Baltimore Mayor Martin O?Malley said the recent arrest of a state corrections officer for alleged possession of crack cocaine is evidence that the state prison system is “poorly run.”
“The state has not done a good job of running the prisons,” O?Malley told The Examiner.
O?Malley, responding to a story first published April 5 in The Examiner, cited cutbacks in staffing as part of the problem: “With the deep cuts in staffing for the prisons, you don?t have the resources to investigate and monitor these kinds of things.”
O?Malley is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor.
Henry Fawell, a spokesman for Gov. Robert Ehrlich, dismissed the mayor?s criticism.
“I don?t think anyone is lining up to take advice from Martin O?Malley on public safety issues,” Fawell said.
But Ron Bailey, an official with the union that represents corrections officers, said staffing cutbacks have created security problems.
“I?ve never understood adding more police officers to make arrests and not enough corrections officers to keep” convicts in prison, he said.
Michael J. Kemp 45, a captain, was arrested March 30 in Baltimore City and charged with possession of crack cocaine. Department of Corrections spokesman Mark Vernarelli said Kemp has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Vernarelli said the state has “30 days to make a decision” as to Kemp?s status, and that the investigation is “ongoing.”
Kemp, who worked at the Maryland Reception, Diagnostic and Classification Center, a state prison in Baltimore, was charged with possession of two vials of crack cocaine.
He was pulled over on the 2800 block of Harford Road for not wearing a seat belt, and the officer noticed that Kemp?s “hands were shaking,” according to court records. The officer searched Kemp and found two “blue top” vials of crack concern in his jacket pocket, as well as a large sum of cash, according to the report. Kemp apparently told the officer, “I?m a captain with the Department of Corrections. This can?t happen to me.”
Kemp was processed at central booking before being released on his own recognizance. His trial is set for May 15 in Baltimore District Court.
