Excerpts From Daily News Clips -- March 31, 2005
Maryland Democratic Party democrat@mddems.org

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GOVERNOR EHRLICH'S JUVENILE IN-JUSTICE

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DJS sets a bad example
Baltimore Sun Editorial | March 31, 2005

AT THE RELATIVELY new juvenile holding tank at the Baltimore Juvenile Justice Center, where the staff is supposedly freshly trained in best practices and state law, children have been badly, apparently illegally, treated. At the well-established Alfred D. Noyes Children's Center in Rockville, there are new reports of the old, familiar "fight clubs," as well as allegations that a staffer ran a gang -- with shame and physical abuse as hazing -- in one of the units. Apparently, not much has changed as the Ehrlich administration rolls into its third year of juvenile justice "reform." [complete article]

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Abuse of Md. Youths Leads To Firings, Reassignment
David Snyder Katherine Shaver | Washington Post Staff Writers | March 31, 2005

Boys at a state-run juvenile detention facility in Rockville were routinely stripped naked and punched by other residents, sometimes at the direction of staff members, according to allegations in a report released this week. Some of the boys at the Alfred D. Noyes Children's Center allegedly were deprived of full meals, and a staff member read boys' mail aloud "so residents could hear and make fun of the contents," according to the report, released Tuesday by a state monitoring agency that investigates detention facilities. [complete article]

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Md. Democrats chide Ehrlich for problems at juvenile jails
Potential '06 challengers point to pledge of reforms
Lynn Anderson | Baltimore Sun Staff | March 31, 2005

The two Democrats considered most likely to challenge Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. in next year's election blasted the administration yesterday for failing to improve conditions in Maryland's troubled juvenile jails, where an independent monitor once again has reported abuse. [complete article]