A month out from when a federal judge ordered the Baltimore City Booking and Intake Center to finish overhauling its health care system, lawyers representing people held in the facility say it’s poised to miss the deadline — yet again. On Friday, the lawyers asked the court to give the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, which operates the city jail, two more years to improve the medical and mental health services it provides and make the facility more accessible for people with disabilities. In the motion, the lawyers asked the court to impose interim deadlines before a final deadline of June 30, 2026, to keep the state “on track” in reaching compliance with each of the nine provisions laid out in the 2016 settlement agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union.
“If they miss those deadlines, then we hope the court will take action at that time,” said David Fathi, director of the ACLU National Prison Project and one of the attorneys representing people incarcerated in the city jail. Under the original terms of the settlement, the state was supposed to finish improving the jail’s health care system by June 2020. However, when the state’s compliance with the settlement lagging, the court extended the deadline first to June 2022, then to December 2023 and finally to June 2024.
“No modification can remedy the ongoing harm caused to the Plaintiff class by Defendants’ failure to keep the promises made eight years ago,” the ACL.
