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 Sharing Our Stake in Maryland's Public Safety | October 2013 |
The Public Safety Stakeholder
 An E-publication of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services for our Criminal Justice and Community Partners |
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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 |
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First vet visit for the new service dogs at MCI-H Check out our Facebook to see more pictures! |
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This Month's Featured Stories:
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 | keeping communities safe |
DPSCS Updates to Sex Offender Registry
The Department is implementing changes to automate certain processes in the statewide sex offender registry database, called the Maryland Online Sex Offender Registry (MOSOR), which will give notice to the community from State and Local correctional facilities when a registered sex offender is released or arrested.
Continued here
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 | believing in human capital |
Groundbreaking America's VetDogs Program "Graduates" its First Service Dogs
America's first state prison program to have incarcerated veterans training service dogs for wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans celebrated a milestone October 24, 2013, when the first three "graduates" were handed over by inmate trainers to America's VetDogs. Inmates at Maryland Correctional Institution-Hagerstown (MCI-H) have done a remarkable job teaching the pups to be the eyes, ears, arms, and legs for American heroes coming home with life-altering injuries and trauma.
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 | public safety works |
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The Department is developing a process that correlates the offender's state identification numbers (SIDs) to the registry in order to notify the Sex Offender Registry Unit of records that need updating upon an inmate's release. The SOR Unit will then verify the changes, make notifications as appropriate, and forward the record to the FBI's National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR) File.
Also, the Arrest Booking System (ABS) will be able to indicate whether the person being booked into a detention facility is a registered sex offender. Officers who are conducting the booking process will receive the notification after fingerprinting an incoming arrestee using the LiveScan fingerprinting process. The detaining facility can then ensure that the offender signs the appropriate State authorized forms and, upon release, provide the appropriate notifications to the State Sex Offender Registry Unit and the local registering law enforcement agency.
These changes will alleviate some of the gaps that allow registered sex offenders to slip through the system undetected. However, one significant gap still exists for convicted sex offenders who were indicted by never arrested. Until Court Order Fingerprinting- at the time charges are filed- becomes the standard for indicted offenders, many offenses and dispositions will never appear on an offender's criminal history record. This gap in tracking offenders will ultimately lead to sex offenders going unregistered and being hired for jobs that they are lawfully prohibited from having. If the offender is not fingerprinted for the sex offense there is no reportable event on the criminal history record to trigger the warning flag that directs subsequent registration and notification events.
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This partnership with America's VetDogs is one of the department's many restorative justice Public Safety Works (PSW) projects, and one of the only behind-the-fence PSW initiatives. These projects provide skills as well as an opportunity for offenders to give back to the community they have harmed - a powerful and significant tool of rehabilitation.
Veterans in particular are overwhelmed by the program. The Ralph S. Tagg Chapter of the Disabled American Veterans in Hagerstown recently donated more than $2,000 to the Vet Dogs program at MCI-H. The post commander calls VetDogs the best program he's ever seen in a prison, a sentiment echoed by MCI-H Warden Wayne Webb and his staff, who have done a tremendous job making the effort a success.
Under the leadership of Secretary Gary D. Maynard, DPSCS has been a national leader in restorative justice programs, which allow inmates who truly want to pay society back with special meaningful programs by which to do that.
DPSCS is committed to the unique and profound impact animal programs have on the restorative justice element of corrections and rehabilitation, and are poised to add even more such programs.
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Inmates have reached a milestone with 164 curbs constructed, with many more to be constructed this fall.
The project comes a year after the first large-scale DPSCS curb effort in Cambridge, where the city saw streets that never had sidewalks and curb cuts transformed by inmates trained in concrete skills.
The contractor for both the Cambridge and in Westminster projects is Romano Construction, whose owner has been very pleased with the inmate's work ethic and the final product.
If your town or non-profit has a project that could benefit from inmate labor, skilled or unskilled, contact John Rowley at (301)573-7175.
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