Black Marylanders make up about 30% of the state’s population but more than 70% of the people incarcerated in state prisons, the most pronounced racial disparity of its kind in the country, and a dubious distinction that criminal justice reformers say exemplifies the state’s regressive policies around mass incarceration.

To address the racial skew of the state prison population, the state’s attorney general and its public defender’s office teamed up to create a working group that was given a wide mandate: develop a comprehensive plan to reform Maryland’s criminal legal system and bring down the rate at which Black people are incarcerated.

On Thursday, that group issued a press release laying out 18 recommendations “designed to tackle long-seeded issues that have contributed to Maryland’s high incarceration rates and racial disparities throughout the legal system.”

State Attorney General Anthony Brown said the recommendations are a “crucial first step in making our state fairer, and safer, for all.”

“Just as this crisis has harmed Black communities for decades, our efforts will impact Maryland families for generations, helping them heal from the trauma of mass incarceration,” Brown said. “We must end mass incarceration and eliminate the racial biases and disparities in our criminal legal system.”

Public Defender Natasha M. Dartigue celebrated the recommendations, saying that the “impact of mass incarceration extends far beyond the restrictive, steel bars to crippling the financial, social and emotional growth of families and communities.”

“The ripple effect of prioritizing punitive policies and practices over data-driven approaches, coupled with racially disparate implementation, has irreparably damaged individuals and devastated communities,” Dartigue said. “High incarceration rates contribute to weakened community ties, less social cohesion and a reduced workforce population.”

Here’s is some of what the group is recommending:

• Conduct a statewide assessment to “identify gaps” in Maryland’s crisis response system, then develop ways the state can help counties expand “alternative crisis response models,” which call for mental health workers, as opposed to police, to respond to people who are experiencing crises. The Banner earlier this year reported on the criminalization of mental health issues in Baltimore County.
• Pass a law ending all “non-safety-related traffic stops,” enhance existing data reporting requirements for police departments on traffic stops, and “re-examine the use and efficacy of consent searches to reduce unnecessary interactions with police.” The state already requires the data to be reported, though it is largely up to departments to comply with the reporting.
• Mandate that all sworn law enforcement officers in the state receive “cognitive behavioral theory training programs,” which would familiarize police with various aspects of mental health crises.
• Conduct a “qualitative and quantitative analysis of each step in the criminal legal process — from arrest to parole — to understand the impact of racial and geographic disparities in Maryland’s adult prison population.”
• Change court discovery rules so that prosecutors must turn over evidence to defendants “within a reasonable timeframe,” among other changes that reduce “unnecessary pretrial confinement.”
• Develop a pilot program for people who are incarcerated in jails and detention centers to access “trauma-informed mental health treatment.”
• Increase and expand parole to apply to more people who are aging and/or have serious medical conditions, as well as other changes to the parole system.
• Limit the automatic charging of children in adult criminal courts.

The group is set to release a report detailing why the changes are needed, and the best ways to implement them, in early 2025.