“It’s obvious that jail isn’t good for the jailed. It may be particularly bad for people accused of minor crimes, who are confined not because they are likely to be dangerous but because, under our cash-bail system, they can’t afford to get out.” Read the full article in The New Yorker

Stephen T. Moyer, secretary of public safety and correctional services in Maryland, is the topic of this article which appeared in the Washington Post on August 20.

The Baltimore Sun asks: Can Maryland be safer if it keeps fewer people locked up?

“The state’s new Justice Reinvestment Initiative, the brainchild of Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, has enlisted the aid of the Pew Charitable Trusts to engage in the kind of deep analysis of the state’s sentencing, incarceration, parole and probation policies that more than two dozen other states have already performed in hopes of producing a system that increases public safety, reduces recidivism and cuts costs.”

Read the full article here.

How many Maryland prisoners are in isolated confinement? It’s hard to say.
Read this report in the Washington Post – July 19, 2105

Daily Record, Friday Mar 27, 2015, p23A
Commentary by Phil Caroom

A new wave of bipartisan cooperation in criminal justice

When the bipartisan “tough-on-crime” tidal wave rose from 1980 to 2000, Maryland and other U.S. states more than tripled their prison populations — and taxpayer costs. Former governor and state delegate Bob Ehrlich says, “I remember sitting in the Maryland state legislature … debating what predicate offenses we would add. … Here we are, a few years later, with this mess.” Continue reading →

Graduated re-entry: giving prisoners a little freedom at a time.

For the transition from prison to life outside to be successful, it needs to be gradual. If someone needed to be locked up yesterday, he shouldn’t be completely at liberty today. And he shouldn’t be asked to go from utter dependency to total self-sufficiency in one flying leap. He needs both more control and more support. Neither alone is likely to do the job.  Read more about graduated re-entry in VOX

Seeking a second chance for criminals serving life sentences in Maryland

“When Stanley Mitchell went to prison 41 years ago for driving the getaway car in the fatal shooting of a business executive in Baltimore, he hoped for redemption.

“His life sentence came with the possibility of parole, and Mitchell believed that if he reformed and learned true remorse, he had a chance for freedom.”

Read More…

“Sandtown-Winchester, the blighted community just west of downtown Baltimore that has been the target of multimillion-dollar revitalization efforts over the past two decades, is home to more people held in state prisons than any other census tract in Maryland, advocacy groups reported Wednesday.

“The 458 inmates from the community cost the state $17 million each year to incarcerate, the Justice Policy Institute and the Prison Policy Initiative reported — money, the groups say, that would be better invested in improving the community.”

Read More…

2015 may be the year Maryland begins to switch its criminal justice priorities from “tough-on-crime” to “smart-on-crime.” The Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform (MAJR) press release explains how this rare event will occur with: 1) a legislative commitment to reduce our state’s overuse of incarceration; and 2) bipartisan leadership of this effort that includes Senate President Mike Miller and former Governor Bob Ehrlich among many others. Continue reading →

A PLAN TO FIX “THE MESS” IN MARYLAND PRISONS?

When the bipartisan “tough-on-crime” tidal wave rose from 1980 to 2000, Maryland and other U.S. states tripled their prison populations and taxpayer costs. Former Governor and state delegate Bob Ehrlich says, “I remember sitting in the Maryland state legislature… debating what predicate offenses we would add…. Here we are, a few years later, with this mess.” Continue reading →