from the
Baltimore Sun Lawmakers on Wednesday called for a full accounting of how a state-run jail could become overrun by a gang within its walls and how more than a dozen correctional officers were allegedly complicit in an operation that trafficked in marijuana, prescription pills and cellphones.
By Thursday, the committee that oversees public safety legislation set the hearing for next month. The General Assembly session adjourned April 9, but the Judiciary Committee is calling its members back to Annapolis to discuss the jail situation. As of Thursday afternoon, it was not clear who would be called to testify before the committee.
Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary Gary D. Maynard has said everything in his department is his responsibility. State officials said they asked for federal help in Baltimore when they realized the jail had a gang problem.
Allegations that a cabal of Black Guerrilla Family gang members effectively took over the Baltimore City Detention Center have prompted a rare out-of-session legislative hearing on the state's prison system.
The House Judiciary Committee scheduled a May 8 public inquiry into the matter, according to committee members and staff. The House Appropriations Committee, which oversees funding for the prison system, has been invited to attend the 1 p.m. meeting.
A federal indictment unsealed Tuesday alleged the BGF gang, under the leadership of inmate Tavon White, established a lucrative smuggling operation that involved corrupt female corrections officers. The indictment alleges White orchestrated gang activity from behind bars and impregnated four of the officers. Federal prosecutors said White ruled through a combination of financial incentives and a network of sexual relationships with guards.
from the
Baltimore Sun:
Maryland Republican Party interim chairman Diana Waterman fended off challenges and won election as head of the state GOP this past weekend, taking the reins as the party faces a shortened fundraising session for state lawmakers and challenges from newly redrawn election districts.
Waterman had been interim chair since February, when the previous chairman, former state Sen. Alex X. Mooney, announced his plans to resign.
Waterman, of Queen Anne's County, won a majority of votes on the second ballot at the party's spring convention, beating Collins Bailey, popular with the Tea Party and a member of the Charles County Central Committee, and Greg Kline, an Anne Arundel County attorney and blogger.
She takes over the party as Republicans face challenges from redistricting that have already resulted in the loss of one congressional seat. Party insiders say at least a dozen Republican legislative seats could be up for grabs in the General Assembly.
Waterman said her first goal is to mend the fractures within the party that have divided members along libertarian leaning and socially conservative lines.
"There are not enough Republicans out there that we can be in separate groups," she said.
After that, she said, fundraising for the party becomes "almost a full-time job." The party's next major fundraising event is a June 20 dinner featuring the 2012 Republican nominee for vice president, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
Waterman said that despite the challenges from redistricting, the increased gas tax and new gun control laws, along with other initiatives approved by the Democrat-controlled legislature, created "windows of opportunity" for Republicans.
"They're going to make the races a little more interesting," she said.
Germantown, Maryland – Germantown Reproductive Health Services, (GRHS) where late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart gave a patient a fatal 33-week abortion, was licensed by the Maryland Office of Health Care Quality last July, but was never inspected prior to licensing nor was it inspected as of the time of the patient death on February 7, 2013.
“It is a wonder how the Office of Health Care Quality verified that Carhart’s high risk late-term abortion clinic met the qualifications for licensure if it never bothered to conduct an inspection,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue and Pro-Life Nation. “It is unbelievable that the State of Maryland would be so reckless after all the trouble it has had with illegal late-term abortion businesses being operated by the likes of Steven Brigham and James Pendergraft. It’s clear that the office dropped the ball.”
It was Brigham’s case that prompted Maryland to require abortion clinic licensing.
Brigham, a troubled New Jersey abortionist, was caught operating a secret and illegal late-term abortion mill in Elkton, Maryland in September, 2010. He and his associate, Nicola I. Riley of Utah were later charged with murder after a police raid of the facility discovered the remains of 35 late-term aborted babies, many viable, in a freezer. Those charges were dismissed after an expert witness for the prosecution withdrew from the case.
Operation Rescue discovered in 2012 that the notorious Florida abortionist James S. Pendergraft IV was operating an illegal late-term abortion clinic in conjunction with Maryland abortionist Harold O. Alexander. Pendergraft had no medical license in Maryland and was on suspension at the time in Florida. Alexander’s medical license was suspended due in part to an Operation Rescue complaint.
New abortion clinic licensing requirements went into effect in Maryland on July 23, 2012. Documents obtained by Operation Rescue show GRHS submitted an application for licensure July 24, 2012, and received licensure that same day.
“An abortion clinic license application simply cannot be properly processed in just a few hours,” said Newman. “There was obviously no real effort to ensure clinic safety of compliance. That is a betrayal of the public trust that depends on governmental oversight agencies to protect the public from substandard practices.”
Even though Code of Maryland Regulation 10.12.01.04 requires abortion clinics to submit to inspections, the clinic was not inspected before or after licensing and had not been inspected as of February 7 when Jennifer Morbelli, 29, died from complications to a third-trimester abortion that was done by Carhart at GRHS, an outpatient abortion facility that lacked affiliation or support of any hospital in Maryland.
After Morbelli’s death, the Office of Health Care Quality confirmed that it was investigating the clinic, but no results of that investigation have yet been released.
The GRHS license application indicates that it is accredited by the National Abortion Federation (NAF), a loose association of abortion clinics that have been found to be among the worst offenders of abortion laws and health and safety standards nationwide. The NAF routinely opposes clinic licensing and safety regulation laws.
“We hope Maryland was not counting on NAF accreditation as proof of compliance with Maryland laws since NAF clinics are notorious for being among the worst in the country,” said Newman.
Other NAF members have included:
• Two shoddy Delaware clinics associated with Philadelphia, Kermit Gosnell, that were forced to close by the state.
• A California abortion chain, Family Planning Associates, which is responsible for at least 11 patient deaths. At just one FPA facility in Bakersfield, there have been a reported three abortion-related medical emergencies in the past 5 months.
• A Kansas abortion clinic, Central Family Planning, which is under investigation for illegal dumping of human remains and private patient medical information.
• A Texas abortion chain, Whole Women’s Health, which was fined along with its disposal company $83,000 for illegal disposal of human remains.
• Arizona abortionist Brian Finkel, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for raping and otherwise sexually abusing over 100 of his abortion patients.
• A Wichita, Kansas, abortion clinic, Central Women’s Services, where filthy conditions, dangerous building code violations, and a roach infestation were discovered after Operation Rescue bought and close it in 2006.
“The list of abuses by NAF abortion businesses goes on and on. If anything NAF accreditation should be a red flag to authorities that prompts very close inspection and oversight,” said Newman. “If GRHS had been properly inspected, would it have prevented the tragic death of Jennifer Morbelli? We may never know the answer to that question.”
In related action, Operation Rescue filed a formal complaint with another oversight agency, the Maryland Board of Physicians, on February 20, 2013, and has asked for the immediate suspension of Carhart’s medical license until a full investigation and permanent disciplinary action can be completed.
