History
The Maryland House of Correction was the second prison established by the state of Maryland. It opened in January 1879. A medium-security facility, it was designed to house inmates sentenced to less than three years' imprisonment. Annual reports from 1900 to 1903, however, reveal that some inmates of the House of Correction were serving sentences ranging to ten years. In addition to those imprisoned for criminal offenses, the initiating legislation permitted Justices of the Peace to commit "any vagrant, habitually disorderly person (not insane) or habitual drunkard" to the House of Correction for up to six months.
The House of Correction was designed to hold both male and female prisoners. In 1921, all the female inmates of the Maryland Penitentiary were transferred to the House of Correction, and it then served as the state's primary prison for females. In 1940, all female inmates at the House of Correction were transferred to the new women's prison, which opened in October of that year. State law mandated that all inmates be employed at jobs best suited to the individual and "most profitable to the institution." Many male inmates were employed by commercial contractors making bottles, brooms, and clothing. Others worked in the laundry. As a result of penal reform measures, however, the commercial use of contractual convict labor was reduced following World War I. Thereafter, some prisoners worked under Maryland's State Use System (e.g., on road crews, as printers of state documents, and making license plates).
Beginning in the 1920s, the institution reported large profits from its farming and canning operations. Although many prisoners were still employed by commercial contractors for several years after the State Use System began in 1922, all contract labor at the House of Correction was eliminated by 1937.
Since its inception, the House of Correction has been administered by several boards and/or agencies. Until 1916 it functioned as an independent agency governed by a Board of Managers. The original board was composed of twelve members appointed by the governor with the governor, comptroller, state treasurer, and attorney general as ex-officio members. The governor was elected board president, and played a significant role in the direction of the House of Correction thereafter.
The board exercised complete control over the institution, administering all financial and personnel matters. Its first action was overseeing the completion of the new facility. Once completed (December 1878), however, a superintendent (i.e., warden) was responsible for the prison's daily operation. The board, meanwhile, divided its responsibilities among several committees and met only once a month. As a result of progressive reform, the Board of Managers was abolished and the Board of Prison Control assumed authority over the House of Correction.
Management changed again just six years later when, under the State Government Reorganization Act, the House of Correction fell under the purview of the Board of Welfare. In 1939, the Board of Correction within the newly created Department of Correction assumed supervision of the state penal system. Beginning in 1953, the Superintendent of Prisons administered the Department, but was replaced by the Commissioner of Correction nine years later. The Department of Correction was renamed the Department of Correctional Services in 1968. Two years later it was subsumed under the new Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. At that time, the Department of Correctional Services was reorganized as the Division of Correction, which maintained authority over the Maryland House of Correction until its closing in 2007.
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