By Ruben Castaneda
Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE — A Baltimore County Circuit Court judge has sanctioned the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services for failing to follow another judge’s order to provide documents to lawyers representing the family of Lamont Mealy, who died in his cellblock of dehydration in July 2023.
Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge James L. Rhodes said that DPSCS “knowingly and willfully failed to provide what was ordered by Judge [ Wendy S.] Epstein on March 2nd, 2026,” according to a transcript of the June hearing. Rhodes ordered DPSCS to provide the material sought by Mealy’s attorneys within seven days and ordered the agency to pay Mealy’s lawyers $1,000 in damages. and an undetermined amount for attorney fees.
To learn the circumstances around Mealy’s death, the lawyers filed a public records lawsuit seeking an array of documents, including video footage of the cellblock where Mealy was housed and emails from DPSCS employees.
In response to a request for comment, a DPSCS spokesman said in a written response: “ The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) has worked diligently and in good faith to respond to requests for information and comply with all applicable court orders in this matter. We respect the court’s decision and will continue to make every reasonable effort to meet our legal obligations moving forward. Because this case remains the subject of ongoing litigation, we cannot comment on specific aspects of the matter or the court’s ruling.”
Rhodes’ order calls for DPSCS to pay the attorneys’ fees for Mealy’s lawyers, Cary J. Hansel and Kristen M. Mack, who are based in Baltimore. Rhodes directed Hansel and Mack to submit line item billing for their fees. DPSCS could challenge the total, Rhodes said.
“Until I receive the line item billing, I will hold open the issue of how much I am awarding in attorney’s fees,” Rhodes said, according to the court transcript.
So far, the legal bill is almost $300,000, Hansel said. Hansel and Mack submitted the amount on June 12. Rhodes had not yet ruled on how much DPSCS will have to pay Hansel and Mack.
As of Friday, the state had less than half of the material Rhodes ordered it to provide, Mack said.
Mealy, 52, died on July 5, 2023, at the Western Correctional Institution. An inmate in a nearby cell alleged in a letter to Gov. Wes Moore and other state officials that correctional officers cut off water to Mealy’s cell eight days before he died.
One correctional officer told a supervisor Mealy appeared to be in distress but that the ranking officer did not seek medical assistance, according to court papers filed in connection with two related public records lawsuits filed by attorneys for Mealy’s family.
Thursday, Hansel and Mack filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against DPSCS and various officials and correctional officers on behalf of Mealy’s relatives. The lawsuit alleges that a correctional officer cut off water to Mealy’s cell more than a week before he died, mocked his thirst, refused to take him to a scheduled medical appointment the day he died, and failed to get him medical help even though he was obviously deteriorating.
The lawsuit also alleges that a correctional officer reported Mealy’s deteriorating condition to a supervisor, but that officials did not provide him medical assistance.
In a written statement provided, a DPSCS spokesman said the agency “categorically rejects the most serious allegations of this case, including the false accusation that correctional officers turned off Mr. Mealy’s water. Due to ongoing litigation, the Department cannot comment further.”
In the fall of 2025, DPSCS Secretary Carolyn J. Scruggs asked the OAG to conduct an independent investigation into Mealy’s death. The administrative review conducted by DPSCS uncovered “troubling, systemic failures,” she wrote.
Hansel and Mack are seeking the results of the OAG investigation in their public records lawsuit.
“Judge Rhodes’ sanctions show DPSCS would rather hide evidence than tell the truth about how Lamont Mealy died,” Mack said. “This is the first time in my career I have seen the state-sanctioned, and even now, three weeks since his order, they still have not produced everything.”
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