By Bethany Rodgers
The Frederick News-Post
ANNAPOLIS — In the aftermath of a Baltimore jail scandal, a local delegate wants a legal requirement that all new correctional officers pass polygraph tests.
Maryland Delegate Michael Hough said the tests will weed out unsuitable candidates and prevent corruption within detention center walls.
The idea for the bill developed as Hough was serving on a legislative committee launched in response to criminal indictments at the Baltimore City Detention Center, he said. A federal grand jury in April charged 13 correctional officers with helping to smuggle drugs and cellphones into the jail.
In a report issued in December, Hough’s committee recommended that the state begin to polygraph all correctional officer applicants to identify the people who have gang affiliations.
The state already has the power to administer the lie detector tests, but doesn’t use them when hiring correctional officers, reported a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
“The majority of correctional officers are good people doing the right thing,” said Hough, R-District 3B. “It’s just a couple of bad seeds. And you want to prevent them from getting in the system.”
The governor’s drafted state budget dedicates about $347,000 to form a new polygraph unit in DPSCS for testing all correctional officer applicants. This amount will cover salaries and benefits for four polygraph examiners and a supervisor, the purchase of new equipment and other expenses, according to a legislative analysis.
Hough said he wants to go one step further by making the tests a legal requirement so the polygraph unit continues to be a priority in future budgets.
His bill would not apply to county-run facilities such as the Frederick County Adult Detention Center, he said. However, Frederick County already uses lie detector tests when hiring correctional officers, said Lt. Col. William DeLauter, the detention center warden.
“It weeds out the people that are less than honest or failed to disclose details about their past,” DeLauter said.
In Frederick County, the polygraph tests eliminate a significant number of applicants for correctional officer positions, he said; however, the candidates who remain are of a higher caliber.
The state’s branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees supports Hough’s proposal.
AFSCME spokesman Jeff Pittman said his group represents more than 7,000 correctional officers across the state. Group members are supportive of common-sense measures to prevent another incident like the one at the Baltimore city jail, he said.
“No one is more angry about those indictments than other officers,” he said.