After pandemic decreases, share of Black people in Maryland prisons peaks

The coronavirus pandemic caused a historic drop in Maryland’s prison population. But after the state of emergency ended and prisons filled up again, the share of Black incarcerated people reached a five-year-high late last year, a Capital News Service data…

Maryland governor would lose parole veto powers under bill

A bill that would remove the governor from the parole process is on a bumpy path through the Maryland Legislature, as both chambers have different versions of the bill that must be hammered out in just a few days.

Juvenile detention centers use yoga to teach mindfulness

If not for the guards, this could be any school gym — but the yoga and mindfulness class that’s about to begin serves boys in a secure detention center in Baltimore.

Legislative roundup: Oyster recycling; tobacco; female inmate health services

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — The Maryland Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a bill that would further incentivize oyster shell recycling. “This bill continues to promote a very viable shell recovery program that’s been in existence for five years,” said Sen. Stephen…

How a wrongly imprisoned man got his life back

BALTIMORE, Maryland — They called him Mandela. Some inmates knew it was a nickname. Some didn’t. Either way, it didn’t matter much to Walter Lomax. He appreciated the comparison. He was a stern man — a writer. And like the…

Prison gang, drug investigation nets 26, including guards

BALTIMORE — Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh on Thursday announced the indictments of 26 people, including two correctional officers, with charges ranging from attempted first-degree murder to drug distribution.

Maryland takes on compensation for the wrongly imprisoned

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — Exonerated of murder and other charges in 2014, Walter Lomax is still making his way through the Maryland bureaucracy to receive compensation for 39 years of wrongful imprisonment. Now, he sits on a state task force to…

High-tech system blocks inmates’ cell phones in Md. prisons

Since the rise of mobile communications, inmates have found at least one way to take back a bit of the privacy they were forced to give up – by smuggling in cell phones.

In Maryland, efforts to streamline exonerations stymied

By Eleanor Mueller Capital News Service ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — Sabein Burgess wasted no time trying to prove his innocence. Convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in June 1995, the then-24-year-old waited just 10 days after his trial before…

Opiates decline in Maryland prisons after cut from Medicaid list

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — Since Suboxone film strips were removed from the Medicaid Preferred Drug List in July, the amount of the drug recovered in Maryland correctional facilities as contraband has decreased by 41 percent, according to Maryland’s Department of Public…