Baltimore Public Defender's report on Illegal detentions
long Baltimore jail detentions without being charged
Copied and pasted from newslink below:
"Public Defender Marci Tarrant Johnson posted this on her Facebook page
and asked it be shared widely. When citizens are being detained for days in unsanitary, overcrowded 'holding cells,' without being charged, and having to use slices of bread for pillows to cushion against the filthy concrete floors - the public needs to know. Some are being held simply for being out after curfew. With permission, here is Marci's post, verbatim.
OK...here it is...
I'm going to try to keep this as brief as I can, but I've been asked by several people about Central Booking today, so I'll give you guys the shocking highlights. As much as I'd like to, I can't describe the particulars of some of the more egregious arrests, due to attorney/client privilege issues, but I would like to describe the Civil Liberties violations, and the deplorable conditions which people have had to endure.
As many of you know, more than 250 people have been arrested since
Monday here in Baltimore. Normally when you are arrested, you are given a
copy of your charging documents and then you must see a commissioner
within 24 hours for a bail determination ("prompt presentment") and
given a trial date. If you are not released after the commissioner
hearing, you will be brought before a judge for
a review of the bail set by the commissioner. None of this was
happening, so we sent some lawyers to Central Booking yesterday to try
to help. I heard, however, that only 2 commissioners showed up, and the
correctional officers only brought about 9 people to be interviewed
because the jail was on a mysterious "lock-down".
Today we were divided into two groups. Some of the lawyers were
assigned the task of actually doing judicial bail reviews for as many
folks as they could get interviewed and docketed. I was assigned to the
other group. We were the "habeas team", and we were to interview folks
that we felt were being illegally detained, so we could file writs of
habeas corpus. Governor Hogan had issued an
executive order, extending the time for prompt presentment to 47 hours.
We believed that this order was invalid because the governor has no
authority to alter the Maryland Rules. As a result, all people who were
being detained for more than 24 hours without seeing a commissioner were
being held illegally.
See link for photo and remaining article
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/30/1381508/-Public-Defender-Describes-Vile-And-Illegal-Conditions-Of-Baltimore-Citizens-Being-Held-In-Jail?detail=facebook_sf#