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| Maryland Lt. Gov. Urged To Close Teen Jail |
| By Baltimore Sun |
| Published: 12/10/2001 |
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Maryland's largest group of advocates for children recently called on Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend to quickly close a violent jail for teen-age offenders and to allow independent monitors inside all of the state's juvenile detention facilities. The Maryland Juvenile Justice Coalition said the Victor Cullen Center in Frederick County should be closed because officers have routinely assaulted youths in their care. The coalition also criticized Townsend for conditions at Victor Cullen and two other large jails that hold hundreds of the state's male juvenile delinquents. 'These are institutions with a culture of violence, and when these youth are released they take that violence with them right back to the street,' said Tara Andrews, the coalition's chairwoman. Townsend said through a spokesman that an evaluation of Victor Cullen will be completed by year's end and that steps are being taken to reduce violence in all the state's juvenile facilities. The coalition acted in response to an article on November 25 in The Baltimore Sun detailing physical abuse of teens by officers at Victor Cullen, the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School in Baltimore County and Cheltenham Youth Facility in Prince George's County. Cheltenham is scheduled to be closed or scaled back to two 24-bed facilities next year. The coalition asked that Victor Cullen be closed and its teens funneled into smaller community-based programs. Coalition members said that Victor Cullen has become the worst of the jails but that they would also like to see Hickey phased out. The Sun also reported that Victor Cullen employees altered or destroyed more than 200 reports of officers using force against teens. An investigator with the Department of Juvenile Justice concluded that incidents of child abuse at Victor Cullen had been covered up. |
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