Prison

An Ellicott City title agent was sentenced Friday to two years in prison for stealing $684,000 from escrow accounts that were intended to pay off mortgage lenders, according to prosecutors. After being released from prison Sandy P. Kim, 43, will face three years of supervised release, according to a statement from Maryland's U.S. Attorney's Office. Under the sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander, Kim will also have to forfeit the money she stole. Beginning in 2006, Kim took money from escrow accounts maintained by her company, EK Settlements, according to her plea agreement.

A 20-year-old man was sentenced to spend 55 years in prison for a shooting that authorities said missed its target and instead injured a 10-year-old boy in East Baltimore. Circuit Court Judge Emanuel Brown issued the sentence on Tuesday for Dafon Canty, who was convicted during a trial that ended in January. The judge suspended all but 55 years of a life term. The shooting occurred Aug. 19 in the 1100 block of North Lakewood Ave. Prosecutors said Canty approached Terrell Singleton, who was sitting on the steps of a home, to avenge an earlier argument.

Demetrius Alvin Boyd picked the wrong place to fall asleep -- in his Toyota, stopped in a travel lane of a highway, passed out at the wheel with his foot on the brake.  Awakened by a U.S. Park Police officer patrolling the Baltimore-Washington Parkway near Greenbelt, Boyd ran into a problem other than needing shut-eye. He had been drinking alcohol, had 17 small bags filled with marijuana and a loaded .45 caliber handgun, reported stolen, tucked in his waistband. On Wednesday, a federal judge in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt sentenced the 35-year-old Boyd, of Laurel, to four years in prison for the drugs, another six months for driving under the influence, followed by two years of supervised probation once he's released.

SHORTLY BEFORE I left the Maryland Penitentiary in 1993, my friend, Martin, was stabbed to death over a couple packs of cigarettes. At age 24, he was a prison drug dealer, a risky but powerful position.I didn't see the incident but some fellow inmates told me what happened. It seems that Martin had given another inmate some heroin with the promise of future payment by cigarettes, the prison-yard currency. When the guy returned to Martin demanding more drugs on loan, Martin refused and demanded payment.

For those who had any doubts about the need to shut down the Maryland House of Correction last year, a hearing this week in an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court should convince them it was the right decision. Lawyers for two inmates charged in the murder of Correctional Officer David McGuinn are trying to show that a culture of corruption inside the Jessup prison contributed to the guard's death. And prison investigative reports they have received so far allege misconduct that went beyond a few insiders.

Is a prison clerk being made a scapegoat for the failure of prison officials to keep convicted robber John Thanos behind bars? Did officials rush to release Thanos, who is accused of killing three people after being freed, simply to relieve prison overcrowding?One investigation already has been completed, another is in progress and a third probe soon may be launched by Gov. William Donald Schaefer to determine why Thanos was let go 18 months early. Officials admit a new early-release policy was mistakenly applied to the convicted robber and rapist.

A convicted embezzler from Baltimore who kept her past a secret and swindled $78,500 from the state education department is going back to prison -- this time to serve a two-year term for theft and forgery, prosecutors said yesterday.Rather than go to trial, Marion E. White, 42, surprised prosecutors and agreed to a plea bargain Monday. Under the deal, White pleaded guilty to two counts of felony theft and one count of forgery, according to Carolyn Henneman, deputy chief of criminal investigations for the state attorney general's office.

The recession might be acting as a drag on many Maryland industries, but there is one area where business is booming: state prisons. Inmates are filling up new cells as fast as they can be built. And there's no end in sight.Maryland added five prison buildings last year, but also added 100 inmates every month. When 1992 began, there were 32,000 inmates in state prisons, Patuxent Institution, the state-run city detention center and county jails. The cost to taxpayers is staggering. Maryland's public safety expenses are expected to top $640 million this year.

Seven years into his job as Maryland's public safety secretary, Bishop L. Robinson has reversed course: he's now a fan of alternatives to the state's costly prison expansion plan. He says he would like to see 30 percent of the state's inmates dealt with through non-incarceration.We applaud Mr. Robinson's turnaround. It makes no sense to build a seemingly endless chain of large new prisons. The expense to taxpayers is enormous and the results are counter-productive: prisons don't stop criminals from returning to their former lifestyles once they are released.

Despite some progress, Maryland's mandatory minimum sentences are still too harsh, particularly on African-American defendants, and they don't allow enough low-level drug offenders to get treatment, which would be more helpful to them and to the public, according to a recent policy study. Legislation pending in the General Assembly would help address these concerns and deserves to be passed. Like many states, Maryland has relied on firm, fixed punishments as an effective way to fight crime.