Tragic Breakdowns in O'Malley's Corrections Agencies

While on the campaign trail, Martin O'Malley promised that he would strengthen the Department of Parole and Probation and reform the juvenile justice system. But  as Governor, O'Malley has presided over a series of mishaps by corrections agencies including two serious incidents in the last week.

State corrections officials mistakenly released Raymond Thomas Taylor from a Baltimore prison. Taylor was serving a life sentence for the execution style shooting of his ex-girlfriend and her two teenage daughters. "We failed," O'Malley's corrections secretary, Gary D. Maynard, told legislators last week, "It was a series of errors"  (See Baltimore Sun - click here)

Legislators are also alarmed over the actions of O'Malley juvenile justice officials in their response to the murder of Hannah Wheeling, a teacher of general studies at the Cheltenham Youth Facility in Prince George's County (See Washington Post - click here)

These public safety agencies will be under the spotlight for the remainder of the legislative session while legislators attempt to determine whether these incidents are failures of administrative policies or the results of O'Malley's cutbacks in funding to corrections and juvenile justice.