Senator: Md. governor to close Baltimore detention center

“Frankly, the Baltimore City Detention Center is a disgrace, and its conditions are horrendous”, he said.

Two years ago, federal and state authorities announced dozens of indictments of inmates and corrections officers on allegations of widespread graft directed by the Black Guerrilla Family gang.

Hogan said that jail employees either stood by or enabled the criminal enterprise, which he said ranks as “one of the biggest failures in leadership in the history of Maryland”.

Calling it the worst prison in America, Hogan, a Republican, said the decision has been a long time coming and that inmates now housed there will be transferred to other facilities, along with correctional workers.

“Corruption has run rampant with gang members given free reign for years to run the facility”, Hogan said.

They asked a federal judge last month to reopen a lawsuit against Maryland over conditions at the jail. In total, 44 defendants faced charges in the case. The groups allege inmates suffering from illnesses such as HIV and diabetes were denied life-sustaining prescription medication. The court filing also described cells infested with mice and cockroaches, moldy showers, poor ventilation and broken toilets.

In response, Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary Stephen Moyer said he was committed to changes. For security reasons, their destinations will not be disclosed in advance. “We’ve consistently seen problems that when detainees are transferred from one facility to another, the ball often gets dropped with regard to their health care, sometimes with serious consequences”.

After the indictments, a state legislative panel backed a plan to raze the jail and rebuild it. In May, the state Board of Public Works approved a $30 million plan for a new, 60-bed youth jail. Only the men’s detention center is being closed.

The move to close the jail was welcomed by corrections officials.

“The Civil War era jail was taken over by the state in 1991″, The Baltimore Sun reports, adding that the jail ” – which has 1,092 male inmates, including 145 awaiting trial – is part of a larger complex of corrections facilities just east of downtown Baltimore”.