David Blumberg, left and standing, chair of the Maryland Parole Commission, gives remarks before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee about the state’s parole system on Jan. 12, at the committee’s first briefing of the 2023 legislative session. Photo by William J. Ford.
It’s known that Maryland has highest incarceration rate in the nation of young Black men. The Justice Policy Institute, which released a report on that issue in 2020, now plans to release a report soon that assesses the state’s parole system.
Ryan King, director of research and policy for the institute, said a comprehensive assessment of the parole system was last done in January 1935 by the Baltimore Criminal Justice Commission.
“Reviewing this sadly, 90 years later, many of the concerns that were flagged in that report remain as issues and concerns now,” he told members of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Thursday.
It marked the committee’s first briefing during the 90-day legislative session that began Wednesday.
