Five Convictions In Contraband Scheme At Baltimore Jail

[Valin]

Friends of Ours:

02/10/2015

 

A federal jury last week convicted five defendants including two guards, a jail worker and two inmates from the Baltimore City Detention Center in Maryland for their roles in a racketeering conspiracy which smuggled contraband from the outside into the facility as reported by Rick Ritter for WJZ-TV:

 

 

Two years ago, an indictment exposed the corruption inside the Baltimore City jail, centered around sex and drugs. Corrections officers were smuggling in contraband, orders directly from members of the Black Guerrilla Family gang.

 

 

Three corrections officers were acquitted.

 

Prior to trial 20 other prison guards pleaded guilty.

 

(Snip)

 

 

 

[Valin]

20 year sentence for man at center of Baltimore jail scandal

February 09, 2015
Associated Press

 

BALTIMORE – The same prosecutors who painted a gang member as the architect of a widespread drug and cellphone smuggling conspiracy said Monday during his sentencing that he actually made the prison safer despite impregnating four guards and directing crime on the streets while behind bars.

 

Tavon White was sentenced to 12 years in prison -- significantly less than the maximum 20 years he faced -- after prosecutors told the judge he quelled violence by instituting a no-stabbing policy among gang members and then took a substantial risk by testifying against others in the ring.

 

White, a commander of the Black Guerilla Family, oversaw a contraband smuggling operation inside the Baltimore City Detention Center that grabbed headlines and resulted in a sweeping indictment of 44 people, including 27 corrections officers. Thirty-five of those charged pleaded guilty, including White; eight maintained their innocence and went to trial. A federal jury last week convicted five people, including two corrections officers, two inmates and a kitchen worker of racketeering.

 

Once the federal government's primary target, and the poster child for the deep-seated and rampant corruption within Baltimore's jails, White's testimony became prosecutors' most valuable asset. He spent five days on the stand.

 

(Snip)