NEWS
By Justin Fenton, Ian Duncan and Kevin Rector, The Baltimore Sun | May 11, 2013
In the black market of Maryland's prisons and jails, where the right price can secure cellphones and drugs, transactions unfold through a complex system of currency. Among the key elements: 14-digit codes, prepaid debit cards and text messages. One brand of cards - Green Dot - is so ubiquitous that it has become part of the lexicon on the inside. The recent federal indictment of two dozen inmates and corrections officers in an alleged Black Guerrilla Family corruption scandal at the Baltimore City Detention Center notes several instances in which suspects refer to "dots" in transactions.
NEWS
May 10, 2013
As I assessed the situation at the Baltimore City jail, and the subsequent indictments that came down because of the corruption of a few, I realized that while the rosy portrait painted by Gov. Martin O'Malley may not have been as bright as he would have liked the public to believe, it certainly was nowhere near as gloomy as your recent editorial portrayed it ("O'Malley can't spin his way out of the jail scandal," April 30). It's easy to point the finger after the hard work has been done; as they say, "hindsight is 20/20.
NEWS
April 26, 2013
Baltimoreans are discovering that the inmates have been running the Baltimore City Detention Center, namely the BGF or Black Guerrilla Family ("Corruption alleged at jail," April 24). Tavon "Bulldog" White, a leader in the BGF gang was quoted as saying "This is my jail. " Who would argue with him, as the incriminating article did not mention the name of the detention center's warden? Now that it's been resolved as to who is running the prison, it makes me question how this situation devolved into its current state.
NEWS
August 7, 2012
I have been reading with great interest the recent articles on the Baltimore City Detention Center and Central Booking ("City jail oversight said to be lacking," Aug. 6). Conspicuous by its absence is any mention of the abhorrent conditions defense lawyers face when attempting to have meaningful interviews with clients. In the BCDC, we are forced to conduct interviews in filthy, cramped booths equipped with equally filthy backless iron stools. More often than not, there is no real privacy or ability to go over audio tapes, etc. These conditions are deplorable, along with the loud yelling of inmates as well as the officers.
NEWS
By Peter Hermann | February 2, 2012
From the Baltimore Sun's Jill Rosen: Ethan Phillip Weibman who plead guilty last fall to animal abuse in the death of one cat and the beating of another was sentenced Wednesday to 90 days in prison. After District Judge Charles A. Chiapparelli's ruling, officers immediately took the 20-year-old, a short-time Baltimore resident originally from a wealthy hamlet in Westchester County, N.Y., into custody, as his mother shrieked in protest. “It's not just a crime, it's a person I'm sentencing,” Chiapparelli said.
NEWS
By Portia Wood and Dave Pantzer | November 24, 2009
E ighteen days after his marijuana-possession arrest, one of our clients, a 25-year-old Baltimore man, remained in jail at taxpayer expense. The defendant, a veteran of the war in Iraq, never failed to appear in court and had only one previous conviction for using marijuana, which resulted in his current probation. But he was still incarcerated at the city's Central Booking and Intake Center, simply because he could not afford his $1,000 bail. Maintaining a pretrial jail population is costly.