By Michael Dresser and Carrie Wells
The Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE, Md. — With the state corrections system already under scrutiny, the Maryland Board of Public Works on Wednesday approved a $40,000 settlement with a former inmate of the Baltimore jail who claimed he was assaulted by gang members for not assisting with a drug dealing operation.
The inmate, who filed the lawsuit under the alias Michael Smith, said a correctional officer at the Baltimore City Detention Center connected to the Bloods gang allowed another prisoner to unlock himself and beat Smith while he remained in restraints in a van in March 2007.
Smith, whose legal name is Michael E. Reed Jr., further alleged that when he was transferred to a Hagerstown prison after that beating, his request to be placed in a segregated unit was rejected and he was put in the general population, where he was assaulted again. He was assaulted once again at a Jessup facility, he said.
The settlement comes amid a scandal over the federal indictments last month of two dozen people — including 13 correctional officers — for allegedly fueling a lucrative gang-related drug trade inside and outside the jail. That case involves another gang, the Black Guerrilla Family, and federal authorities say the gang’s alleged ringleader at the city jail, Tavon White, also impregnated four correctional officers. At an initial appearance, White pleaded not guilty to allegations that he oversaw the corruption scheme.
Full story: State approves settlement to ex-inmate amid corrections scrutiny