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Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Update: @oagmaryland.bsky.social Anthony Brown's office has weighed in, and appears to be keeping its cards close to its vest:

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Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Update: Maryland Office of the Public Defender says incarcerated children are still “trapped in freezing rooms” at the Youth Detention Center, which is without heat but “operating at 105% capacity.”

UPDATE: NO SCHOOL AT YOUTH DETENTION CENTER AS EXTREME COLD CONDITIONS CONTINUE
BALTIMORE, MD – MOPD has learned that there is no school today at the Youth Detention Center (YDC), with teachers reporting the facility is too cold to conduct classes. The heating system remains inoperable, and temperatures inside the facility continue to hover below 60 degrees. "When it's too cold for teachers to work, it's too cold for children to live," said Public Defender Natasha Dartigue. "These 63 children aren't just missing school today—they're still sleeping, eating, and spending every hour in these freezing conditions. The school closure underscores exactly what we've been saying: these temperatures are unsafe and inhumane."
Children at YDC, who have been charged as adults and are awaiting trial, remain in cold dormitories with only thin blankets for warmth. The facility is operating at 105% capacity, and overcrowding has prevented any use of the gym, depriving children of physical activity. Children are confined to cold living areas with no outlet for movement or exercise.
"These children are trapped in freezing rooms with nothing to do and nowhere to go," Dartigue stated. "No school, no gym, no physical activity—just sitting in the cold, day after day. This is not detention. This is neglect." As previously announced, MOPD is filing motions to modify conditions of detention to protect these children. "Every day without heat is another day these children suffer. We continue to call on the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services to take immediate action."

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Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

It's late in the day, but the union representing COs at the facility has come out with a rather strong statement on the "depopulation" of MRDCC:

Statement from Local 1427, Baltimore City Corrections, President Dorian Johnson

"AFSCME has been sounding the alarm about hazardous and dangerous conditions in State facilities, but particularly at MRDCC for years. Concerns about the facilities failures, asbestos, black mold as well as other serious health and safety concerns have been brought up continuously at Labor-Management Committee meetings in the central region with little or no action from the administration.

While we are pleased that the administration has suddenly acknowledged many of our long-held complaints and concerns, we were blindsided by their sudden action.

The lack of transparency regarding the hazards in the facility and the structural issues is leading to a dangerous and rushed depopulation of the facility. We are very concerned that this depopulation and transfer could also lead to increased violence and further overcrowding of other facilities throughout the system. Our members and incarcerated individuals have already been subject to enormous spikes in violence and assaults over recent years. Hastily moving close to 400 individuals in 72 hours further puts people at an unnecessary risk.

Instead of being transparent, giving advanced notice, and planning an orderly depopulation of MRDCC the action of state's administration has caused confusion and put our members at new and additional risk.

AFSCME is calling on the State to be transparent as well as timely in providing engineering reports, health and safety inspections, and reports for all our facilities instead of concealing known issues. The stonewalling of information requests, particularly regarding health and safety must end. Furthermore, we demand that the state finally provide proper funding to fix and repair our many facilities instead of letting them rot and enriching private landlords around the state with wasteful leases.”

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Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Updated: A de-escalation training expert and law enforcement veteran viewed the body-cam footage, tells me officers appeared to be not assessing their options, not getting enough information about the patient, and should have waited for a supervisor to arrive before making further moves. More:

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Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

Downtown Bethesda is completely overrun with No Kings protesters: Crowd along Wisconsin Ave appears to be in the thousands.

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Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Baltimore City Councilwoman Odette Ramos was in attendance at a rally organized by Maryland's Latino Caucus in support of Sen. Chris Van Hollen's trip to El Salvador, in downtown Silver Spring this afternoon. Ramos "wanted to make it clear that Baltimore wants Kilmar home."

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Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Maryland's corrections department, which incarcerates people who break the law, comes under fire in a budget analysis for repeatedly violating the state's public records law. Anyone else see a problem here? h/t @brendawintrode.bsky.social

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Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

From today's City Council hearing: Baltimore Police finished 2024 with a 71% homicide clearance rate, well above the national average. The department's detectives benefited from a 23% drop in deadly gun violence last year.

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Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Maryland's corrections department confirms that a CO was stabbed by someone incarcerated at Bookings last night, sent to "outside medical facility" with "non life threatening injuries." DPSCS is investigating.

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Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

The @thebaltimorebanner.com homepage (link to subscribe: www.thebaltimorebanner.com/subscribe/)

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Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

DPSCS (Maryland's corrections dept) is pushing back against this prisoner's account. I am asking follow-up questions but wanted to provide this update in the interim.

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Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

With the Mid-Atlantic in a cold snap, I'm receiving messages similar to the ones I used to get covering Florida prisons in the summer. This dispatch is from a prisoner in Western Maryland (I've asked the corrections department to respond).

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Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Wednesday: Maryland's spending board will vote on whether to approve $123K in legal fees owed to plaintiffs' attorneys in the class action challenging Baltimore jail healthcare. The case, brought decades ago by ACLU/local groups, has a long history. h/t @brendawintrode.bsky.social

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Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

The city was required to form the task force due to the federal police consent decree it entered into after the death of Freddie Gray. BPD was just deemed to be in "full and effective compliance" for the "civilian oversight task force" section of the decree, despite not following its recommendations

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Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

In 2018, the Task Force called for an independent office that would not answer to the mayor or city attorneys. That recommendation is still top of mind for police reform advocates today, and they're eyeing the newly empowered City Council for help making it happen.

Image of the front page of the Community Oversight Task Force report form 2018 recommending an independent civilian oversight office.

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Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Currently obsessed with this guy leaving a review for my local Five Guys that is akin to something an alien would relay re: its first hours on Earth.

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