COVID-19 Summary: This is a suit filed to obtain the release of as many juvenile detainees in Maryland as possible, due to COVID-19. The court denied to enter all the requested relief on April 4, 2020, but stated that each judge needed to communicate with juvenile justice stakeholders to make individualized release determinations. The case is now closed.

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On April 2, 2020, four juvenile detainees filed this petition for immediate and extraordinary relief in the Appeals Court of Maryland. They were represented by the public defender's office. Petitioners requested that the court take action to release as many juvenile detainees as possible in response to the outbreak of COVID-19. Petitioners argued that because the only known method of arresting the spread of the illness was by increasing physical distances between people, it was imperative to lower the population of inmates in juvenile detention centers to stop the spread. By lowering the population, detention centers could therefore create more space within the centers to allow for increased social distancing. Petitioners requested that the court create a system by which they would automatically release some detainees based on age, offense, co-morbidities, and expression of symptoms. All other inmates would have an individualized assessment that examined flight risk and threat to the community. They also requested that courts adopt new rules that would lower the number of new inmates sent to juvenile detention centers.

Two days later the Appeals Court issued an order denying to enter all the relief requested, stating that an order from the Chief Judge would follow soon thereafter. Later that day, Chief Judge Mary Ellen Barbera did issue an order. While Judge Barbera's order was less robust than what petitioners had asked for, she instructed other judges to "communicate with juvenile justice system stakeholders" in order to figure out who should be released on an individualized basis. Factors to be considered included co-morbidities, expressions of symptoms, whether release posed a risk to the juvenile or others, and whether the inmate's release was "in the interest of justice."

The case is now closed.

Jack Hibbard - 07/13/2020


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