Wednesday, September 01, 2010

A curious tale of Bowling Brook & Cheltenham juvenile correction facilities

2ezpm32

September 1, 2010

A Curious Tale of Unequal Treatment

Kevin E. Dayhoff

As the 2010 Maryland gubernatorial contest muddles-on, comes the curious tale of two tragic incidences at separate juvenile justice system facilities, with two profoundly different results during the administration of Gov. Martin O’Malley.

In the 2006 Maryland gubernatorial campaign, one of the several contentious issues discussed was the role and function of the Department of Parole and Probation and reform the juvenile justice system.

In the years since Governor O’Malley took office, tragedy has continued to plague the juvenile justice system; and yet, the casual observer would be hard-pressed to see it in the media as a campaign issue.

At about 7:45 A.M. on a cold February 18, 2010; the partially clothed body of 65-year-old instructor Hannah E. Wheeling was found outside a lower-security program for young offenders “at the long-troubled Cheltenham Youth Facility in Prince George's County,” according a July 28, 2010 article in The Baltimore Sun.

In a February 19th account of the tragic death, The Washington Post explained: “Cheltenham is operated by the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services… The slaying is a serious setback for a juvenile facility with a checkered past…”

Five months after the murder, a few news reports indicated that a teenager, “who was 13 at the time of the incident and turned 14 in early July,” was charged with the crime.

The Baltimore Sun reported on August 20, “Employees broke safety protocol the day teacher was killed, report shows…

“A series of professional failures at the troubled Cheltenham Youth Facility in Prince George's County left a 65-year-old teacher vulnerable to attack, according to a report released Friday by the Department of Juvenile Services, which also claims to have corrected most of the issues…”

Compare this to another tragedy on a cold January 23, three years ago in 2007, when Isaiah Simmons III, age 17, died after being restrained by staff at Bowling Brook Preparatory School in Middleburg.

Although the history of Bowling Brook extends for almost two centuries, it took Maryland officials about a month to force the closure of the celebrated facility on March 2, 2007... http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=3938

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