MARYLAND SUSPENDS BOOT CAMPS

The remaining juvenile offenders in Western Maryland boot camps will be
removed by the end of the week, Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening and Lt.
Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend said yesterday, after hearing reports from a
review team of "patterns of abuse" by guards at the facilities.

"The state's policy is clear and unvarying - violence will not be
tolerated, against anyone, juvenile or adult, at any time," Glendening (D)
and Townsend (D) said in a joint statement.

The decision to temporarily suspend the military-style programs and remove
the 79 youths was made yesterday morning, after a conference call with
state officials and members of the Independent Assessment Team that
Glendening assembled last week, according to a spokesman for Glendening.
The team has been reviewing reports, first detailed in the Baltimore Sun,
that said that guards at the Garrett County camps have routinely beaten and
brutalized cadets, smashing their heads into the ground, gouging their eyes
and, in one case, fracturing a cadet's wrist.

On Friday, a state judge pulled 26 Baltimore juveniles out of the program,
and a livid Howard County official brought home four juveniles from that
county. Glendening had suspended new admissions and ordered independent
monitors to be stationed at the camps to ensure the safety of the remaining
79. But when he and Townsend heard from officials yesterday that the abuses
were not isolated but part of a pattern, they decided to temporarily close
the facilities.

"I wasn't surprised, I was appalled," said Bishop R. Robinson, the former
secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional
Services who is heading the assessment panel.

State officials view the suspension of the program as an interim measure
while they wait for the assessment team's recommendation on whether to
retain a form of a military-style boot-camp model or move to a "youth camp"
model.

Preliminary recommendations are expected from the team Wednesday. Youth
camps, which in a rural setting provide educational programs and drug and
other counseling, stress active exercise and strong discipline without the
military rigor.

Like Townsend, Robinson has been an advocate of the boot camp concept,
which is sure to be attacked by critics in the wake of these findings.
Yesterday, he said he still believes "a carefully drawn program, properly
staffed" can reduce recidivism.

"I am very much concerned about the conduct of guards and about the way
this destroys the credibility of a program that was well-intended," he said.

The state senator who chairs the subcommittee in charge of juvenile justice
matters vowed to hold hearings on the reported boot camp brutality.

"I want to know why this was allowed to happen. They have a lot of
explaining to do," said Sen. Ida G. Ruben (D-Montgomery). "We're not a
Third World country, after all. This is America. We can't pass over the
fact these are rough-and-tumble kids [at the camps], but being brutal is
not the answer."

The only reason state officials did not bring the juveniles back
immediately yesterday is the difficulty in finding safe and appropriate
places to put the children, many of whom are violent and repeat offenders.
Eighteen of the Baltimore group Friday had to sleep on a gym floor.

Meanwhile, the facility this week is being run, without boot camp
activities, under the supervision of Maj. Gen. James F. Fretterd, commander
of the Maryland National Guard. Boot camp officials have assigned 14 guards
to "administrative duty" to keep them out of contact with the youths.
Meanwhile, the monitors from the Department of Social Services will remain
on site.

And as for members of the assessment team, Robinson said, they will be
looking in more detail at the abuses and trying to figure out "how far up
the chain" they were being tolerated.

Staff writer Scott Wilson contributed to this report.