The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services is a Maryland state government agency

Government agency

A government or state agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency. There is a notable variety of agency types...

 that performs a number of functions, including the operation of the state prison

Prison

A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

s. It has its headquarters in Towson

Towson, Maryland

Towson is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 at the 2010 census...

 in unincorporated

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 Baltimore County

Baltimore County, Maryland

Baltimore County is a county located in the northern part of the US state of Maryland. In 2010, its population was 805,029. It is part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Towson. The name of the county was derived from the barony of the Proprietor of the Maryland...

, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

.

Organizational units

Some of the agencies contained within the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services include:

• Division of Capital Construction and Facilities Maintenance
• Division of Correction
• Division of Parole
  Parole
  Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
  
   and Probation
  Probation
  Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...
  
  
• Division of Pretrial Detention and Services (operates the jail and the pre-trial release program in the city of Baltimore
  Baltimore
  Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
  
  )
• Emergency Number
  9-1-1
  9-1-1 is the emergency telephone number for the North American Numbering Plan .It is one of eight N11 codes.The use of this number is for emergency circumstances only, and to use it for any other purpose can be a crime.-History:In the earliest days of telephone technology, prior to the...
  
   Systems Board
• Police and Correctional Training Commissions

Facilities

• Baltimore City Correctional Center
• Baltimore Pre-Release Unit
• Baltimore Pre-Release Unit for Women
• Baltimore Pre-Release Unit for Women-Annex
• Brockbridge Correctional Facility
• Eastern Correctional Institution
• Eastern Pre-Release Unit
• Home Detention Unit
• Jessup Pre-Release Unit
• Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center
  Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center
  Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center is a maximum level II prison operated by the Maryland Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services in Baltimore....
  
    ("Baltimore Supermax
  Supermax
  Supermax is the name used to describe "control-unit" prisons, or units within prisons, which represent the most secure levels of custody in the prison systems of certain countries...
  
  Prison")
• Maryland Correctional Institution - Hagerstown
• Jessup Correctional Institution
• Maryland Correctional Institution - Women
• Maryland Correctional Training Center
• Maryland House of Correction
  Maryland House of Correction
  The Maryland House of Correction, nicknamed "The Cut" or "The House", was a Maryland Department of Corrections state maximum security prison in an unincorporated area in Maryland. Most of its territory was in Anne Arundel County, while portions were in Howard County. The prison opened in 1879 and...
  
  
• Maryland House of Correction Annex
• Maryland Reception, Diagnostic and Classification Center
• Metropolitan Transition Center
  Metropolitan Transition Center
  The Maryland Metropolitan Transition Center , formerly known as the Maryland Penitentiary, is a maximum security Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services prison located in Baltimore. It was established in 1811 as the first prison in the state and the second of its kind in the...
  
  
• North Branch Correctional Institution
  North Branch Correctional Institution
  North Branch Correctional Institution is a high-tech, maximum security prison operated by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services in unincorporated Allegany County, Maryland, near Cumberland. The prison houses the most serious offenders within the State of Maryland...
  
  
• Patuxent Institution
  Patuxent Institution
  The Patuxent Institution is located in Jessup, Maryland one mile east of US Route 1 on Maryland Route 175. 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...
  
  
• Poplar Hill Pre-Release Unit
• Roxbury Correctional Institution
• Southern Maryland Pre-Release Unit
• Herman L. Toulson Boot Camp
• Western Correctional Institution

Death row

The death row for men is in the North Branch Correctional Institution

North Branch Correctional Institution

North Branch Correctional Institution is a high-tech, maximum security prison operated by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services in unincorporated Allegany County, Maryland, near Cumberland. The prison houses the most serious offenders within the State of Maryland...

. The execution chamber is in the Metropolitan Transition Center

Metropolitan Transition Center

The Maryland Metropolitan Transition Center , formerly known as the Maryland Penitentiary, is a maximum security Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services prison located in Baltimore. It was established in 1811 as the first prison in the state and the second of its kind in the...

. The five men who were on death row were moved in June 2010 from the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center

Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center

Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center is a maximum level II prison operated by the Maryland Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services in Baltimore....

 to the current men's death row location.

Fallen officers

Since the establishment of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, 5 officers have died in the line of duty.

See also

• List of law enforcement agencies in Maryland
• List of United States state correction agencies
• List of U.S. state prisons
• Maryland Association of Correctional & Security Employees

External links

• Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services