Mr. Pete Waters
Warden,
MCI - Hagerstown
18601 Roxbury Road
Hagerstown, MD 21746

Dear Warden Waters:

The purpose of this letter is to thank you and your staff for the courtesy, generosity and hospitality shown the members of the Committee for Responsible Corrections Policy on our tour of Thursday, May 21, 1992, and to bring some observations and comments about your facility to your attention and to the attention of Commissioner Lanham, Secretary Robinson and others.

Please excuse the delay of many days to express my appreciation to you, Assistant Warden Hornung, Case Management Supervisor Rouse, Captain Bryan, Major Johnston and Lt. Tabler. I found the MCIH facility to be exceedingly large and complex, and I wanted to give it an extra measure of care and attention.

By way of background: members of our group were aware that MCIH had, slightly more than a year earlier, experienced severe rioting resulting in extensive property damage, indictments of many inmates on new charges, investigation of several officers for brutality, and appointment of a new administration (with you taking over as Warden at the end of July, 1991).

Further, our approach to our tour of MCIH was against the backdrop of substantial DOC expansion in recent years (ECI, SuperMax, BPRUW and MHC- Annex), not the least of which includes the planned Western Maryland prison (which when completed shall be larger than any existing DOC prison or prison complex.)

Of note, MCIH was not the first DOC prison members of the group visited or were familiar with. For my part, at one time or other, I have toured the Penitentiary, SuperMax, MHC, MCIW, Patuxent, ECI, the Pre-Release Unit for Women (BPRUW) and Roxbury. Moreover, at one time I worked full-time at the (then) Baltimore City Jail, and I have been a frequent visitor and volunteer at the Penitentiary and House of Correction for many years.

MCIH, being the first Maryland prison built in this century and first in its region, offers the visitor an insight into the lessons of a long and protracted history of Maryland penology. In fact, the history of MCIH (unlike Roxbury or others) most closely mirrors the history of the Division in this century. Thus, in the case of MCIH, it is possible to learn from the mistakes of the past in order that we may not be doomed to repeat them.

MCIH is unique because its one compound contains a living record of the Division of Correction in the 20th century. From the collegiate main building with its internal quadrangle (1932) to the early-1970s "Antietam" building, the later "Honor" housing building, the "Huts" ("temporary" in 1983) and, lastly, the new visiting/classification building (1992), MCIH tells the story of how correctional philosophies and imperatives transmogrified the overall picture from one generation to the next.

To my knowledge, the only other DOC institution with such a motley variety of architectural styles awkwardly placed in apposition is MCIW. However, MCIW can be distinguished from MCIH in that all security levels are required to co-exist, sharing school facilities and administrative quarters. MCIW, itself populated beyond its rated capacity, is fortunate to serve a population less than half that of MCIH.

The new MCIH classification/visiting building, while an achievement over budget shortfalls in and of itself, is apparently evidence of the end-stage of a "correctional" building process that calls for rapid erection of housing at minimum standards while ignoring some of the basic elements necessary for human management much less sustenance. This building, cheaply and hastily constructed, is undeniable evidence that only after a full complement of inmates was in place (and, perhaps, became riotous) was any thought given to their social needs. (This observation is significant because the same process is also reflected in the new MHC-Annex in Jessup which at this time is without not only visiting areas, but among other things, day rooms and recreational facilities.) As these are the most recent of the Division's building efforts, these structures betray an ominous direction in DOC expansion and may serve as a warning of things to come.

It is to your credit that, in the face of massive overcrowding, the dormitories are for the most part clean and well ordered and without the din customarily created by 70 people and 50 television sets sharing close quarters. On the other hand, the rampant idleness (especially in the "Huts") contribute to an almost tangible state of frustration and (quiet) desperation. Having known so many "senior" inmates who "grew up" at MCIH or MCTC, I was at first dismayed and distressed that persons under State guardianship should exist under those conditions so many hours a day and for months and years at a time; second, I was overcome by the realization that most or all of these young men had yet to commit the crimes that would earn them a place in MHC or the Pen sometime down the line.

Probably a testament to your leadership and skilled management, the effects of last year's riot were barely discernable. Only in the area of the main dining room did we become aware that the locks had been changed and the resultant traffic pattern was still unfamiliar to one of our guides. On the second level, where we could see recreation taking place in the quadrangle, we saw the shadow of what was once a stone fence and heard the officers with us talk about the newness of the furniture and their memory of the floods created by vandalized plumbing.

Your explanation of why 99% of your uniformed staff was white and rural while 3/4s of the residents was black and urban was well taken and unfortunately, well understood. However, it should not be overlooked that the people of Washington County are enjoying relatively high incomes and a continuing infusion of economic development while a vast majority of the inmates now assigned to your care shall be alighting at the bus station in Baltimore City or Prince George's County all the more ready to resume the activities that led them to the Division in the first place.

Based on our tour, but also based on knowledge of other DOC institutions, I submit the following recommendations to you as Warden of MCIH:

• Visiting: Hours should be extended to early evening: I understand that the visiting area has hours only until 2:45 p.m. In the first place, most visitors are from Baltimore City and other parts of the State which require a drive of an hour and a half or more. Many people cannot fit within that timeframe -- especially people with children. In the second place, extended hours are now the rule and not the exception in other DOC facilities (e.g., Penitentiary and House of Correction). Now that a new visiting building is in place, MCIH should extend the same consideration to visitors and its inmates as is customary in other regions.

• Recreation: With so many inmates idle and so little "stretching" space in the housing areas, recreation is all the more important for exercise and for "working off" problems. Strikingly and of note, in comparison, MCIH provides much more weight-lifting space and equipment but much less basketball space than other DOC facilities. (This trend was also noted in the segregation areas where the comment was made that even Supermax offered at least one backboard with a hoop.) Apparently, overcrowding extends to the recreation areas as well. It is of concern that MCIH inmates have little or no opportunity to participate in team or "cooperative" sports and games, or for that matter, more aerobic exercise (e.g., jogging vs. standing). My recommendations in this regard acknowledge that there is very little space at MCIH left that is not devoted to housing or other purposes. Still, a few areas (mainly carved out by fencing and razor ribbon) appear to be unused at this time. I recommend that more use be made of spaces such as the latter. I also recommend that existing spaces be furnished with basketball hoops and equipment. Finally, if possible, recreation periods should be staggered so that fewer people would be occupying a given area at the same time.

• Phones: We found that for most inmates at MCIH a single collect-only phone was located just outside their housing area. We were also told that most MCIH inmates get one 10-minute telephone call per month and that phones were turned on only for short periods during the day. By way of comparison, in at least one dorm of 40 at the House of Correction, six (6) phones are installed inside the housing area. It is well known that at the Penitentiary, an inmate may use the phone every day of the week and several times a day if he so desires. At MCIJ, inmates have been known to keep to a quota of 15 minutes per day. At ECI, phones were located inside the day areas where inmates spend a good portion of their time. The fact that relatives and friends of MCIH inmates cannot visit makes ability to phone all the more important. In view of the foregoing, the lack of phone access is glaring and unconscionable and the excuse that the telephone company will not install equipment is without merit.

  The following recommendations would require action on the part of Headquarters:

• Classification: Assistant Warden Hornung explained to us that the "point system", for the purpose of progress through the system, treats whatever infraction equally. Although for purposes of adjustment, time spent on lockup or lost from "good time" varied considerably, inmates who receive a relatively minor "ticket" can and are denied transfer to minimum security on those grounds alone. In order to be responsive both for management and for individual inmates, the point system should be redesigned to incorporate recognition of individual efforts and to more fairly and accurately reflect adjustment realities.

• Cabling of Television: Nowhere is idleness more endemic or pernicious than among the very young at MCIH. The library is a wasteland; the school program has lost 56 out of 58 teachers. We understood from our tour that there is a main antenna on the main building but the rest of the televisions are cabled into that. In other words, MCIH is already outfitted with the cabling for inmates to receive signals from a main trunk. It is time for the Division to begin to use the medium of television to enlighten, enrich and entertain. Stories of other states that have begun to operate cable television "networks" in their own prison systems have appeared in the national media (see attachment). The fact that it has been done means that it can be done. The most obvious benefit of cabling television is the supervision potential inherent in 2,100 inmates paying attention to something other than something disruptive or destructive. However, over and above that, there is a tremendous potential for education not only as to schoolwork, but as to self-help (Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous) and the like. Finally, a well-planned television schedule could minimize the effects of idleness and prove itself to be cost-effective in many ways.

In closing, MCIH is an integral part of the Division of Correction as well as a forerunner in its history. For that reason, it most comprehensively represents an evolutionary process that can be seen only partially elsewhere in DOC. MCIH's one compound disclosed the ills of the "system" in general: a large and growing population of quasi-unmanageable miscreants, a decade or more of unbridled growth complicated by multiple budget crises, the after-effects of crisis management, space and resources perpetually strained to the limit. MCIH also brings into doubt the wisdom of exporting a large number of persons from an urban underclass to a rural area at great distance.

We very much appreciate your warm welcome and your forthright approach to the kinds of problems you are experiencing as a warden. We also appreciate that you allowed us to converse freely with the inmate representatives. Finally, it was good of you to provide such knowledgeable and outgoing staff to conduct our tour.

I am sure that I can speak for all of us by saying that we have gained a lot by having seen first hand the famous (and infamous) "Old Jail" of the Division. We have a new-found insight into the people we work with and the situations we deal with as well as the reasons motivating and driving Division decision-making. Thank you again for making the opportunity possible.

Sincerely,



Nancy Moran
Volunteer

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cc:
--- Mr. Richard A. Lanham
--- Mr. Bishop Robinson
--- Ms. Florence Welch