The failure of an air-conditioning unit at the Baltimore City Youth Detention Center has left a small number of young defendants sleeping in a gymnasium that lacks full cooling.
Keith Martucci, a spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said the air conditioning at the state-owned facility experienced a partial outage, raising temperatures where nine youths spend nights into the 80s.
Officials confirmed Friday evening that the unit had “cut out” in recent days, forcing staff to set up fans in a gym where the young people sleep on cots.
“Staff immediately deployed fans with an ice cooling feature and continues to provide ice and cold beverages to ensure the safety and comfort of the nine juveniles,” Martucci said in a statement. “At no point have youth experienced medical issues related to the outage.”
He said the youths being housed in the gym, which he described as an overflow area, have access to air-conditioned hallways. Other residential and medical areas have air conditioning, he added.
Baltimore had a high temperature of around 88 Friday, with somewhat cooler weather expected before temps climb back up to 90 Tuesday.
The Youth Detention Center on Greenmount Avenue holds, on average, 82 boys and girls, most of whom have been charged as adults and are waiting for their day in court or starting their sentence. The state-owned, downtown Baltimore facility offers counseling, educational and medical services.
In December, more than 60 children at the Baltimore Youth Detention Center were “extremely cold and at risk” due to the heating system failing, according to the Maryland Office of the Public Defender. State officials said the heating malfunction caused temperatures to drop in the gym and boys’ housing units but not to dangerous levels, and they were working to address it.
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