Report on Baltimore Jail Reveals Human Waste Dripped from Ceilings
A report released by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) on December 4, 2025 details dire conditions at a jail in downtown Baltimore. While all of the detainees locked up at the Maryland Reception, Diagnostic, and Classification Center (MRDCC), as the jail is officially known, were evacuated in December, structural issues had long plagued the more than four-decade-old facility. Built in 1981 as a short-term intake center, the crumbling MRDCC also often locked up detainees well beyond a year.
The report, obtained through a public records request issued by The Baltimore Sun and prepared by an outside consulting firm, paints a deeply troubling picture of how decrepit MRDCC had become. Investigators, for example, found human waste dripping from ceilings due to faulty plumbing, a malfunctioning sprinkler system that failed to activate during a 2022 mattress fire, and widespread disrepair that led to the closure of communal spaces for recreation, meals, and personal visits. In sum, the report noted, the “existing building does not meet the minimum requirements for the purposes intended for incarceration.”
Detainees had even taken advantage of MRDCC’s “failing facade” to dig through walls and between cells in order to bring in contraband from the street outside. Also, prior to the evacuation, meals were served inside cells as all of the areas where people could sit down to eat had been shuttered. The evacuation, which moved over 400 detainees to other facilities in Maryland, was announced by the state DPSCS as “urgent” and “immediate.”
Sources: The Baltimore Banner, The Baltimore Sun
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