Public Defender Files Habeas Petitions for Detainees at “Horrific” Baltimore Lockup
On May 17, 2024, the Maryland Office of the Public Defender (OPD) filed 11 habeas petitions for detainees awaiting trial at the state’s Reception Diagnostic and Classification Center in Baltimore after they reported raw sewage overflowing from unflushable toilets and sinks dispensing brown water, forcing them to live in cells filled with human waste for days.
Reports of the squalid conditions circulated on social media the week before the filings, but they were summarily denied by officials with the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS), which announced that “repairs on a major sewer line at the Maryland Reception Diagnostic and Classification Center have been completed.”
OPD disputed that timeline though, noting that reports persisted another two days after DPSCS said the problem was fixed. Meanwhile the state’s temporary solution for the problem—portable toilets—was called inadequate and inhumane, since detainees were forced to use them while handcuffed and could not use toilet paper or wash their hands. In some cases, garbage bags served as a toilet of last resort within cells, with limited bottled water provided for both drinking and cleaning.
Public Defender Natasha M. Dartigue called out CPSCS for “[d]epriving people of rudimentary health and hygiene measures” in conditions that are “inhumane, unsafe, and well beyond what our society should tolerate.” The plumbing failure at MRDCC, she added, indicated the urgent need for oversight that will be provided by a new Office of the Correctional Ombudsman under SB 134, a law signed by Gov. Wes Moore (D) on May 16, 2024.
Source: Baltimore Banner
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