Six months after abruptly closing the Baltimore jail, Gov. Larry Hogan is putting forward an ambitious plan to tear down the troubled facility and build a modern corrections complex.
His plan to more quickly demolish the Civil War-era jail complex and erect a Baltimore Justice Center in its place would save the state hundreds of millions of dollars, Hogan administration officials say, but would require the delay of several costly projects at Maryland universities.
The Republican governor must sell his plan to the Democratic-controlled General Assembly, whose leaders had not been briefed in detail on why Hogan wants to revamp building plans the legislature had approved.
The centerpiece of the project would be a new six-story jail, which would house men and women and include space for education and drug treatment programs. In all, 16 buildings on the 27-acre corrections site would be demolished.
