Advocates speak out against "inhumane conditions" at Maryland youth detention facility in Baltimore

Advocates with the Maryland Office of the Public Defender are raising concerns about what they are calling "inhumane conditions" at a youth detention facility in Baltimore. 

It comes as the facility experienced issues with its heating system last week amid cold temperatures and winter weather. 

The center, operated by the State Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS), houses minors who are charged as adults and are awaiting trial. 

The department said it is taking urgent action to fix the heating issues after two compressors failed, causing temperatures to fall in a male housing unit. DPSCS emphasized that the entire facility is not without heat.

Ongoing heating issues 

On Thursday, Dec. 4, DPSCS said it was in the process of fixing the heating system, noting that the state submitted an emergency declaration to ensure the repairs are completed as quickly as possible. 

On Friday, the department said a replacement part needed to fix the system would arrive on Monday at the earliest under the expedited process. 

According to the department, blankets and warm clothes are being provided along with portable electric heaters. 

Last week, advocates from the Office of the Public Defender claimed the heating issues were impacting 60 minors and most living areas in the facility, including the gym and school. 

Classes at the facility were cancelled on Thursday due to the heating issues. A spokesperson for DPSCS told WJZ that classes were not cancelled on Friday, but were moved to another area of the facility. 

Advocates call for a quick fix 

On Monday afternoon, advocates held a news conference to call on DPSCS Secretary Carolyn Scruggs and Gov. Wes Moore to address the heating issues at the youth facility and others across the state.

"Baltimore city schools make the determination that if it's 60 degrees [inside school buildings], we close schools," Maryland Public Defender Natasha Dartigue said. "We have a situation here where the temperatures drop, and yet we are given excuses as to why that is acceptable."

According to advocates, DPSCS staff have been warning department and state officials about the need to address infrastructure issues during the last two gubernatorial administrations.

Dorian Johnson, president of AFSCME Local 1427, which represents DPSCS workers, said concerns by his union members are often ignored.

"These requisitions often get cast aside, unapproved, unfunded. We have been dealing with structural problems for years. YDC is especially an unfortunate example as one of the newest facilities in the state," Johnson said.

Advocates also pushed for state lawmakers to end the practice of automatically charging juveniles as adults, since those are the kind of juveniles at the YDC.

In Maryland, juveniles as young as 14 years old can be charged as adults for serious crimes, like murder and rape, but as many as 33 charges starting at 16 years old.

"Tell them that rehabilitation works, punishment alone does not," Dartigue said. "Tell them what happened at YDC is what happens when we treat children as adults. When we abandon them and when we neglect them."

The Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform and Emerging and Best Practices -- a 26-member state commission made up of lawmakers, law enforcement, judicial officers, advocates, among others -- recommended in November to stop the practice.  

"This latest incident also further underscores the need to limit unnecessary incarceration where appropriate," advocates said in a statement. "This includes supporting legislation to end automatically placing young people in the adult criminal justice system based solely upon the charges against them."

According to advocates, most of the minors being housed in the youth detention facility are there "because of current auto charging laws, where over 80% of the children charged as adults have their charges dismissed or sent back to Juvenile Court, while over 85% of the children charged as adults are Black."

DPSCS responds 

Following Monday's news conference, DPSCS shared an update to its heating repair efforts, saying the complex repair job should be done by the end of the week. 

"From the immediate start, our focus has been maintaining safe, stable conditions while moving as quickly as is legally and logistically possible to complete this repair," DPSCS Secretary Scruggs said in a statement. 

The department said juveniles in the facility have not experienced any medical issues due to the temperature. Staff members are conducting hourly temperature checks and providing additional clothing and blankets as needed. 

Classes are taking place in an alternate area of the facility. The department will continue to use portable heaters until the repair is complete, officials said.