5/1/20 Baltimore City bail reviews: a thread
Several defendants whose cases were heard on 5/1 are being held pretrial at JCI, including one who is housed directly under the unit where sick prisoners are housed - there are holes in the floor and he can talk to the patients right above him.
JCI is on lockdown 23.5 hours a day. The half hour is all of the time people get out of their cells, so it has to be used for showering and phone calls (incl calls to counsel), so people are having to choose between hygiene and contact with attorneys, family, etc.
There is not enough soap, no hand sanitizer, and bathrooms are being pressure washed with water only (and not frequently), which one incarcerated person described to his attorney as "just spraying the germs around."
It is physically impossible for cellmates to physically distance from each other. In the last week many bail reviews have been for defendants with asthma and other medical vulnerabilities who are housed at JCI.
This bail review saw the state asking for yet another teenage shooting victim to continue being held in MTC. Unfortunately this time Judge Jackson complied with this request. The defendant is severely medically vulnerable and like JCI, MTC is gravely dangerous.
25 cases were heard on 5/1. Per the info available to us, 23 of the defendants are Black. 7 were teenagers at the time of their arrests. 6 are still teenagers. 1 is still a child.
12 of the 25 have health issues that were discussed at bail review. 9 of those 12 have asthma.
In 20 of the 25 cases heard yesterday, Marilyn Mosby's office requested that the defendant continue being held without bail. That 20 includes all but 1 of the defendants with asthma.
One of the defendants Mosby's office sought to have held has both asthma and a hole in his heart. Another has a bullet in his back and is missing half a lung.
Again: this is the Marilyn Mosby who has written odes to her own heroism, which have included tales of her opposition to juveniles being tried as adults, and tales of governors and judges fighting against her valiant efforts to decarcerate as a response to COVID.
This is the Marilyn Mosby who, along with other "progressive" prosecutors in other cities, is a member of @miriamkrinsky's organization "Fair and Just Prosecution." Krinsky and Mosby have co-written op-eds about their alleged beliefs about how kids should be treated.
Baltimore would love to hear @miriamkrinsky s explanation for why she is sharing her own credibility with a prosecutor who locks our children with severe health issues in COVID hotspots.
