14 DAY TRIAL // 25 people have been charged for running or aiding gang operations out of Baltimore's jails. Of those, 13 are prison guards.
They are accused of facilitating the inmate's access to drugs and cell phones as well as smuggling other items.
“We have zero tolerance for corruption among correctional officers, and we will continue striving to make all correctional facilities as secure as they can possibly be,” governor Martin O’Malley says in a statement relayed by Washington Post.
“We will move up the chain of command, and people will be held accountable,” adds Gary D. Maynard, head of Maryland's prison system.
Officers are dubbed responsible for turning a blind eye on drug transactions and racketeering in exchange for gifts such as luxury vehicles.
Female guards have reportedly been romanced into supporting gang operations, with leaders picking those with “low self-esteem and insecurities” and turning them into accomplices.
“A lot of times, they become smitten with the inmates. [The inmates] talk really sweet and say really nice things, and the CO’s fall for them. You need to have a bunch of rough, ugly men,” Baltimore Sen. Lisa A. Gladden comments.
One of the crimes bosses, 36-year-old Tavon White, heading the Black Guerilla Family, allegedly has children with four of the guards who have been charged, since being jailed four years ago. Two of them even had his name tattooed on their bodies.
“This is my jail. You understand that? I’m dead serious. I make every final call in this jail,” a transcript of one of his phone conversations reads.
“The inmates literally took over ‘the asylum,’ and the detention centers became safe havens for BGF,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt comments.
“Correctional officers were in bed with BGF inmates. [...] We need to be able to rely on people within law enforcement — to make sure they are on our side,” notes Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.