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DPSCS' mission is to protect the public, our employees and those under our supervision.
Governor Martin O'Malley
Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown
DPSCS Secretary Gary D. Maynard
New Correctional Officers graduated from the DPSCS Academy. For more information and photos, visit our Facebook page!
DPSCS Creates Taskforce to Clean-Up Baltimore City Detention Center
In the wake of the indictment of 13 correctional officers, there was an overwhelming need for renovating the security at the Baltimore City Detention Center (BCDC), but you can depend on Governor O'Malley and Secretary Maynard to get the job done.
Secretary Maynard encourages employees to remain diligent.
With family bridges burned and no place to go, too many inmates fail shortly after leaving prison. This inevitably leads to a return to bad habits, and, frequently, to re-arrest and a subsequent return to prison.
An expanding partnership between DPSCS and Community Mediation Maryland (CMM) is showing documented promise of a significant recidivism reduction.
DPSCS is now almost halfway to its ambitious goal of training 140 soon-to-be-released inmates in hazardous materials abatement, perhaps the largest such inmate training program of its kind in the nation.
A new graduating class in June brought to 60 the number of men who are now certified in various hazmat skills---skills that will give them a leg up on good paying jobs when they return to society.
Governor O'Malley and Secretary Maynard have teamed up to create a task force that will target the gang related corruption in BCDC. Secretary Maynard has moved his office to BCDC to be in the thick of the battle against gang activity. Security procedures have been changed and the jail technology is being upgraded. The scandal has raised the need to have better training for correctional officers, not because they are incompetent but because jails are a very dangerous place.
Despite the problems at BCDC, Maryland is in good hands. Thanks to the direction of corrections department's Secretary Maynard, Maryland officials have decreased the rate of both inmate-on-staff assaults and inmate-on-inmate assaults. They have also instituted an aggressive program, which includes the innovative use of canines, for the expulsion of contraband and cell phones.
Secretary Maynard is taking the lead in fighting the cancerous corruption in BCDC, and will continue to dedicate himself to keeping Maryland safe.
An expanding partnership between DPSCS and Community Mediation Maryland (CMM) is showing documented promise of a significant recidivism reduction. CMM commissioned an in-depth study by Choice Research Associates to analyze the success rate for 123 inmates who participated in mediation sessions between 2009 and 2012. The results showed that even one single mediation session made a huge difference in an inmate's ability to re-enter society more seamlessly and stay out of prison. Overall, the study declared that recidivism was lowered by 10% where mediation was involved.
CMM, with offices across the state, typically arranges sit-down sessions for inmates and their often-estranged family members---the very support system the men and women will need once they leave prison. Follow-up sessions are extremely important as well, and DPSCS and CMM are working to increase the number of inmates who participate beyond just a single session.
Making fewer inmates come back to prison is a priority of the DPSCS public safety mission, and with performance-measured and proven research-driven strategies, the plan is working: overall recidivism has dropped from more than 50% in 2007 to 43.3% today.
DPSCS is proud of its partnership with Community Mediation Maryland and salutes the work of everyone involved in this effort.
Working with contractor Aerosol Monitoring, the men are taking part in the most unique prison deconstruction project in America: taking down the House of Correction, which DPSCS closed in March 2007 after a spate of deadly violence that included the murder of Correctional Officer David McGuinn.
Deconstructing, rather than demolishing, the prison will not only save taxpayers millions, but has already salvaged hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of supplies that other prisons are using.
An E-publication of the 
