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 Sharing Our Stake in Maryland's Public Safety | February 2014 |
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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Did You See Us
In The News?
Recent sightings of our public safety efforts in your local media are updated daily on the DPSCS homepage
Recent headlines:
Capital Gazzette Newspapers 2/21/2014
At Anne Arundel prison, inmate daughters join Girl Scouts
WMAR-TV Online 2/7/2014
Gov. O'Malley cracking down on crime behind bars
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Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
There are more ways than ever to find up-to-date information about DPSCS initiatives, happenings and news. Like us on  , follow us on  and view videos and photos on 
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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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MCTC Inmates will tend to more than 100 chestnut seedlings provided by MD chapter of Tyler Pilgrim American Chestnut Foundation to help restore the once-ubiquitous trees thrive again. See more pictures on our Facebook page.
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This Month's Featured Stories:
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 | keeping communities safe |
DPSCS Addressing Domestic Violence FAST
The department's Community Supervision unit is working FAST to clamp down on domestic violence. The Family Assault Supervision Team (FAST) is handling about 800 cases in Baltimore city a year, a number that is believed to be linked to tension caused by a tough economy and substance abuse.
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 | believing in human capital |
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Culinary Program Gives Offenders a Taste of Success
A partnership between the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) and the Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation (DLLR) has resulted in a certification program in the Culinary Arts for inmates.
The certification and training prepares offenders for release by giving them experience in a field that is often hiring: food service.
DPSCS and DLLR employees provide basic cooking and food service skills. Inmates even get the opportunity to get some on-the-job training.
David L. Bordley, from DLLR, works closely with inmates, teaching them about workplace expectations, standards of conduct and other employability skills; he shows them some advertisements for food service jobs and pay scales for jobs in the field.
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 | public safety works |
MCTC Inmates to Expand DPSCS Chestnut Growing Effort
Inmates at the Maryland Correctional Training Center (MCTC) in Hagerstown are expanding the landmark DPSCS effort to restore the American Chestnut Tree by growing seedlings in a prison greenhouse. The Maryland Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation (ACF) delivered 100 seedlings to the new MCTC greenhouse. Inmates will be tending to the seedlings, which will eventually be replanted.
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Parole and probation agents prioritize cases based on lethality, such as offenses where weapons were used, for egregious acts against victims as well as top consideration for offenses committed in the presence of children. Though the offense is traditionally viewed as being perpetrated by males, the unit monitors are large number of females who are often charged as a result of self-defense.
"One should bear in mind that these crimes generally arise between persons who once shared an intimate personal relationship" said Senior Agent Gail Gilliam, who has worked in the program since 1996. "These offenses are serious as the victim is usually a person who trusted the offender."
The program was started in 1995 due to Congress passing the federal Violence Against Women Act and related federal grants in an effort to dissuade people from engaging in domestic violence. Since then, domestic violence has emerged in prosecutions from a time when it was once tolerated. Judges, prosecutors, police and drug treatment leaders are on board with the FAST program and its goal of offender accountability and victim safety. "We have implemented an approach of taking swift action against those who we supervise in response to any subsequent alleged violent offenses," Gilliam said.
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"I do a little bit of motivational speaking to keep their spirits up," Bordley said.
In addition to basic instruction, certified instructor and proctor Dr. Joan Hampson teaches a ServSave course. The 16-hour course, administered by the National Restaurant Association, further enhances a former inmate's chance of finding work after being released.
Dietary Sgt. T. Coclough, a former sous chef, supervises inmates during on-the-job training and administers cooking competencies. Other areas of basic competencies training included culinary arts fundamentals, food preparation skills, food service and storage, basic nutrition, cooking skills, food safety and sanitation.
"The officers are really essential to this," Alice Wirth, DLLR director of correctional education, said. "This is on their shoulders."
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The American Chestnut, once numbering in the billions across eastern America, was nearly wiped out by blight last century. DPSCS began working to restore the iconic tree last year, when its partnership with the ACF brought the first chestnut seedlings ever to a prison greenhouse. That effort---at Patuxent Institution in Jessup--- yielded favorable results for many of the 600 seedlings, and prompted the expansion of the partnership to Hagerstown.
According to Thomas Harrison, one of the inmates involved at MCTC, "The Chestnut was the heart of American at one time. It would be rewarding to see them come back like all the other trees we see out here. As a group it would be something we accomplished in trying to set the balance right."
DPSCS has done dozens of environmentally important restorative justice projects throughout the state, including many in Western Maryland. Inmates have reforested Antietam National Battlefield, worked along the C and O Canal Trail, and planted more than one million trees, to name just a few projects.
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