By Daniel Leaderman
The Gazette
BALTIMORE — Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) is standing by his prisons secretary after 13 correctional officers were indicted last week, but the state’s comptroller is worried that problems have been festering in the state’s prison system for years.
O’Malley told reporters Tuesday that Gary D. Maynard, the state secretary of public safety and correctional services, is “one of the best public safety secretaries in the entire nation,” and that Maynard’s work with federal investigators to crack down on prison gangs is what led to the indictments.
Federal prosecutors allege that the Baltimore City Detention Center officers aided leaders of the Black Guerrilla Family gang in running a criminal organization from behind bars by smuggling drugs, cell phones and other items into the jail. One inmate, Tavon White, impregnated four of the officers, according to the indictment.
The officers have been suspended without pay.
But a separate incident, dating from 2007, discussed at the state Board of Public Works meeting Wednesday, suggested the problem of officers with ties to gangs has existed for years without being properly addressed, Comptroller Peter Franchot said.
The board discussed a $40,000 settlement for a former inmate who was attacked multiple times while incarcerated. The case implicated a former correctional officer — believed to have ties to a gang — who reportedly enabled one of the attacks by giving another prisoner to key to his restraints.
Franchot said an internal memo from 2006 — before the attacks and before Maynard was appointed — had warned of the officer’s possible membership in the gang. Maynard told the board the memo never reached him.
Full story: O’Malley doubles-down on support for prison secretary