Published: August 30, 2007 11:58 am      

Prisons to release inmates closer to home

CUMBERLAND - Inmates at two local state prisons who have completed their confinements will no longer be released on site, but will be taken to penal institutions near their homes where they will be turned out, according to the secretary of the Department Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Gary D. Maynard said recently that the new policy was to take effect no later than early September and on Tuesday Gov. Martin O'Malley activated the plan.

"This means that inmates who reside in the metro area and are housed in the (Western and North Branch correctional institutions) will be moved to a facility in the metro region just prior to their release so they will then be released from an institution in their home area," Maynard wrote in an Aug. 16 letter to Delegate Kevin Kelly. The policy would be in effect statewide, meaning that inmates from far Western Maryland incarcerated elsewhere would be brought to Allegany County for release.

O'Malley said "We are taking concrete steps to make sure offenders who have served their debt to society have the tools and resources they need to re-enter society. By releasing our inmates closer to their families, closer to their homes, and closer to re-entry programs and services, we can help ensure that these individuals become full, productive members of our community."

Kelly had requested a change in the release policy, telling the governor and DOC administrators in July that when county government and citizens agreed to accept the prisons that a promise was made by the state to release inmates by way of a center located in Baltimore.

"A promise is a promise," Kelly said. "Do I think we are having a crime wave here because of prisoners being released in Allegany County? No. But I don't want it to become a big issue up here like it has in Hagerstown," he added. "That's why I took the lead on this."

Three state prisons are located near Hagerstown.

Kelly said that during legislative testimony at the General Assembly this year, Hagerstown Police Chief Arthur Smith described a situation in that city in which released gang members were staying and committing additional crimes.

Michael Twigg, state's attorney for Allegany County, said that during his tenure there have been four or five times when a person whose only tie to the county was that he had been incarcerated here went on to commit more crimes locally.

"I'm constantly asked the question about how much crime takes place here because of the prisons," Twigg said. "I think people expected a swell, but there have been relatively few."

Dan Taylor, who directs the Union Rescue Mission of Western Maryland in Cumberland, said the new release program is the best thing that could have happened.

"During times of normal weather, we have had 15 to 20 released convicts staying here. Last winter, when we ran the cold weather program and put up extra cots, we had 50 of them and that included sex offenders that we normally wouldn't house," Taylor said. "The problem is they built prisons here, but no support system. These guys get out with no hope of a job. They are out there in the community right now, sleeping on the towpath, under bridges in parks and the woods. Some of them break the law again."

A study by the corrections agency showed that most inmates in the past who were released on site traveled to other parts of the state to live.

WCI currently houses 1,758 inmates. NBCI contained 425 this summer and is expected to hold about 1,750 when it is fully operational.

Michael A. Sawyers can be reached at msawyers@times-news.com.