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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 4 december 2019

25 jail officers indicted, accused of using excessive force

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Associated Press
BALTIMORE (AP) — More
than two dozen correc-
tional officers in Baltimore
were charged Tuesday
with using excessive force
on prisoners at state-oper-
ated jails in a city plagued
by decades of institutional
corruption, inside and out-
side jailhouse walls.
The 25 indicted officers are
accused of assaulting and
threatening detainees at
correctional facilities, tam-
pering with evidence and
falsifying documents, said
Baltimore City State’s Attor-
ney Marilyn Mosby, whose
office secured the indict-
ments.
Maryland corrections sec-
retary Robert Green said all
the indicted officers have
been on administrative Maryland State Attorney Marilyn Mosby, right, speaks during a news conference announcing the indictment of correctional officers,
leave since 2018, when the Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019, in Baltimore.
state Department of Pub- Associated Press
lic Safety and Correctional
Services began investigat- with distinction every single nated four female guards. ments and guilty pleas by “All 25 of these correc-
ing the allegations. day,” he said. Corruption has infected task force officers accused tional officers have alleg-
Indicted officers used so- Hogan, a Republican, said many corners of Baltimore’s of extortion, robbery, falsify- edly abused their power
cial media to publicly pro- the department’s anti-cor- city government. ing evidence and reselling and abused our trust,” she
mote their “reputation ruption efforts have led to Most recently, disgraced seized drugs. added.
and successes,” and they the arrests and convictions former mayor Catherine Mosby said 21 of the 25 in- The indictment includes al-
furtively used winks, nods of more than 200 officers, Pugh pleaded guilty to dicted officers were taken leged offenses against 25
and other body language inmates and “citizen ac- federal charges stemming into custody Tuesday. All prisoners and incidents that
to warn each other about complices.” from sales of her self-pub- were members of a tacti- occurred as far back as
the presence of supervisors In 2015, Maryland closed lished children’s books. An- cal unit with a paramilitary 2016, authorities said.
and other ‘non-members,’” the men’s section of a other former mayor, Sheila command structure op- “This case represents our
the indictment says. state-run Baltimore jail that Dixon, left office in 2010 erating inside four deten- strong effort to root out
Gov. Larry Hogan said in a was notorious for its de- as part of a plea deal for tion facilities in Baltimore people who don’t belong
statement that his admin- crepit conditions, criminal misappropriating about and Anne Arundel County, in the field where public
istration has no tolerance activity and corruption. In $500 in gift cards meant for Maryland. safety and rehabilitation
for corruption in the state’s 2013, a federal indictment needy families. The indicted officers face a is the mission,” Green, the
correctional system. exposed a sophisticated The city’s corruption-rid- combined total 236 counts, corrections secretary, told
“Our correctional officers smuggling ring operating dled police department re- including charges of as- reporters. “This is a disturb-
have one of the most dif- inside the Baltimore City mains under a federal con- sault and participating in a ing case, but it does not
ficult jobs in all of public Detention Center, involv- sent decree following the criminal gang, Mosby said. represent nor should it cast
safety, and we will not let ing dozens of gang mem- April 2015 death of a young Mosby said the officers used a shadow on the com-
the criminal behavior of the bers and correctional offi- black man, Freddie Gray, violence and intimidation mitment and integrity of
few tarnish the great work cers. The investigation also while in police custody. The to “maintain its dominance the exceptional correc-
of the nearly 5,000 dedi- revealed that a jailhouse department also has been and its operational territo- tional professionals in this
cated officers who serve gang leader had impreg- rocked by a string of indict- ry” inside the jails. department.”q