Very prominent on the agenda of the legislature this year was Patuxent institution, the one penal institution in the state devoted expressly and exclusively to rehabilitation of criminals. Yet few people realize that Patuxent is only a small component of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
Another public safety agenda has yet to be adequately addressed. I am speaking of the Division of Correction (DOC), which consists of ten separate institutions, and which, according to the Division's 1987 annual report was releasing 530 persons a month throughout 1987 for the 411 that Patuxent released in the ten years ending mid-1988.
To give an idea of relative magnitude, the only other "institution" of the State with a full-time "undergraduate" population larger than DOC's (now exceeding 13,600) is the University of Maryland at College Park. In fact, UMBC, Morgan State and Coppin State combined enroll far fewer "undergraduates" than does DOC. Furthermore, the total undergraduate and graduate enrollment at Johns Hopkins University (3,381) is only slightly higher than the number of DOC residents released in 1987 for all reasons (3,355).
During the Patuxent debate, a great deal of thought went into Article 36 of the Maryland Code, which governs parole of inmates from Patuxent. (Article 36 was applied to 199 Patuxent inmates from 1978-1988.) However, parole from the Division of Correction is governed by a different statute (Article 41). In 1987 alone, 1,878 DOC inmates were paroled using Article 41 (the remainder released for all other causes, including expiration of sentence, death and transfer to Patuxent), and the number grows larger every year.
We haven't even heard much about the Governor's "Action Agenda" which seeks to build several more new prisons while phasing out older ones and which includes only as a last phase a network of "Metropolitan Service Centers" to minister to the needs of inmates nearing or upon release, although construction of "mini"-prisons has begun in Hagerstown. These are to be 192- bed facilities in contrast to the 288-bed Super Max just completed and opened near the Penitentiary or the 1500-bed "Harry Hughes Hilton" on the Eastern Shore.
Not on anyone's agenda, including the Governor's Plan, has been appropriate housing for DOC residents who are elderly, handicapped, infirm, or are victims or carriers of AIDs. For example, some inmates need baths not showers or specially-designed water faucets because of physical handicaps, dispensaries need to be within a few yards of housing areas rather than a few blocks for inmates needing medicines who are not sick enough for hospitalization, and there have been many complaints about inmates unknowingly "double celled" with AIDs carriers or victims.
I hesitate to use the expression "jobs and job training" to denote an alternative to a sometimes 50% or more idleness rate in the Division. State Use Industries listed a total number of 775 positions for 12,737 inmates in 1987 (6.1%), the remaining "jobs" having to do with laundry or kitchen or clean-up or, for the literate, "clerking" for day to day prison departments. School programs of all kinds, from grade school through college, enrolled only about 30% of all DOC residents but these are mostly part-time, many of them seasonal and not all available at all institutions.
Turnover and shortage of institutional directors ("wardens") in the last three months directly affect the largest institutions in each of the four Division regions (Baltimore, Jessup, Hagerstown, and Eastern), and indirectly, supervision and function in the lesser facilities in those regions. Out of the ten institutions, three wardens have announced resignations since January, one warden has been on the job only since then (his predecessor was fired) and the position on the Eastern Shore has never been filled. Compounding these actual and very newly filled vacancies in six of ten institutions is that the Commissioner of Corrections began his job only on January 19 and was recruited from out-of-state.
In other words, the Division of Corrections which spends well in excess of $182 million in operating costs each and every year (which is not counting construction costs) is severely lacking in seasoned middle- and upper-level managers.
The lack of a competent manager can affect every phase of institutional life. At one of the larger institutions, the security staff decided to ban fruit from the inmate dining room to prevent inmates from making homemade "wine". This ban, which was not cleared by Dietary or Headquarters, remained in effect for several months until a new warden was appointed. Also jeopardized during that period were the school program, the volunteer program, inmate self-help groups, the library, visiting and many other services.
In conclusion, it is the Division of Correction and not Patuxent Institution which is the major issue now facing the Department of Public Safety and the State of Maryland. Unfortunately, unlike the residents of Patuxent, DOC inmates are not pre-screened either for admission or graduation.
Sincerely,
Nancy Moran
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