Photo from the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Rocky Mountain Lab
Do inmates in Maryland prisons have access to the hand sanitizer they’ve been making at their work training program?
Does the department overseeing the state’s prisons have enough COVID-19 tests to cover all inmates, correctional officers and other staff?
How are inmates screened before they are released?
These are among the questions that remain unanswered as confirmed cases of COVID-19 continue to climb in Maryland’s prisons and correctional facilities.
The questions may remain unanswered until long after the public health emergency is over. That’s because Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr (R) suspended legal deadlines for state and local governments — including the deadline to respond to public records requests.
Some state agencies have used the edict to shut down timely access to public information altogether, for the duration of the emergency. Others are struggling to meet public records requests in a timely fashion.
The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services and the Department of Juvenile Services have suspended the processing of all public records requests until the state of emergency has been lifted.
