The Patuxent Institution is located in

Jessup, Maryland Jessup ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Howard and Anne Arundel counties, about southwest of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 10,535. Geography Jessup is located at ( ...

one mile east of

U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, ...

Maryland Route 175 Maryland Route 175 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The highway runs from Little Patuxent Parkway in Columbia, Maryland, Columbia east to Maryland Route 3, MD 3 in Millersville, Maryland, Millersville. MD 175 is a major highwa ...

. It is a treatment-oriented maximum-security correctional facility. With a maximum static capacity of 987 beds, it offers the most diverse services to the most varied male and female offender population in the state, and possibly in the nation. Patuxent Institution is the only institution for sentenced criminals in Maryland that is not part of the

Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. Its foundation lies in the Maryland Public General Law, codified as Title 4 of the Correctional Services Article. The predecessor of this statute, Article 31B of the Public General Laws of Maryland, was enacted in 1951.

History

Patuxent Institution began operations in 1955, a unique facility created to house Maryland's most dangerous

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

offenders. Its mission was to ensure public safety through the psychotherapeutic treatment of "

defective delinquents Institutions for Defective Delinquents (IDDs) were created in the United States as a result of the eugenic criminology movement. The practices in these IDDs contain many traces of the eugenics that were first proposed by Sir Francis Galton in the ...

." These were offenders who demonstrated persistent antisocial and criminal behavior, and who were designated by the court to be involuntarily committed to Patuxent Institution under an indeterminate sentence. From its inception, Patuxent Institution was specifically designed to be a self-contained operation that was staffed by full-time clinicians, including

psychologists A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how ...

social workers Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

and

psychiatrists A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

, as well as by custody personnel. Patuxent Institution was also unique in that it was provided with its own admission,

inmate A prisoner, also known as an inmate or detainee, is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement or captivity in a prison or physical restraint. The term usually applies to one serving a sentence in pr ...

review, and paroling authority separate from that of the Maryland Division of Correction (DOC). Thus, once designated as a defective delinquent, an offender was to be released from Patuxent only upon the findings of the court that the inmate's release was for the " nmate'sbenefit and the benefit of society..." A gubernatorial commission was formed in 1977 to review Patuxent Institution's functioning, as well as the laws governing it. This review resulted in Article 31B being rewritten. The Defective Delinquent Law and indeterminate sentencing were abolished, and on July 1, 1977, the Eligible Persons, or "EP" Program came into existence. In 1987, fueled by a consent decree resulting from the court case of Brown, et al. vs. Gluckstern, another significant institutional change was implemented. The EP program, which initially served only male offenders, was expanded by this decree to include female offenders, as well. In 1990, the 109-bed Patuxent Institution for Women (PIW) opened on the grounds of the institution. In 1992, the Correctional Mental Health Center — Jessup (CMHC-J) was established within Patuxent Institution to provide a more effectively coordinated and centralized treatment environment specifically tailored to the needs of an increasing number of inmates with serious mental illness. This 192-bed

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

unit consolidated services for DOC inmates throughout the state who were suffering from serious

psychiatric disorders A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

. In 1994, Patuxent Institution shifted the approach of its core treatment program in response to the swelling numbers of young offenders entering the correctional system. The new approach, which targeted the needs of youthful offenders rather than those of the older more chronic offenders, was conceptualized as "remediation" rather than rehabilitation. Remediation identifies and treats an inmate's particular deficits, as opposed to trying to effect change in their overall personality. In order to implement the remediation approach, the treatment staff was reorganized into smaller, more flexible units called Remediation Management Teams (RMT's). As well, treatment modules (such as Social Skills, Moral Problem Solving, and

Relapse In internal medicine, relapse or recidivism is a recurrence of a past (typically medical) condition. For example, multiple sclerosis and malaria often exhibit peaks of activity and sometimes very long periods of dormancy, followed by relapse or r ...

Prevention), as well as specialized programs (such as the Patuxent Drug Recovery Program, and the Sexual Offender Treatment Module), were introduced to broaden and enhance the traditional

group therapy Group psychotherapy or group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group. The term can legitimately refer to any form of psychotherapy when delivered in a group format, i ...

model. The Regimented Offender Treatment Center (ROTC) was also implemented in 1994 as a cooperative effort with the Maryland Division of Parole and Probation. Now privatized, the program delivers a four-month treatment cycle to male and female inmates with significant

substance abuse Substance misuse, also known as drug misuse or, in older vernacular, substance abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods that are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder, differing definition ...

histories who are preparing for

parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

or mandatory release. In 2000, the Mental Health Transition Unit, which was designed to augment the CMHC-J, was established at Patuxent Institution. This unit provides evaluation and support to inmates referred from DOC

institutions An institution is a humanly devised structure of rules and norms that shape and constrain social behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions and ...

who have

histories and who are scheduled for

release Release may refer to: * Art release, the public distribution of an artistic production, such as a film, album, or song * Legal release, a legal instrument * News release, a communication directed at the news media * Release (ISUP), a code to i ...

to the community. A Step-Down Mental Health Unit, which is currently consolidated under the CMHC-J umbrella, was also developed in 2000 to serve inmates who have histories of positive response to mental health treatment, but who decompensate when returned to their "home" DOC institutions. The unit was specifically designed to provide those

mentally ill A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

inmates with the support necessary to prepare for an eventual lasting return to their "home" institution's general

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

. In March 2004, Patuxent Institution also developed a new six-week program for men located within Patuxent, and for women located within the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women, but managed by Patuxent Institution. The Substance Abuse Transition Program (SATP) is a correctional "time-out" designed to provide both relapse prevention and transitional planning modules to technical

violators who have a modest substance abuse problem.

Board of Review

One of the unique functions accorded Patuxent Institution at its inception by the

Maryland Legislature The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives, and the lower chambe ...

, is having its own independent paroling

authority Authority is commonly understood as the legitimate power of a person or group of other people. In a civil state, ''authority'' may be practiced by legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government,''The New Fontana Dictionary of M ...

. Known as the Institutional Board of Review, this body also annually reviews offenders' progress in the EP and Patuxent Youth Programs, and may grant, deny, or revoke conditional release status to offenders in these programs. It may find offenders ineligible for a treatment program, or may recommend that the sentencing court release an offender from the remainder of a sentence. In 1982, as a response to changing needs within corrections, the legislature modified a number of aspects of the Board of Review's authority. Specifically related to paroling offenders serving a Life sentence, these modifications allowed the Board of Review to: • Approve parole for an offender serving a

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are c ...

if the offender's crime was committed prior to July 1, 1982. • Recommend parole for an offender serving a life sentence. However, the parole must be approved by both the Governor and the Secretary of Public Safety and Correctional Services.Maryland Annotated Code, Correctional Services §4-305 Parole • Offenders serving a life sentence may be considered for parole after completion of 15 years of the court-imposed sentence. Additional requirements for an individual with a life sentence to be considered for parole include successful completion of two years of work release, a favorable clinical review conference, a recommendation from the RMT, and the support of the Institutional Board of Review for referral to the governor. • Inmates serving a "split-life" sentence may be eligible for parole consideration upon completion of 50% of the term imposed by the court. As with individuals serving life sentences, completion of two years of work release, a favorable clinical review conference, a recommendation from the RMT, and the support of the Institutional Board of Review for referral to the

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

. • The Board of Review can also approve parole for offenders serving a non-life sentence. If the offender's crime was committed on or before March 20, 1989, the Board of Review can act autonomously. If the

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

was committed on or after March 20, 1989, the Board of Review can recommend parole but must have the approval of the Secretary of Public Safety and Correctional Services. Subsequent to a revision of and

amendment An amendment is a formal or official change made to a law, contract, constitution, or other legal document. It is based on the verb to amend, which means to change for better. Amendments can add, remove, or update parts of these agreements. They ...

to the law in March 1989, approval by seven of the nine Board of Review members is also required for an offender to be granted any type of conditional release status including day leaves, work/school release, and parole.

Community Re-Entry Facility

The Community Re-Entry Facility (REF) is managed by an RMT that provides supervision and treatment services to male work/school release offenders who reside in the facility. They also provide services to parolees who live independently in the community, and who report to the REF for supervision. Female Work/School release offenders continue to reside in and receive services from Patuxent Institution. Female parolees also come to the institution for supervision. The REF staff provides a wide range of services to the residents and parolees it supervises. These services include individualized therapy, weekly status supervision meetings,

, and assistance in finding employment. Offenders are strictly monitored for use of

illicit drugs The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent the recreational use of certain intoxicating substances. An area has a prohibition of drugs when its government uses the for ...

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

. As the offender progresses through the various stages of the pre-release and parole program, he or she is expected to demonstrate an increased level of personal responsibility with decreasing reliance on external support. When the RMT recommends an offender for Community Parole, the REF is confident that the offender has mastered social skills adequate for crime-free, productive community living.

Parole revocation

Whenever the REF staff has reason to believe that a parolee has violated condition(s) of his/her parole contract, or has violated a law, that parolee is returned to the institution. The parolee is brought before a hearing officer for a preliminary parole revocation hearing within 72 hours of his/her return. The parolee is detained at Patuxent Institution to await a formal parole revocation hearing before the Board of Review, if the hearing officer determines there is

probable cause In United States criminal law, probable cause is the legal standard by which police authorities have reason to obtain a warrant for the arrest of a suspected criminal and for a court's issuing of a search warrant. One definition of the standar ...

. At that formal parole revocation hearing, the Board of Review determines whether or not the offender's parole status should be revoked. In cases where the hearing officer determines that probable cause does not exist to retain the parolee at Patuxent Institution, the parolee is permitted to return to the REF or the community.

References

{{State prisons in Maryland Buildings and structures in Howard County, Maryland Jessup, Maryland Prisons in Maryland 1955 establishments in Maryland