to Israel, O'Malley said that the state instigated and acted as a full partner in the federal investigation that found widespread corruption and smuggling at the city jail.

Gov. Martin O'Malley on Tuesday called last week's indictments of 25 inmates and correctional officers at the Baltimore City Detention Center "a very positive development" in the state's fight to dismantle violent gangs in state prisons. A day after returning from a weeklong trade mission to Israel, the governor told a State House news conference that he is standing firmly behind Secretary of Public Safety and Correctional Services Gary D. Maynard in the wake of a federal probe that found widespread corruption and smuggling at the city jail.

In a career that's spanned more than four decades in four states, Gary D. Maynard has dealt with inmate sex scandals, prison riots, suicides and shrinking public safety budgets. Last week, the Maryland corrections secretary faced a bank of TV cameras and the latest crisis in his long career. This one would make national news and prompt an outcry from across the state: Gang members allegedly built a wide-ranging criminal enterprise in the Baltimore City Detention Center, dealing drugs and impregnating correctional officers.

State corrections secretary Gary D. Maynard ordered polygraph tests Friday of top administrators and "integrity reviews" of every employee at the Baltimore City Detention Center in an effort to root out corruption at the jail. Maynard has moved his office to the facility from Towson to oversee a review of leadership, staff and operations amid allegations that the Black Guerrilla Family gang developed broad power inside the jail, a spokesman said. More than two dozen inmates and correctional officers in the city jail are charged in a scheme that officials say involved the smuggling of drugs and other contraband, including cellphones, into the facility.

Contrary to a recent letter criticizing the American Correctional Association's role in accrediting Maryland's prisons, the cost of ACA accreditation - approximately $12,000 over a three-year period - is an investment that will surely benefit Maryland ("Prison watchdog group is a waste of money," Feb. 21). The association sends nationally known experts from across the country to audit our prisons. It is already in two of our largest institutions, the Western Correctional Institution and Eastern Correctional Institution.

A 57-year-old prison inmate was found dead Thursday night inside a maximum-security prison cell in Allegany County, state police said. The man was an inmate at the North Branch Correctional Institution in Cumberland. Division of Correction officials have not released the man's identity because family has not been notified. The man's cell mate told a correctional officer around 6 p.m. Thursday that he thought there was something wrong, police said. Inside the cell, correctional officers found the inmate unresponsive and he was taken to the Western Maryland Regional Health Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

I have followed national news reports of 13 correctional officer involved in partnership activities with inmates as well as four female correctional officers getting pregnant by inmates ("Alleged gang leader in poor jail conditions, his lawyer says," May 15). No one can deny that this is alarming and disgraceful! Unions will say it is the result of under-staffing and more money is the answer. Money and more staff is not the answer. It is leadership! Gov. Martin O'Malley demonstrated his lack leadership skills and lack of common sense when he endorsed the union's bill of rights which gives correctional officers an automatic appeal before three correctional officers.

Three county correctional officers who were being investigated for possible misconduct at the Harford County Detention Center recently resigned and will not be criminally charged, authorities said. The officers - two men and a woman - were accused of "infractions of agency policy and procedures" and resigned shortly after an investigation began last month, said Robert B. Thomas, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office. "The warden concurred with the sheriff that an investigation was warranted in each of the three incidents and, as a result of the internal investigation, the employees at their own volition opted to resign their positions," Thomas said.

Myra Wooten's Thanksgiving came from prison. Officers from state correctional institutions in Jessup and Baltimore delivered a large box packed with a week's worth of food, including a frozen 13-pound turkey, to the East Baltimore resident. The box came in a blue van usually used to shuttle shackled prisoners between jail and court, but on Tuesday it ferried canned vegetables, macaroni and cheese, and cake mixes to needy families around Baltimore. "Now I don't have to worry about Thanksgiving," said Wooten, a 32-year-old single mother of two young boys who lives on East 23rd Street.