Two years ago, the state closed the much-troubled Maryland House of Correction in Jessup after one correctional officer and three inmates were killed there within one year.
By ALLISON BOURG
The Capital
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland’s biggest prison complex is about to get bigger.
The state Department of Public Safety and Corrections is planning two 560-bed minimum-security prisons at the current complex in Jessup. Funding for the first was included in the budget proposal unveiled last week by Gov. Martin O’Malley.
Mark Vernarelli, department spokesman, said the first $23.2 million dormitory-style facility will house one of the fastest-growing segments of the state’s prison population: non-violent offenders who can benefit from drug programs and other counseling.
“This is community-based corrections,” Mr. Vernarelli said. “We’re trying to decrease the likelihood that people who get out of jail end up back in there. The recidivism rate for inmates now is about 50 percent.”
He couldn’t say when construction might begin on the Jessup Community Correctional Facility, but confirmed that it’s the first of two minimum-security facilities planned for west county.
Mr. Vernarelli said programs will focus on rehabilitation of inmates, though it’s too early to go into details. He said work crews and work release inmates would probably be housed at the facility.
“That’s fairly new for us (the state),” he said.
The dormitory-style setup will be similar to what the state has at the Eastern Correctional Institution Annex on the Eastern Shore, he said.
The new prisons will be the latest facilities to come to the large complex on the Anne Arundel and Howard counties line. Two years ago, the state closed the much-troubled Maryland House of Correction in Jessup after one correctional officer and three inmates were killed there within one year.
The maximum-security Jessup Correctional Institution and the medium-security Maryland Correctional Institution - Jessup, are still there.
The Patuxent Institution, a psychiatric hospital in Howard County, the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women, and the Jessup Pre-Release Unit are also at the site. The pre-release unit has some work release inmates, Mr. Vernarelli said.
A spokesman for Mr. O’Malley declined to comment on the plans, referring calls to the Department of Public Safety.
Mr. Vernarelli said only the first minimum-security prison is funded, and doesn’t know when funding for the second will become available.
But some changes to several facilities in Baltimore will mean less space in the city for minimum-security inmates, he said.
The fiscal 2010 budget includes $11.8 million to create a separate youth center for juvenile inmates at the Baltimore City Youth Detention Facility. Another $6 million is slated for the Women’s Detention Center in Baltimore to create space for services separate from male inmates.
“The Jessup expansion is necessary because the minimum-security population is fast-growing, and because our Baltimore projects will cause us to lose some minimum-security space downtown that Jessup will compensate for,” Mr. Vernarelli wrote in an e-mail.
Sen. Ed DeGrange, D-Glen Burnie, who represents the area, said the project is still in its infancy.
“Obviously everything has to be approved, and we still have to go through the budget process here,” he said.
Copyright 2009 Capital Gazette Communications, Inc.