jails and prisons

Federal public defenders in Baltimore have begun to review hundreds and maybe thousands of drug cases to identify inmates eligible for early release under a bill in Congress to reform prison terms.

ncluding Anne Arundel, there are three counties in Maryland that partner with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to screen inmates under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Clarence Shipley Jr. was exonerated Tuesday afternoon in Baltimore Circuit Court of robbing and killing a 29-year-old chef in Cherry Hill nearly three decades ago.

Maryland prison officials are investigating an alleged sexual assault against a correctional officer Friday at the Patuxent Institution in Jessup.

An investigation into Maryland’s only prison for women following the 2017 suicide of an inmate found the facility violated the constitutional rights of individuals with disabilities who are placed in segregation and did not take sufficient steps to “prevent future harm.”

Army Sergeant sentenced to life without parole forProsecutors said that Kearney drove seven hours from his home in South Carolina to kill Ramirez on Aug. 24, 2015. killing wife in Maryland

Biased federal laws that have subjected a generation of African-American men to unfair, lengthy prison sentences may finally see reform thanks to an unlikely ally in President Donald Trump.

In the past six years, nearly 200 prisoners, mostly geriatric men convicted of rape and murder, have been set free in Maryland. Only one of them has been arrested again, found researchers for the Justice Policy Institute.

Brandon Bazemore, 25, whose street name is “Man Man,” was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years in prison for his involvement in the Trained To Go gang.

Maryland's Justice Reinvestment Act is now a year old, so how have we done? Unfortunately, because of a lack of data, we can’t actually document the impact of the JRA — nor can we fully implement it.

The warden of the women's prison at Jessup has been overhauling the menu to discard the empty carbs and improve the health of inmates.

Facing life in prison and with his men turned government witnesses, alleged cartel king "El Chapo" has few allies. One is a lawyer from Mulberry Street in Baltimore.

A Temple Hills man who was shot after attempting to run over a Howard County police officer in February 2017 was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison last week.

The plaintiffs in a decadeslong legal battle over the Baltimore city jail's conditions are seeking to extend their 2016 settlement with the state of Maryland,

In an unexpected move from a self-described “law and order” administration, President Trump recently signaled his support for the First Step Act, which passed the House earlier this year and is designed to reform mandatory minimum sentencing laws for nonviolent drug offenders.

A Baltimore prosecutor says Heather Cook, a former Episcopal bishop serving a prison sentence for fatally striking bicyclist Thomas Palermo with her car while drunk, should be denied a reduction in sentence. If a judge approves Cook's request on Nov. 5, Cook could leave prison that day.

A former high ranking Baltimore County school system employee was sentenced to serve nine weekends in jail for accepting payment from real estate developers and federal agents.

Former bishop Heather Cook has been busy with courses and activities during her three years of incarceration at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women.

A man who has been convicted of two Harford County sexual assaults that occurred in less than a year between 2005 and 2006 received a maximum life sentence Thursday for one of the attacks.

Heather Cook, a former Episcopal bishop serving a prison sentence for fatally striking a bicyclist with her car while drunk in 2014 in Baltimore, could be released as early as next month. She is seeking a modification of her seven-year sentence for the crash that killed Tom Palermo.

An Ellicott City man and former employee of the National Security Agency who pleaded guilty in December of removing classified documents was sentenced Tuesday in a federal courtroom in Baltimore to 5 1/2 years in prison.

Mke Bowler, a newspaper man for over 30 years, most of them with The Baltimore Sun, died the other day. There were tributes galore, especially for his work on education. I remember, though, a less-known tale: Mike Bowler saved a man from a lonely death in prison.

Democrat candidate for governor Ben Jealous' answer to the plague of opioid overdose deaths in Maryland and record murders in Baltimore is his 26-page plan for

A Gaithersburg man was sentenced to 19 years in prison for a 2017-armed robbery of a casino employee.

Why, at a time when Maryland appears to have already taken steps to curb mass incarceration, would a candidate for governor put forth a proposal to cut incarceration by another 30 percent? Because that might be the state’s best strategy for safer neighborhoods and stronger communities.

Four people have pleaded guilty in a scheme to smuggle drugs inside a Maryland prison after guards found a balloon with thousands of dollars worth of Suboxone strips hidden in the waistband of a woman’s underwear, prosecutors say.

Ben Jealous, Democratic candidate for Maryland governor, wants to reform the state’s criminal justice system by shrinking the prison population by 30 percent and cutting an estimated $660 million from the state’s budget.

Visits and mail service will return to Maryland correctional facilities in time for the Labor Day weekend after a ban was implemented in response to safety concerns in other states, Maryland prison officials said Thursday.

The news that visitors are banned from all Maryland correctional facilities until further notice came after staff and inmates at facilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania became sick from possible drug exposure.

A Baltimore man, who was found with a bag of suspected heroin in his vehicle during a routine traffic stop in Ellicott City last September, faces a decade in prison, Howard County prosecutors announced Friday.

Gov. Larry Hogan has sent a letter to Maryland corrections officers defending is record on running the state prison system.

Deniro Bellamy, 31, of Randallstown died of morphine and fentanyl intoxication in June after he collapsed at the jail, the Maryland medical examiner's office said Wednesday.

Maryland’s prison population — which has been decreasing at a faster rate than anywhere else in the country — continues to shrink.

Longtime Baltimore representative Nathaniel T. Oaks is scheduled to be sentenced next week, and prosecutors are asking a federal judge to give the former state senator to five years in prison and three years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty to two fraud charges in March.

Two former correctional officers and eight other defendants have pleaded guilty for their role in a smuggling ring at Jessup maximum-security prison, records show.

If “The Last Stop,” a novel that follows a jailed felon suspected of wielding tremendous power behind bars, has the ring of truth to it, no wonder.

Two inmates and a former inmate at Harford County Detention Center were arrested earlier this year for allegedly smuggling drugs into the detention facility through the mail, according to the Harford County Sheriff’s Office.

A Circuit Court judge on Monday vacated the manslaughter conviction of Umar Burley based on new evidence uncovered through a corruption investigation into the Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force.

A Black Guerilla Family member who pleaded guilty to the murder of a witness to prevent him from testifying against a fellow gang member in a state case has been sentenced to more than 31 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.

State-run psychiatric hospitals will face a deadline to admit patients referred by Maryland courts under legislation approved by the General Assembly Monday night.

Maryland can reduce crime and incarceration rates by giving young people better opportunities in schools and job training.

Baltimore County’s jail and fire department need a combined $6.42 million to pay the bills for the remainder of the government budget year.

A federal judge handed down the first prison sentence in the Gun Trace Task Force case on Friday, ordering five years behind bars for a man who helped a member of the corrupt unit carry out a $20,000 robbery.

The Maryland prison system has had a long run of corruption. Robert Harding, an assistant U.S. Attorney who supervises the Baltimore office's criminal division, talks about how the feds first learned about the widespread corruption in state prisons.

Across the state, dozens of inmates convicted of violent crimes — carjackings, shootings and attempted murder — are using a state law intended to help addicted offenders get drug treatment to win early release.

A Baltimore police officer who was fired in 2016 is spending at least the weekend in jail after being charged with first-degree assault, court records show.

A boyhood friend of Police Detective Momodu Gondo, Glen Kyle Wells was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in federal prison for his role in the million-dollar heroin ring.

Antonio Shropshire, the head of a heroin ring that eventually led authorities to the Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force, was sentenced Friday to 25 years.

Reforming America's prison system could be a lasting legacy for Donald Trump, says Cal Thomas.

Gov. Larry Hogan's efforts to address addiction among those behind bars is laudable, but to truly make a difference, Maryland needs to make methadone and buprenorphine available in prisons.