This article was republished with permission from 百花视频’s news partners at .聽Sign up for today.
Maryland is among the worst states in the nation when it comes to the number of prison inmates who began their time behind bars for crimes they committed as children, according to a report set to be released Wednesday.
With 6% of its overall prison population incarcerated for crimes they committed as minors, Maryland trailed only Louisiana, Wisconsin and South Carolina, according to聽聽鈥淒isposable Children: The Prevalence of Child Abuse and Trauma Among Children Prosecuted and Incarcerated as Adults in Maryland.鈥�
The report, by Human Rights for Kids, said Maryland also fared poorly in terms of the number of children per capita who are charged as adults, trailing only Alabama. Minority inmates make up more than 90% of those who were charged as youth in Maryland and remain incarcerated as adults, according to the report.
鈥淢aryland is faced with a simple choice. On the one hand the state can look the other way, continuing to incarcerate children who act out behaviorally due to abuse, neglect, and community violence, or it can seek to address the root of the problem by showing these children something many of them have never had before 鈥� love,鈥� the report said.
The document is based on the nonprofit organization鈥檚 first statewide survey of Maryland inmates on Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, they were subjected to as youth. The survey was mailed to 882 people currently in Maryland adult prisons who have been incarcerated since childhood. About 124 people, or 14%, completed the surveys.
The report offers several policy and procedure recommendations, including a prohibition on solitary confinement of children in all facilities. Nearly 98% of respondents to the Maryland survey said they had been placed in solitary confinement, and about 80% of them said that happened while they were children.
Del. Sandy Bartlett (D-Anne Arundel), the vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee, sponsored unsuccessful聽聽in this year鈥檚 session to restrict solitary confinement, or restrictive housing, for youth that is done 鈥渟olely on the purposes of discipline, punishment, administrative convenience, retaliation, or staffing shortages.鈥�
Bartlett said in a text message Tuesday that she鈥檚 working with the state Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) on a version of that bill for the 2025 legislative session.
鈥淢y goal is to get kids out of adult pretrial facilities,鈥� she said.
Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-Lower Shore), who serves on the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee, said the legislature 鈥渕ade some strides鈥� with passage of the juvenile justice law that went into effect Nov. 1. She declined to comment on the report without seeing it first, but said more juvenile reform needs to be done that incorporates not only rehabilitation, but also accountability.
In the legislative session that begins Jan. 8, Carozza said she plans to again sponsor, or at least support,聽聽she introduced in the last session that would let a law enforcement officer question a youth if an alleged crime involved the use of a gun or crime of violence. The聽聽passed in 2022 does not allow an officer to interrogate a child until an attorney has been retained by a parent or Office of the Public Defender.
鈥淚 realize the whole issue of the questioning of juveniles has been a prohibition at this point, but I still think we should 鈥� take another look at this very narrow approach,鈥� Carozza said. 鈥淚f anything, it still opens up other conversations of what you can do with juvenile accountability.鈥�
Policy, procedure recommendations
One bipartisan measure Human Rights for Kids endorsed was legislation sponsored by Sen.聽聽(R-Frederick) and Del.聽聽(D-Frederick) in the last session. Their bills, which did not make it out of committee, sought to transfer cases from adult court to juvenile court for child victims of sex crimes and trafficking who commit crimes against their abusers, but who were convicted as adults.
Some other proposals in the report include:
- Prohibiting the housing of children in adult jails and prisons;
- Allowing formerly incarcerated children to be discharged from parole no more than five years after their release;
- and starting all cases involving children in juvenile court.
The report also suggests the legislature implement training on adverse childhood experiences. More specifically, it said ACEs training should be required for judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and other staff who engage with youth with 鈥渆xtensive trauma histories.鈥�
The law in聽, where Jamel Freeman was raised, requires courts to consider a youth鈥檚 childhood experiences and trauma history.
鈥淭he courts need to know that,鈥� said Freeman, now 46, a member of the聽聽that was formed to eliminate mass incarceration in the state.
He said it鈥檚 important to remember that children respond differently than adults.
鈥淲hen a child has an adverse experience that the body has and releases hormones that leave the brain at a heightened state of fear and stress, the shift in their cognitive, emotional and functioning behavioral actions start to reduce,鈥� said Freeman, a graduate student at the University of Maryland-Baltimore School of Social Work. 鈥淭hen their [children鈥檚] once-normal, day-to-day life skills are replaced with the skills needed to survive.鈥�
