Racketeering, Smuggling, Sex with Guards: Massive Baltimore Prison Scandal

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Racketeering, Smuggling, Sex with Guards: 25 Indicted in Massive Baltimore Prison Scandal

By Madison Gray April 24, 2013

A major scandal in the Baltimore city corrections system netted an indictment of 25 people — including 13 prison guards — on charges of drug conspiracy, money laundering and racketeering, all run through a prison gang operation in which inmates virtually controlled the jail in which they were incarcerated.

Federal law enforcement officials say the defendants conspired with or took bribes from members of the Black Guerilla Family to smuggle drugs, cellphones, and other contraband in and out of the Baltimore City Detention Center and several facilities connected to it. Four female corrections officers named in the indictment even allegedly became pregnant (one of them twice) by the gang’s accused ringleader, inmate Tavon White.

The scheme ran from 2009 through at least February, when it was discovered through a series of inspections by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

But before it was busted, the gang operated with near complete impunity.”In this case, the inmates literally took over the asylum and the detention centers became safe havens for the BGF,” said FBI Special Agent Stephen E. Vogt in a statement. “Law enforcement should not have to concern itself with criminal subjects who have already been arrested and relegated to detention centers.”

At the center of the allegations is White, 36, who was accused of a 2009 attempted murder and was being held at BCDC awaiting trial. In a transcript of an intercepted cellphone call included in the indictment, he appears to implicate himself as the leader of the gang by asserting that nothing happens within the jail without his approval:

This is my jail. You understand that? I’m dead serious….I make every final call in this jail…and nothing go past me, everything come to me….Any of my brothers that deal with anybody, it’s gonna come to me. You see what I am saying? Everything come to me. Everything. Before a mother-f—— hit a n—— in the mouth, guess what they do, they gotta run it through me. I tell them whether it’s a go ahead, and they can do it or whether they hold back. Before a mother-f—— stab somebody, they gotta run it through me….Anything that get done must go through me. ”​

The Black Guerilla Family is one of many prison gangs that operate throughout the country. Its origins date back to the radical movements of the 1960s, and it operates within various prison systems and also on the streets; a member was convicted in the 1989 shooting death of Black Panther co-founder Huey P. Newton. The BGF has been the dominant gang at the Baltimore facility since 2006.

The indictment says inmates paid their co-conspirators through Green *** Money Pak prepaid cards, and even purchased luxury items for guards who were working with the gang. For example, officials say White gave corrections officer Jennifer Owens a diamond ring and bought Mercedes Benz, BMW and Acura automobiles for Owens, Katera Stevenson, Chania Brooks and Tiffany Lender — all guards that he allegedly had sexual relationships with. These relationships, the indictment says, were used to influence the women who in turn helped the smuggling operation.

But these five were not the only ones involved, according to the indictment. Eight other prison officers performed duties ranging from smuggling contraband into the prison to tipping off BGF members about law enforcement “shakedowns” to standing lookout while the guards had sex with inmates. All of the 13 corrections officers accused in the indictment are female.

The scheme was busted when 30 Maryland corrections officers from outside BCDC, along with federal agents, carried out surprise searches of inmate cells, unearthing caches of drugs including oxycodone, benzodiazepines, hydrocodone and marijuana.

Each of the 25 accused are charged with racketeering, drug trafficking, extortion, bribery and money laundering. The defendants face a maximum 20 years imprisonment if convicted. One suspect, Ralph Timmons Jr., who was not an inmate, was included in the charges, but was killed in a robbery hours before the indictment came down.

Gary P. Maynard, head of the Maryland public safety department, which administers the BCDC acknowledged the gap that allowed the scheme to operate in the first place and vowed to make changes. “Everything that happens in this department is my responsibility,” Maynard told The Baltimore Sun. “It’s totally on me.”

Racketeering, Smuggling, Sex with Guards: 25 Indicted in Massive Baltimore Prison Scandal | TIME.com

 

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Were the female guards indicted in Baltimore jail scheme predators or prey?

By Petula Dvorak,

Apr 25, 2013 07:30 PM EDT
The Washington Post

(Courtesy of Anne Arundel County Police Department) - Tavon White


Tavon White’s loyal women brought him anything he wanted — drugs, money, the latest cellphones, tobacco and food, federal prosecutors say. They even bought him luxury German cars.

In the past four years, four of these women allegedly gave him five children. One tattooed “Tavon” on her neck; another has “Tavon” on her wrist.
White was an inmate in the Baltimore City Detention Center. The harem? His jail guards, according to an indictment.

Thirteen female corrections officers essentially handed control of the jail over to White and other members of the Black Guerilla Family, prosecutors say, allowing gang members to sell drugs and other contraband from behind bars. The jaw-dropping allegations left plenty of people wondering: Do women have any business being guards in a men’s jail?

Here’s something you might not know. In Baltimore’s jails, which are run by the state, more than 60 percent of the guards are women, Maryland corrections officials estimate. And nationwide, their numbers are rapidly approaching parity with male guards. Women made up about 37 percent of the corrections force in 2007, according to the American Correctional Association.

It makes sense. Our incarceration rate has skyrocketed over the past 25 years, and most of those caught up in the criminal justice system are men. Fewer men than ever can pass the background check to become corrections officers. Women have filled the gap, applying in droves for stressful but stable jobs that pay an average of $40,000 a year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Now get ready for my next bombshell. According to a frequently quoted report by the Justice Department on sex in prisons and jails, most of the guards having sex with their charges are women. “Among the 39,121 male prison inmates who had been victims of staff sexual misconduct, 69% reported sexual activity with female staff,” according to the 2008-09 Bureau of Justice Statistics study.

It’s even higher in juvenile detention facilities, where 90 percent of the boys who said they were victims of sexual advances by officers said they were approached — and frequently raped — by women.

Sometimes we can make our pedestals a little too high. When women assume positions of power over the lives of others, they can become predators just like men can.

“There’s an assumption that women won’t do this, can’t do this, that it’s not in our nature,” said Brenda Smith, a law professor at American University who has written extensively about sexual assault in jails and prisons. “But it is in our nature.”

What about the female guards who are targeted by cunning and charismatic inmates? The women who are loveless, lonely and easily seduced? Are they predators or the prey?

In Montana, jailhouse lothario Michael Murphy seduced at least five female prison guards a few years ago. He was known for staging pornlike scenarios.

In February, two female corrections officers in New York were arrested after getting pregnant by inmates. One of them, Nancy Gonzalez , was having sex with Ronell Wilson, who is on death row for killing two police officers.

Were the female guards indicted in Baltimore prison scheme predators or prey? - The Washington Post