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Comingling of Meanest and Greenest Prisoners Ordered to Cease in Maryland Prisons

Article • August 15, 2013

Filed under: Prisoner-Prisoner Assault, Conditions of Confinement, Overcrowding

Comingling of Meanest and Greenest Prisoners Ordered to Cease in Maryland Prisons by A Maryland federal district court ordered prison officials at the Maryland State Penitentiary and the Maryland Reception, Diagnostic and Classification Center (MRDCC) to devise an efficient classification system to identify prisoners at risk of rape, and to …

Former Maryland Governor Acknowledges Politics Behind Life Means Life Policy

Article • July 15, 2013 • from PLN July, 2013

Filed under: Sentencing, Parole, Death Penalty

Former Maryland Governor Acknowledges Politics Behind Life Means Life Policy by Parris Glendening, who served as Maryland's governor from 1995 through 2002, has acknowledged, around a decade later, the role that politics played in his adoption of a "life means life" policy that effectively ended early release for prisoners sentenced …

Maryland Repeals Death Penalty

Article • June 15, 2013 • from PLN June, 2013

Filed under: Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

Maryland Repeals Death Penalty by Christopher Zoukis On May 2, 2013, Maryland became the sixth state in six years to abolish the death penalty, and the 18th state – along with the District of Columbia – that has rejected capital punishment. Maryland is the first Southern state to forgo executions …

Maryland Prisoner Challenges State Indecent Exposure Laws

Article • April 15, 2013

Filed under: Prisoner-Staff Harassment, Sentencing

Maryland Prisoner Challenges State Indecent Exposure Laws by A divided Maryland Supreme Court affirmed in May 2012 the holding of the Circuit Court of Montgomery County in a case wherein a Maryland state prisoner sought to establish that enacted indecent exposure legislation intended for circumstances found in a prison setting …

Federal Court Upholds Maryland Law that Reclassifies Prisoners for Redistricting

Article • December 15, 2012 • from PLN December, 2012

Filed under: Voting, Census, News, State Legislation

Federal Court Upholds Maryland Law that Reclassifies Prisoners for Redistricting by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On December 23, 2011, a Maryland federal district court three-judge panel upheld a state law that counts prisoners as residents of their legal home address rather than their prison address for redistricting purposes. …

$60,411 Attorney Fee Award in Maryland Prisoner’s Public Information Act Suit

Article • November 15, 2012 • from PLN November, 2012

Filed under: Private Prisons, Prison Health Services, Hepatitis, Disclosure of Records, State Legislation

$60,411 Attorney Fee Award in Maryland Prisoner’s Public Information Act Suit by The State of Maryland has agreed to pay more than $60,000 in attorney fees to settle a longstanding lawsuit brought by a prisoner who had requested public records pursuant to the state’s Public Information Act. While incarcerated at …

Petitions of Salih et al, MD, Pet Joint Reply to Memo, DOC ban on media interviews with prisoners, 2013.pdf

Brief • November 5, 2012

Filed under: DOC/BOP misconduct, Interviews, Retaliation for Media Contact, Media, Access to Media, Censorship

Petitions of Salih et al, MD, Pet Joint Reply to Memo, DOC ban on media interviews with prisoners, 2013.pdf PETITION OF * ROBERT MORGAN,# 273-810 * CIRCUIT COURT FOR FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW OF THE DECISION OF THE SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES * ANNE ARUNDEL …

Maryland Women Prisoners Sew Commemorative 1812 Flags

Article • August 15, 2012 • from PLN August, 2012

Filed under: Work, Prison Industries, Prison Labor

Maryland Women Prisoners Sew Commemorative 1812 Flags by In July 2011, prisoners at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup were busy sewing 1812-style flags to be flown at Maryland public buildings. The plan was to replace the state’s old flags with the 1812-style flags, which have 15 stars …

Maryland DOC Rescinds Ban on Prisoner’s Book

Article • July 15, 2012 • from PLN July, 2012

Filed under: Victims, Mail, Publications/Books, Censorship

Maryland DOC Rescinds Ban on Prisoner’s Book by On July 20, 2011, the Maryland Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services (DPSCS) rescinded its ban on The Marshall Plan: The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther, a memoir co-authored by Maryland state prisoner Marshall “Eddie” Conway and Dominque …

Army Scientist Paid $5.8 Million to Settle Anthrax Accusations Defamation Suit

Article • May 15, 2012

Filed under: Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Privacy Act, Media

Army Scientist Paid $5.8 Million to Settle Anthrax Accusations Defamation Suit by In 2002, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft called Army scientist Steven Hatfill a "person of interest" in a deadly 2001 anthrax mailing case. Six years later, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) paid Hatfill $5.8 million to settle …

Maryland: Off-Duty Deputies Liable for Mass Purchase of Newspaper Critical of Sheriff on Eve of Election

Article • May 15, 2012

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Qualified Immunity, Censorship, Police

Maryland: Off-Duty Deputies Liable for Mass Purchase of Newspaper Critical of Sheriff on Eve of Election by In 2004, on remand from the Fourth Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland held that neither qualified nor statutory immunity shielded off-duty deputies from liability for damages for making …

Qualified Immunity Upheld in Maryland Prison Employees’ Suit over Strip Search Following Positive Ion Drug Scan

Article • May 15, 2012

Filed under: Strip Searches, Mechanical Searches/Scanners, Drug Testing, Guards/Staff, Employee Litigation

Qualified Immunity Upheld in Maryland Prison Employees’ Suit over Strip Search Following Positive Ion Drug Scan by Employees and independent contractors at the Maryland Correctional Center Training Center were subjected to search by a portable ion scanning machine in an attempt to interdict drugs being smuggled into the facility. Eight …

Sharp v. Baltimore City Police Department et al, MD, DOJ letter re Recording Police, seizure of phone for arrest video, 2012

Brief • May 14, 2012

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Videotaping, First Amendment, Police

Sharp v. Baltimore City Police Department et al, MD, DOJ letter re Recording Police, seizure of phone for arrest video, 2012 U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division JMS:TDM:RJO DJ 207-35-10 Special Litigation Section - PHB 950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Washington DC 20530 May 14, 2012 Mark H. Grimes Baltimore …

State of Maryland v. Brightful et al, MD, Order, Drug Recognition Expert Protocol, 2012

Brief • March 5, 2012

Filed under: Evidence, Drug Testing, Expert Witnesses

State of Maryland v. Brightful et al, MD, Order, Drug Recognition Expert Protocol, 2012 03/05/2012 13:30 From: .A :"~_ #210 P,002/038 I! I Ii ii IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR CARROLL COUNTY II Ii 1j ii' I, "" Ii Ii 11 STATE OF MARYLAND v, IIII II II I' I …

U.S. Supreme Court Limits Edwards Rule

Article • February 15, 2012

Filed under: Criminal Prosecution, Attorneys, Appointment of Counsel

U.S. Supreme Court Limits Edwards Rule by Brandon Sample In Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477 (1981), the Supreme Court held that statements made to police during an interrogation following a request for counsel are presumed invalid. The so-called Edwards rule was designed to protect the safeguards afforded by Miranda …

$11.5 Million Jury Award to Family of Man Wrongfully Killed by Cop

Article • February 15, 2012

Filed under: Police--Excessive Force, Police, Excessive Force (Police)

$11.5 Million Jury Award to Family of Man Wrongfully Killed by Cop by In March 2011, a Prince George’s County jury awarded $11.5 million in damages to the widow and child of a man who was shot to death by a police officer. In August 2008, while moonlighting as a …

Sharp v. Baltimore City Police Department, MD, Complaint, First Amendment, Recording Officers, 2011

Brief • August 1, 2011

Filed under: First Amendment, Police

Sharp v. Baltimore City Police Department, MD, Complaint, First Amendment, Recording Officers, 2011 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR BALTIMORE CITY, MARYLAND Christopher Sharp, 4938 Stone Shop Circle Owings Mills, MD 21117 Plaintiff~ vs. Baltimore City Police Department, 601 East Fayette Street Baltimore, MD 21211-2908 Civil Action No. - - - …

Sundry Claims Board Only Remedy For Maryland Prisoners Injured On Paid Jobs

Article • July 15, 2011

Filed under: Workplace Injury, Workers' Compensation, PLRA, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA)

Sundry Claims Board Only Remedy For Maryland Prisoners Injured On Paid Jobs by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke A Maryland court of appeals has ruled that Maryland state prisoners injured on paid jobs may only seek compensation through the Sundry Claims Board (SCB). Melvin James Dixon, a former Maryland state …

In-Prison Filmmaker Prepares Next Release

Article • July 15, 2011 • from PLN July, 2011

Filed under: Organizing, Prisoner Media, TV/Movies

In-Prison Filmmaker Prepares Next Release by David Reutter by David M. Reutter Compact video cameras smuggled into prison have allowed New Jersey prisoner Omar Broadway to become an amateur documentarian of life behind bars. His first video, taken inside a New Jersey state facility in 2004, has been turned into …

Baltimore Jail’s Warden, Seven Guards Suspended Pending Excessive Force Investigation

Article • July 15, 2011 • from PLN July, 2011

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Immunity/Liability, Failure to Train/Supervise

Baltimore Jail’s Warden, Seven Guards Suspended Pending Excessive Force Investigation by Pending an investigation into an alleged use of excessive force involving a female detainee, the warden and seven guards at the Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center (BCBIC) have been suspended. The detainee, a 26-year-old woman who faced minor …