Prison

Has it been mentioned anywhere that the couple who ran the Dogwood Restaurant in Hampden tried to change the lives of desperate people while serving good food and drink? There aren't a lot of businesses willing to hire ex-offenders and recovering drug addicts. It's a bother. It comes with risks, and there are plenty of attorneys to warn clients about "negligence in hiring," and the liability that brings. But the Dogwood believed in giving second chances, so attention must be paid, however late the notice.

A Frostburg State University student convicted of fatally stabbing another student in 2011 was sentenced Monday to 14 years in prison. Shanee Liggins, at the time a 23-year-old senior business major, stabbed Kortneigh McCoy, 19, at an off-campus party. Witnesses said Liggins threatened another partygoer with a knife and McCoy stepped in to head off the dispute. Liggins pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in December. Her 14-year prison sentence includes anger management treatment and a mental health evaluation, according to court records.

To rack up arrests and look good for his bosses, Officer Kendell Richburg decided to ensure that his confidential informant could continue dealing drugs and funneling him information. He paid the unnamed informant with city funds, a standard procedure, but also gave him seized drugs to resell, according to court records. Richburg told the informant about the whereabouts of law enforcement in the Pimlico area where he operated, and the informant would tell Richburg about drug activity.

Dan Rodricks ' column ("Gun control, yes, and therapy, not jail," March 3) on the 35-year prison sentence given the 15-year-old Perry Hall High School student was right on. So was the letter from Ann Phillips ("Perry Hall shooter's sentence is a travesty," March 1). When you are an adolescent, you can not drink or vote. You can't drink at 18 years of age because you are not considered mature enough to handle it. You can't drive until you are 16 years old. But you can enlist in the U.S. Army when you are 18 years old and "adult.

I am grateful that the 17-year-old boy who was shot last year at Perry Hall High School is recovering ("Perry Hall High School shooter Gladden gets 35 years in prison" Feb. 26 2013). And we can all agree that the defendant, Robert Gladden, deserves to be held accountable for injuring a fellow student. But the 35-year prison sentence handed down to a 15-year-old for attempted murder - with no loss of life - should give us all pause and remind us of the danger of trying young people in adult courts.

For decades, African-Americans have been sentenced to prison at far higher rates than their proportion of the population would suggest. In 2000, black men were incarcerated at nearly eight times the rate of white men, while black women were nearly three times more likely to be imprisoned than white women. But for the first time in recent memory those disparities appear to be narrowing, according to a new study. If the trend continues it could have implications for the racial makeup of prison populations across the U.S., including those in Maryland.

With no thanks to the Democratic state senator who represents the area, the Baltimore County community of Perry Hall is safer from gun violence than it was six months ago. We can say that much. Sen. Kathy Klausmeier might have voted against the important gun control bill that her colleagues in the Maryland Senate passed on Thursday, but Bobby Gladden has gone to prison, and that means his former fellow students at Perry Hall High won't have to worry about seeing him with a gun in the cafeteria again.

Nine current and former guards at a state prison in Hagerstown were charged Wednesday in a federal indictment that alleges they conspired to assault an inmate and covered up the incident. The U.S. Department of Justice indictment refers to two separate beatings of an inmate, identified only as "K.D.," in the same weekend in March 2008. K.D. was beaten so badly that he had to be taken to a hospital, the indictment says. None of the current and former prison officers was actually charged with assault.

After an emotional day of testimony, Robert W. Gladden Jr., the 15-year-old charged in the Perry Hall High School cafeteria shooting, was sentenced Monday to 35 years in prison. Baltimore County Circuit Judge Robert E. Cahill Jr. went beyond state sentencing guidelines to put Gladden away until he is at least 50 years old, citing continued fear in Perry Hall along with a national concern for school safety that has grown stronger since the Newtown, Conn. school massacre. Kathleen Watkins, a school administrator, told the court that the school is still working to get past the shooting that injured Daniel Borowy, a 17-year-old special needs student, on the first day of school.