Last man to be transferred from BCDC

ANNAPOLIS, MD – Governor Larry Hogan today announced that the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services will complete the final transfer of inmates and detainees from the notorious Baltimore City Detention Center (BCDC) – Men’s Detention Center, which will be permanently closed by 5 p.m. today. Beginning on July 30, the department safely and effectively began to conduct the transfer of all 1,100 inmates and detainees with no disruption of services. All inmates and detainees located in the facility will have been moved to other detention centers in Baltimore to allow them to remain in the proximity of area courts.

“The final closure of this detention center removes a stain on the reputation of our state and Maryland’s correctional system. For years, corruption, criminal activity, and deplorable conditions have plagued this facility, but that ends today,” Governor Hogan said. “I am extremely proud of Secretary Moyer and the employees and correctional officers at DPSCS who have quickly and safely closed down this facility in just a few weeks. Their work on this matter has been nothing short of outstanding.”

The detention center’s 772 employees impacted by the closure will be transferred to other nearby facilities in Maryland, or to other parts of the Baltimore City pretrial complex that are not affected by the closure of BCDC. The BCDC women’s facility and other separate pre-trial buildings nearby will not be affected.

The Baltimore City Men’s Detention center is a patchwork maze of a dozen buildings that dates to the 1850s and has been added onto many times over the years, including 11 renovations. Repairs in the past five years have cost more than $10 million and several housing areas have been closed due to significant structural issues and chronic plumbing problems that have rendered 185 beds unusable. The facility’s age far pre-dates modern penal facility standards and best practices that make its blind corners, dark corridors, and other hazardous conditions extremely dangerous.

The department has created customer service phone lines staffed by employees to help family members of detainees locate and contact their loved ones once they have been moved to other facilities. Those numbers are as follows: 410-545-8120, 410-545-8121, 410-545-8128, and 410-545-8129.