Crime

MD's new gun law, Sophie Kerr literature prize, Preakness party snacks, Culture Calendar

Tomorrow Governor O'Malley will sign into law new restrictions on guns in Maryland. We talk to the woman leading a referendum drive against the bill and to a researcher who studies gun laws across the country.

Tom Hall talks to the winner of Washington College's Sophie Kerr prize, the largest undergraduate literary award in America.

Preakness is here Saturday. What will you be serving at your Preakness Party? Sascha Wolhandler has some ideas.

The Maryland Morning Culture Calendar: treats for aesthetes!


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Black Guerilla Family, "Flags of Maryland", Kwame Kwei-Armah's "Beneatha's Place"

The Black Guerilla Family hit the headlines two weeks ago when Tavon White, other inmates and 13 corrections officers were indicted for criminal gang activity at the Baltimore jail. But, B.G.F.’s history reaches back five decades when Black Panther George Jackson started a revolutionary organization to protect prisoner rights. We learn what part of that political ideology is still visible here in Baltimore.


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Prison Lines and The Maryland Film Festival

On The Lines Between Us, we look in the psychological effects of "administrative segregation" and "disciplinary segregation" on Maryland prisoners and how they compare to solitary confinement.

Then, Jed Dietz of the Maryland Film Festival and Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post tell us what movies to look out for at this year's Maryland Film Festival.


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The Stigma of Drug Addiction and A Play at a Prison

On The Lines Between Us, we talk with Trina Morris of the Recovery Network-University Psychological Center and Carl Lejuez of University of Maryland, College Park about the stigma of drug addiction.

Then, inmates from the Maryland Correctional Training Facility in Hagerstown perform The 'N' Word, as part of the Direct Responses Alleviate Misdirected Aggression (D.R.A.M.A.) program.  Tom Hall discusses the play with play director Bashi Rose and D.R.A.M.A's Mike Perry.


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The Lines Between Us: Prisoner, Playwright

April 26, 2013

In the two web audio extras below, Mike Perry claims that the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services unfairly banned the Friend of a Friend program from some Maryland prisons, and that the way the Department of Corrections deals with gangs inside prisons actually creates a disincentive for prisoners to leave gangs because they'll be seen as informants.

DPSCS spokesperson Rick Binetti did not address Perry's comments about gangs, but he did tell us in an e-mail that the program at Roxbury Correctional Institution is "still suspended and will be most likely into the foreseeable future." Binetti gave us this statement regarding Friend of a Friend:

The Friend of a Friend program, while temporarily suspended at the Roxbury Correctional Institution, is still ongoing at other institutions within the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Two individuals associated with Friend of a Friend program including violated entrance security procedures in the fall of 2012 when arriving at Roxbury for the program’s meeting. One of these individuals had materials with them which by institutional procedure needed to be cleared by the prison’s administration. The individuals involved did not previously ask for permission to bring this material inside the institution, so it was confiscated.

Another individual there for the same program meeting attempted to bring in two DVDs without prior authorization from RCI’s administration, another security violation. DVDs themselves are not necessarily a security violation. There are procedures in place to clear video material shown to inmates through volunteer programs, but again in this particular case, they were not followed.

Because of these two incidents, the program was suspended until it can be reviewed. The Friend of a Friend program has been in the DPSCS system for quite a long while now. All parties involved in the program have a full understanding of the security requirements inside our prisons. The Department has reached out to Ms. Stevenson to discuss the matter in an attempt to resolve the situation. To date, we have not heard back from her.

Another incident with the Friend of a Friend program happened earlier this year at a prison in Jessup. In this case we believe a visitor to the program - not those running the group - attempted to introduce contraband narcotics into the institution. The program was suspended while the incident was investigated. Once the investigation was complete, and the prison administration thought it was appropriate, the Friends of a Friend program was reinstated. It is currently meeting there on a regular basis.

audio/mpeg iconMike Perry on Friend of a Friend being banned
audio/mpeg iconMike Perry on the difficulty of leaving a gang inside Maryland prisons

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Boston Bombings: Tuesday April 16, 12-1 p.m.

A look at the latest from Boston following the double bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon yesterday. We take listener phone calls for comment, and talk to local guests and experts on the matter. 


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3-29-13: Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast

Some see Baltimore’s ‘blue light’ crime cameras as a marker, lighting up the lines around high-crime neighborhoods. For residents living among them, the cameras can be either a welcome crime deterrent--or an affront to their privacy and integrity.

On the Lines Between Us, we'll hear from the director of the Baltimore Police CitiWatch program, a city councilman who wants more cameras for his district, and artists who have addressed life among the cameras—and the police presence that attends them.


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Gun control, CPR v. 3.0, O's opening day, a review of "God of Carnage" at Everyman

This morning the House of Delegates begins debating Governor O'Malley's gun control bill.  As it stands, the measure would ban assault-style weapons and strengthen the requirements to buy a handgun in Maryland.  We talk with two of the delegates involved in the debate:  Luiz Simmons, Democrat of central Montgomery County, and Mike Smigiel, Republican of the Upper Shore.


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