Nearly nine years after former Gov. Larry Hogan shuttered the old Baltimore City Detention Center, a new centerpiece facility for the city’s pretrial jail population is poised to rise from its ashes. But it’s going to cost you.
The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, which has run the city’s jail system for decades, is pushing ahead with ambitious plans for the Baltimore Therapeutic Treatment Center — a sort of hybrid jail, hospital and mental health and substance use treatment facility for people facing criminal charges.
The cost of the $1 billion project is being spread across more than five years, with an estimated completion date in 2029. Once finished, the operating costs are expected to be more than $100 million per year.
The facility’s price tag is $443 million more than initial estimates by the corrections department. It’s being attributed to supply chain problems and inflation. A nonpartisan legislative analysis dubbed the plan “the most expensive state-run project in Maryland history.”
