DOJ Examination Finds Baltimore Police Routinely Violated Citizens’ Rights

Baltimore police routinely violated the constitutional rights of residents by conducting unlawful stops and using excessive force, according to the findings of a long-anticipated Justice Department probe to be released Wednesday. The practices overwhelmingly affected the city’s black residents in low-income neighborhoods, according to the 163-page report. In often scathing language, the report identified systemic problems and cited detailed examples. The investigators found that “supervisors have issued explicitly discriminatory orders, such as directing a shift to arrest ‘all the black hoodies’ in a neighborhood.” They…

Cleared of Charges, Freddie Gray Officers May Find Returning to Work Difficult

After a Baltimore jury convicted him for shooting a man during a 1996 traffic stop, Sgt. Stephen R. Pagotto said he became a pariah in the community and with top police brass. The Baltimore Police Department fired him, and he became a car salesman in Harford County, where he moved from his Northeast Baltimore home after vandals tagged his van with “killer cop.” When Maryland’s highest court reversed his conviction in 2000, he wanted to get back to policing but said command staff made it…

Study: Unsanitary Conditions in Prisons, Jails Spreading Diseases Into General Populations

The cycling of inmates in and out of prisons and jails around the world contributes significantly to the global epidemics of HIV, viral hepatitis and tuberculosis, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. […] The authors reached their conclusions by analyzing nearly 300 scientific papers written about prisoners and infectious diseases by scientists around the world during the past 10 years. They also requested research data from United Nations organizations and from prison officials in countries such as China…